Espressif's New 2026 Chip Lineup: ESP32-C61, E22, and H21 Compared

This site already has a guide to choosing between the ESP32, S2, S3, C3, and C6 variants. Since that was written, Espressif has kept shipping: the ESP32-C61 hit mass production in mid-2026, and the ESP32-E22 and ESP32-H21 were shown at CES 2026 as the next step beyond the C5/C6/H2 generation. None of these are drop-in replacements for the chips most maker projects already use — each one targets a specific niche that the existing lineup doesn't cover well. Here's what each one actually is and where it fits.

ESP32-C61: The Budget Wi-Fi 6 Chip

The C61 is Espressif's answer to "we want Wi-Fi 6 and BLE on a sensor node without paying C6 prices." It's a single-core RISC-V part clocked up to 160 MHz, with 320 KB of on-chip SRAM, 256 KB ROM, and support for external Quad SPI flash and PSRAM. On the radio side it supports 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) at 20 MHz bandwidth, plus 802.11b/g/n at 20/40 MHz, along with Bluetooth 5 LE including long-range mode and Bluetooth Mesh 1.1. It carries the same security stack as the rest of the current ESP32 line — secure boot, flash/PSRAM encryption, and a hardware crypto accelerator — and it's already supported by Espressif's ESP-Matter SDK. The headline number is price: ESP32-C61-MINI modules are shipping at roughly $2 each, undercutting the C6 specifically for projects that need Wi-Fi 6 and Matter but don't need the C6's Thread/Zigbee radio or its extra horsepower.

ESP32-E22: A Wi-Fi 6E Connectivity Co-Processor

The E22 is a different animal — a dual-core RISC-V chip running up to 500 MHz with tri-band Wi-Fi 6E (2.4/5/6 GHz), 2x2 MIMO, and 160 MHz channels, capable of up to 2.1 Gbps physical-layer throughput. It also carries Bluetooth LE 6.0 plus classic BR/EDR. What sets it apart is that it's positioned as a connectivity co-processor rather than a standalone project MCU: it exposes PCIe, USB, and SDIO host interfaces, meaning the expected use case is pairing it with a host SoC (think single-board computers, NVRs, or higher-end embedded Linux devices) that wants high-throughput Wi-Fi 6E without designing its own RF front end. For a typical ESP32 maker project — a sensor node, a smart display, a robot controller — the E22 is overkill and the wrong interface shape. Its natural home is closer to what a Raspberry Pi Compute Module carrier board designer would reach for, not what goes on your next breadboard.

ESP32-H21: Ultra-Low-Power Thread and Zigbee

The H21 sits at the opposite end of the lineup from the E22: a single-core RISC-V part at just 96 MHz, with 320 KB of RAM and 19 GPIO pins, built around Bluetooth LE plus 802.15.4 (the radio standard underneath both Zigbee and Thread). It includes an on-chip DC-DC converter specifically to shave power consumption at lower operating voltages. There's no Wi-Fi radio at all — the H21 is meant for the class of device that needs to run for years on a coin cell: a door/window sensor, a battery-powered Zigbee button, a Thread-network leaf node. It's the natural successor to how the H2 is used today, not a replacement for a C6 or C3 in a project that needs Wi-Fi.

Choosing Between Them

ChipBest forNot for ESP32-C61Cost-sensitive Wi-Fi 6 + BLE + Matter sensor nodes replacing a C3/C6 on a budgetProjects needing Thread/Zigbee on the same radio, or heavy compute ESP32-E22Adding Wi-Fi 6E connectivity to a larger host system (SBC, NVR, custom Linux device) over PCIe/USB/SDIOStandalone breadboard projects — wrong interface, wrong price point ESP32-H21Coin-cell battery sensors and Thread/Zigbee leaf nodes where every microamp countsAnything needing Wi-Fi or a display ESP32-C6 (existing)Projects wanting Wi-Fi 6 and Thread/Zigbee together on one chipExtreme cost sensitivity (C61 undercuts it) or ultra-low-power-only designs (H21 undercuts it)

None of this changes what to reach for on a typical weekend project today — the ESP32-S3 and C6 remain the sensible defaults this site already recommends for most builds, since their tooling, library support, and community examples are years ahead of anything announced in the last twelve months. But if you're scoping a battery-powered sensor network for 2027, or designing a product around Matter and Wi-Fi 6 at volume, the C61 and H21 are worth pricing out now — new silicon, brand-new toolchain support, so budget extra time for rough edges in ESP-IDF board support until these chips have a year or two of community mileage behind them.