# Espressif ESP32-S31

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/esp32-s31/

16 people recommended Espressif ESP32-S31 in Hacker News comments, 8 had mixed feelings and 9 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 12 months, in 5 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

10 of the 16 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “ESP32-S31”.

**Verdict:** RISC-V successor to the ESP32-S3 with faster wireless, more memory and gigabit Ethernet, seen as strong value. Critics point to missing features and incomplete documentation.

Summary written by Claude from 38 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- RISC-V cores seen as significant (4 comments in the sample): "It's basically a updated S3, with faster and newer wireless and memory…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47922334)) "RISC-V should make tooling, compiler support, and long-term ecosystem work cleaner" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48388878)) "RISC-V cores is a big deal for embedded systems" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48386190))
- Beats predecessors on specs (3 comments in the sample): "it's going to be a monster when silicon becomes available in quantity." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49323320)) "ESP32-S31 is going to be a big hit, and RISC-V is only part of that." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47924300)) "beats it out spec wise in almost every way" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48390743))
- Gigabit Ethernet alongside Wi-Fi (3 comments in the sample): "we most likely can extract the I/Q data over its new 1 GBit/s interface" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49925432)) "Good to have WiFi and wired ethernet on the same part again." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48386437)) "the new ESP chip has gigabit, along with wireless" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48386921))
- Strong value for the price (2 comments in the sample): "it has a chance to become a very successful and what's more importantly really cheap full-featured Linux platform" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49832881)) "If the prices remain relatively similar this is going to be incredible value!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48390768))

## What people warn about

- Lacks CSI, limiting vision use (2 comments in the sample): "S31 has enough raw speed but no CSI." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49829396)) "youre not going to be running any kind of vision model on it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48387318))
- More expensive than the S3 (1 comment in the sample): "A significant more expensive than S3, but it brings a lot to table." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49841270))

## 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

- [Visit the 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, "Espressif ESP32-S31", https://hackerapproved.com/p/esp32-s31/ (16 recommend, 8 mixed, 9 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

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