Compared to expensive PCs and server hardware, Single-Board Computers are an inexpensive means to tinker with DIY projects. However, most of the popular SBC series, including the all-powerful Raspberry Pi series, aren’t as budget-friendly as they used to be a while ago. Although microcontrollers are an entirely different product than SBCs, there’s a surprising amount of overlap between the projects you can build with them – especially when it comes to circuitry-related ideas.

In fact, if you’re not willing to shell out extra money on a Raspberry Pi but still want to tinker with cool projects, you could turn your attention to the ESP32 family. While projects involving computational workloads are out of the question, there are certain projects you can bring to life with just an ESP32 microcontroller instead of shelling out extra money on a mainline Raspberry Pi board.

Weather station

Be sure to grab the right sensors

If you live in the middle of nowhere like I do, you might have a hard time getting the right temperature, humidity, and pressure statistics. The last one may not be all that consequential, but the temps and humidity are pretty essential when your Home Assistant automations require precise stats for their trigger conditions. That’s where a self-hosted weather station comes in handy, as it can not only record accurate values, but also refresh them frequently.

Thanks to the official environmental sensor HAT, a Raspberry Pi makes for an easy weather station, no doubt about it. But if you’re willing to put some effort into it, you can build it with just an ESP32 and some sensor modules. Better yet, since ESP32 works well with Home Assistant, you can even configure your DIY weather station to sync its readings with the smart home management platform.

Wi-Fi scanner

Simple, but pretty useful

The Raspberry Pi is great for networking projects, whether you’re planning to create a simple reverse proxy hub + local DNS server combo or even something as complex as a firewall setup. But if all you want to put together is a simple Wi-Fi scanner that lists all the details of the local networks, you can even go for an inexpensive ESP32.

Plus, you don’t have to be a microcontroller maestro to get the Wi-Fi scanner up and running. The all-powerful Arduino IDE includes an example script for this project, and it works pretty well even on ESP32 boards. It may not be all that breathtaking, but it’s a great beginner-friendly project where you don’t have to spend hours creating scripts or attaching obscure sensors to your tinkering companion.

DIY dashboard

Bonus points if you opt for E-Ink displays

Custom dashboards are great for any setup. If you’re into gaming, a DIY dashboard can showcase the temperature and utilization values of your PC’s hardware. Alternatively, for folks who love creating cool UIs for their essential smart devices on Home Assistant, putting together a DIY dashboard can help you display your magnum opus.

An ESP32-powered dashboard doesn’t consume too much energy, and since the microcontroller has a tiny footprint, you can hide it fairly easily. Tiny E-ink displays, in particular, mesh really well with ESP32-powered dashboards, and if you’re into the arcane art of 3D printing, you could put together some beautiful setups with them. Or, you could go for dazzling LED matrix displays, though those require a little bit of elbow grease to configure.

Cheap time-lapse camera

With an ESP32 CAM module

A time-lapse camera is one of the first projects you’ll make with a Raspberry Pi camera module. But if you don’t want to spend extra on an SBC and are willing to deal with slightly lower quality images than what you’d be able to capture with a premium camera module, you can go for an inexpensive ESP32 CAM board.

Unlike the standard ESP32 microcontroller, the CAM variant includes a camera module and a microSD card slot built into it. Heck, if you’re willing to write long lines of code, you can create a makeshift security camera from your ESP32 CAM module, one that can display its footage inside a custom web server, no less!

Macro keypad

A great way to increase your productivity

Being able to map frequent key combos to dedicated buttons is quite useful when you’re into content creation, and that’s where macro keypads come in handy. On the budget-friendly end, you’ve got tiny keyboard-like devices with keycaps, which aren’t very intuitive if you keep changing the bindings very often. That’s when you can look into devices like the Stream Deck and MasterHUB, which use customizable LED buttons.

But if you’re willing to deal with some circuitry components, you can just build macro keypads or Stream Decks with your ESP32 instead of spending hundreds of dollars on these gizmos.

Still, there are reasons why you might want to go with a Raspberry Pi instead

Although an ESP32 is lighter on your wallet for these projects, it has some issues. Like other microcontrollers, you’ll have to deal with a steep difficulty curve when tinkering with an ESP32. Depending on your components, you might have issues finding the right documentation or code libraries for them. Projects like the time-lapse camera (and especially the surveillance camera) can feel somewhat sluggish at high resolutions, as there’s only so much firepower that can be crammed inside a microcontroller. So, if you value simplicity in your projects or simply want something more versatile, it might be a good idea to forget about everything I said and stick to a Raspberry Pi instead.