Wokwi
Shares rank 8 of 12 firmware emulators by recommenders
Recommended for simulating circuits and running integration tests without physical hardware, speeding up projects. Caveat: it is not like real hardware and carries a monthly cost.
Recommended for simulating circuits and running integration tests without physical hardware, speeding up projects. Caveat: it is not like real hardware and carries a monthly cost.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 67%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 2 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
Simulates hardware without physical devices
“Being able to do integration tests without the physical device itself is an absolute game changer.”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “If you're a button, you have one job” “You can try wokwi for simulating your circuit.”
Comment from 18 Feb 2026 in “The resources I'm using to learn Maths, AI and Robotics”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Paid subscription or licensing
“without dedicated test runners hooked up to hardware or licensing for Wokwi”
Comment from 21 Nov 2025 in “Arduino published updated terms and conditions: no longer an open commons” “Wokwi is SaaS emulator with a monthly cost”
Comment from 18 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Esp32sim – Run ESP32 firmware in the browser” “They want you to pay and that’s limiting.”
Comment from 18 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Esp32sim – Run ESP32 firmware in the browser” Not like real hardware
“it's fun ... but it's NOT like the actual hardware”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Project Patchouli: Open-source electromagnetic drawing tablet hardware”
Other firmware emulators people recommend
The four most recommended other firmware emulators, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Velxio | 21 | 3 | 88% | 3 | — | — |
| Diode | 17 | 10 | 63% | 1 | — | — |
| Circuit Artist | 11 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Esp32sim | 11 | 1 | 92% | 1 | — | — |
| WokwiThis page | 6 | 3 | 67% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
8 of the 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Wokwi is SaaS emulator with a monthly cost”
“They want you to pay and that’s limiting.”
“Being able to do integration tests without the physical device itself is an absolute game changer.”
“I really like what they’ve built”
“You can try wokwi for simulating your circuit.”
“it speed up my project a lot”
“it's fun ... but it's NOT like the actual hardware”
“without dedicated test runners hooked up to hardware or licensing for Wokwi”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.