Best Wokwi or Tinkercad alternative for ESP32 with AI
Tinkercad Circuits has no ESP32 board. Wokwi simulates many ESP32 chips and leaves the AI to a coding agent you bring yourself. Cirkit Designer, Velxio and Schematik have AI built in. Pick by what you want to do.
- AI that plans the whole build (parts, wiring and code) and then runs it on a real ESP32Schematik
- AI help inside a circuit editor with a library of 20K+ componentsCirkit Designer
- An open-source simulator you can host yourselfVelxio
- Many ESP32 chips, VS Code and automatic firmware testsWokwi
- Block coding for Arduino or micro:bit in a classroomTinkercad Circuits
The 5 tools side by side
Schematik
Describe a gadget in plain English. Schematik picks the parts, draws the wiring, writes the code and lists the assembly steps.
- ESP32 in the simulator
- ESP32, ESP32-S3, ESP32-C3 and ESP32-C6 run your firmware in Preview, inside the browser, on an emulator built on the open-source esp32sim (an emulator is a program that behaves like the chip). Arduino Uno and Raspberry Pi Pico run too.
- AI
- Built in. It plans the parts, pins, wiring and code together, and changes all of them when you ask.
- Wi-Fi
- The simulated ESP32 joins a simulated network using the Wi-Fi name and password in your code, then makes public HTTP and HTTPS requests (the way a browser loads a web page).
- Real board
- Press Deploy to flash the board over USB from Chrome or Edge. In other browsers, download the firmware or use the desktop app.
Wokwi
An online simulator for ESP32, Arduino, STM32 and Raspberry Pi Pico firmware.
- ESP32 in the simulator
- ESP32, ESP32-S2, ESP32-S3, ESP32-C3, ESP32-C6, ESP32-C61 and ESP32-H2, with ESP32-C5, ESP32-P4 and ESP32-S31 in beta.
- AI
- The Wokwi CLI has an experimental MCP server, so a coding agent like Claude Code, Cursor or Copilot can run your simulation and read its serial output (the text your code prints). The CLI is Wokwi's command-line tool, and MCP is a standard plug that lets an AI agent use outside tools.
- Wi-Fi
- Simulated Wi-Fi reaches the internet, on the free plan too. Web requests work, and so does MQTT (a light way for gadgets to send each other messages).
- Free plan
- Unlimited simulations and public projects. Paid plans start at €5.60 a month, billed yearly.
- Better than Schematik at
- More ESP32 chips, MicroPython, CircuitPython and Rust, a VS Code extension and Wokwi CI, which tests your firmware in the simulator each time you push new code.
Tinkercad Circuits
Autodesk's free web app for learning electronics on a virtual breadboard.
- ESP32 in the simulator
- None. Its component library lists Arduino, micro:bit and ATtiny boards.
- Coding
- Codeblocks (drag-and-drop code blocks) for Arduino and micro:bit, plus typed code, including Python on the micro:bit.
- Free plan
- Free, with Classrooms for teachers.
- Better than Schematik at
- Block coding, analog parts like op-amps and 555 timers plus bench instruments: a multimeter, an oscilloscope and a function generator.
Cirkit Designer
A browser workspace for drawing circuits, writing firmware and simulating both, with an AI helper on the canvas.
- ESP32 in the simulator
- ESP32-S3, on an instruction-accurate emulator (it runs the chip's real instructions one by one) built in Rust that runs in your browser. Arduino Uno and Arduino Mega too.
- AI
- Cirkit AI helps with wiring, writes code and helps you debug it.
- Wi-Fi
- Web requests over HTTP and HTTPS, MQTT messages and live WebSocket and UDP connections, all in the simulator.
- Real board
- Uploads through the Cirkit Create Agent, a small desktop app that talks to the board on your USB cable.
- Free plan
- Unlimited simulations, public projects only and a daily limit on AI project changes. Hobby is $5 a month and Pro is $20.
- Better than Schematik at
- Wiring diagrams you can export and, on paid plans, custom parts built by AI that you can simulate.
Velxio
An open-source simulator that runs real firmware for 35 boards across 6 CPU architectures, in the browser or on your own server.
- ESP32 in the simulator
- ESP32 boards, including the ESP32-CAM, on an emulated chip with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Arduino C++, MicroPython or ESP-IDF code.
- AI
- An AI agent on the paid Maker and Pro plans.
- Real board
- Web flash sends the same firmware to a physical ESP32 over USB.
- Free plan
- The simulator is free, Wi-Fi with internet included. Public examples run without an account.
- Better than Schematik at
- Open source and self-hosting, more chip families (STM32 and Linux boards on paid plans) and analog circuits solved by ngspice (a circuit math engine).
What Schematik doesn't do
- You sign in before you build. Velxio runs public examples without an account.
- Preview covers 4 ESP32 chips. Wokwi covers more, including the ESP32-S2 and ESP32-H2.
- Preview needs to know a board's flash and PSRAM (its storage and extra memory), so some ESP32 boards can't run in it yet.
- On ESP32 boards, Preview runs Arduino, ESP-IDF (Espressif's own toolkit) and ESPHome (gadgets set up from a config file) firmware. MicroPython doesn't run in it.
- Some parts show approximate 3D models, and a simulated color screen can show different colors from the real one.
- In a browser, Deploy over USB needs Chrome or Edge. Safari and Firefox can't reach a USB board from a web page.
- No block coding.
FAQ
Does Tinkercad support ESP32?
No. Tinkercad Circuits lists Arduino, micro:bit and ATtiny boards. For an ESP32 project, use Wokwi, Cirkit Designer, Velxio or Schematik.
Does Wokwi have AI?
Wokwi's CLI includes an experimental MCP server, so an AI coding agent you already use, like Claude Code, Cursor or Copilot, can run simulations and read the text your code prints. It needs a Wokwi CLI token.
Which of these run real ESP32 firmware in the browser?
Wokwi, Cirkit Designer, Velxio and Schematik all run your firmware on an emulated ESP32 from a web page. Tinkercad has no ESP32.
Can I flash a real ESP32 from the browser?
Schematik and Velxio flash over USB from the browser. In Schematik, press Deploy in Chrome or Edge. Cirkit Designer uploads through its desktop agent.