# ESP32-C6

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/esp32-c6/

12 people recommended ESP32-C6 in Hacker News comments and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 12 months, in 11 threads. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a cheap microcontroller with Wi-Fi 6 and Zigbee radios, a RISC-V core that suits Rust, and MicroPython support that can replace a Raspberry Pi for some jobs. One critic notes it lacks SIMD extensions.

Summary written by Claude from 15 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 14 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Cheap for capable hardware (2 comments in the sample): "with micro python it pretty much made all RPi's obsolete for a quarter of price" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48325905)) "They are really cheap, get an esp32-c6 while you are at it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46920407))
- Wi-Fi 6 and Zigbee radios (2 comments in the sample): "since it has massive compute, and radio with wifi6 and zigbee, which covers 90% of IOT" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46599611)) "I wanted Zigbee so the ESP32 C6 was the way to go." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49681547))
- RISC-V core good for Rust (2 comments in the sample): "The newer model, C3, C6, C5 all have RSIC-V cores which make it a dream to run Rust" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47919412)) "Also espressif RISC V mcu's like the ESP32-C3 and -C6 are fantastic." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46549868))

## Other microcontrollers people recommend

- [ESP32](https://hackerapproved.com/p/esp32/): 160 recommend, 23 mixed, 30 criticize
- [Raspberry Pi Pico](https://hackerapproved.com/p/raspberry-pi-pico/): 60 recommend, 10 mixed, 15 criticize
- [Arduino boards](https://hackerapproved.com/p/arduino/): 45 recommend, 29 mixed, 67 criticize
- [Raspberry Pi RP2350](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rp2350/): 41 recommend, 3 mixed, 12 criticize

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Espressif+ESP32-C6+development+board)
- [Official site](https://www.espressif.com/)

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "ESP32-C6", https://hackerapproved.com/p/esp32-c6/ (12 recommend, 0 mixed, 1 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.