Cheap Yellow Display ESP32
Shares rank 24 of 28 microcontrollers by recommenders
Cheap ESP32 board with a small display, WiFi and Bluetooth, freely programmable for embedded projects. Caveat: clone-based variants vary, and the screen has poor viewing angles.
Cheap ESP32 board with a small display, WiFi and Bluetooth, freely programmable for embedded projects. Caveat: clone-based variants vary, and the screen has poor viewing angles.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 71%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 2.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Flexible, freely programmable hardware
“These CYD units (and some of the recent successors) are really flexible for such cheap hardware.”
Comment from 30 Aug 2026 in “Wikipedia Offline Reader for ESP32 CYD” “It has a display, WiFi, Bluetooth and you can write whatever software you want for it.”
Comment from 12 Dec 2025 in “CM0 – A new Raspberry Pi you can't buy” Built-in display for small projects
“one of my favorite discoveries this year, it's now just my default choice for any micro-controller based project with a small display”
Comment from 12 Dec 2025 in “CM0 – A new Raspberry Pi you can't buy” “It has a display, WiFi, Bluetooth and you can write whatever software you want for it.”
Comment from 12 Dec 2025 in “CM0 – A new Raspberry Pi you can't buy” Cheap, usually under $15
“These CYD units (and some of the recent successors) are really flexible for such cheap hardware.”
Comment from 30 Aug 2026 in “Wikipedia Offline Reader for ESP32 CYD” “Look into the CYD variants, usually can get for less than $15”
Comment from 26 Jul 2026 in “An ESP32 based plane radar for my desk”
Other microcontrollers people recommend
The four most recommended other microcontrollers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESP32 | 190 | 35 | 84% | 12 | 5 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Arduino boards | 81 | 73 | 53% | 12 | 16 yrs7 owners | — |
| Raspberry Pi Pico | 72 | 16 | 82% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Raspberry Pi RP2350 | 47 | 13 | 78% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Cheap Yellow Display ESP32This page | 5 | 2 | 71% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Blue tinge, bad viewing angles, low brightness and slow touch response.”
“These CYD units (and some of the recent successors) are really flexible for such cheap hardware.”
“Look into the CYD variants, usually can get for less than $15”
“it's been quite fun tinkering with it”
“there are inconsistencies in the devices available, since there's no one manufacturer and they're clones of clones”
“one of my favorite discoveries this year, it's now just my default choice for any micro-controller based project with a small display”
“It has a display, WiFi, Bluetooth and you can write whatever software you want for it.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.