When comparing Raspberry Pi Zero W vs esp32, the Slant community recommends Raspberry Pi Zero W for most people. In the question“What are the best single-board computers?” Raspberry Pi Zero W is ranked 6th while esp32 is ranked 45th. The most important reason people chose Raspberry Pi Zero W is:
This is a complete desktop computer with wifi, hdmi, and bluetooth powered by an arm chip. All you need is your existing peripherals, a micro usb dongle, and a sd card to make it run.
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Pros
Pro Very cheap for what it is
This is a complete desktop computer with wifi, hdmi, and bluetooth powered by an arm chip. All you need is your existing peripherals, a micro usb dongle, and a sd card to make it run.
Pro Large community
The Raspberry Pi is backed by a large community of experienced users that are willing to help and has a lot of documentation.
Pro Embedded WiFi antenna
Pro Many variants available
Many different variants are available depending how good you are at soldering or how small it needs to be.
Pro Very small
Can fit inside small devices.
Pro Very cheap
Without case can be below $5.
Pro Has ultra-low power mode
Pro Has bluetooth and wifi modules
Cons
Con No onboard storage
Con Some variants require soldering
Not all variants include easily plugable pins. Usually only the more expensive variants include these.