Arduino Uno R3 vs NodeMCU vs ESP8266-12F/E
Arduino Uno vs NodeMCU vs ESP8266-12F/E. What's the difference, Which is best and which to use for your project.
Basics
Arduino Uno R3 is based on **ATmega328P **, all Arduino products are based on ATmega microcontroller. NodeMCU is based on ESP8266-12F/E.Programming Language
Arduino
**Arduino Programming Language ** - This programming Language is a set of c/C++ functions, it looks exactly same like c++, So don't worry 😃.NodeMCU
**NodeMCU ** - Same comes with LUA and flashable Arduino Bootloader. BUT NodeMCU boards comes with Arduino Bootloader from many online stores, Like Aliexpress, Amazon, eBay, da da da.It has Wi-Fi
ESP8266
** ESP8266 12F/E** - LUA programming language as default . however, you can flash Arduino bootloader to support Arduino Language(that cool C/C++ like) and Arduino IDE.LUA language is easier to read and write than C/C++.
It has Wi-Fi
Specs
Main Specs| Arduino Uno R3 | NodeMCU / ESP8266 | |
|---|---|---|
| Digital I/O Pins | 14 including 6 PWM output | 12 / 9 including 6 PWM output |
| PWM Digital I/O Pins | 6 | 11 / 9 |
| Analog Input Pins | 6 | 1 |
| Flash Memory | 32 KB | 4 MB including EEPROM |
| RAM | 2 KB | 128 KB |
| EEPROM | 1 KB | - |
| Clock Speed | 16 MHz | 80 MHz |
Common Terms
PWM - Read this article Arduino Fading LED tutorial
Flash Memory - Where programs / sketch are stored.
**Clock Speed ** - the operating speed of a computer or its microprocessor, expressed in cycles per second.
Support and community
Arduino
Arduino UNO is most popular boards among all. So there is more support and community is large. Many libraries are available for Arduino.NodeMCU
NodeMCU has gained popularity. Support and community are not large enough but you can find a large number of libraries out there. Problems are expected rarely.ESP8266
Little less support , Community and library.Price
UNO R3> NodeMCU > ESP8266 12F 3.4 $ -- 2.9 $ -- 2$Conclusion
ESP8266-12F/E being the cheapest with Wi-Fi and other great features like More PWM pin and more speed. But programming is hard because of complicated wiring and easy to kill by pulling over 3.3V (Read Easy I killed 2).Best Is NodeMCU, easy to program (Plug and Play), voltage range 5 - 10V, large community, and support but less then Arduino.
Arduino Uno - Easiest of above, largest community. And most expensive with least feature.
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