--- title: 6 ESP32 projects that make more sense than buying... description: A hands-on overview of six DIY smart home projects built with ESP32 microcontrollers and ESPHome, presented as practical alternatives to commercial smart home... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/6-esp32-projects-that-make-more-sense-than-buying-another-smart-home-gadget-wzbafhlat twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: 6 ESP32 projects that make more sense than buying another smart home gadget | daily.dev og:description: A hands-on overview of six DIY smart home projects built with ESP32 microcontrollers and ESPHome, presented as practical alternatives to commercial smart home... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/6-esp32-projects-that-make-more-sense-than-buying-another-smart-home-gadget-wzbafhlat og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/WZbAFhLAT.png og:image:alt: 6 ESP32 projects that make more sense than buying another smart home gadget og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # 6 ESP32 projects that make more sense than buying another smart home gadget **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 10 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A hands-on overview of six DIY smart home projects built with ESP32 microcontrollers and ESPHome, presented as practical alternatives to commercial smart home gadgets. Projects covered include a local voice assistant using XiaoZhi and a self-hosted Whisper/LLM stack, a $15 LED matrix smart clock, DIY temperature/humidity sensors using DHT11 and BME280, a custom touchscreen TV remote that mimics the Android TV Remote protocol, reverse-engineered Govee smart lights controlled locally over Bluetooth, and a color e-paper desk dashboard. The core argument is that ESP32-based builds are cheaper, fully local, and remain under the owner's control — unlike commercial devices that depend on manufacturer clouds, apps, and ongoing support. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [7 ESP32 projects that replaced commercial smart home gadgets in my house with cheaper, local hardware](https://daily.dev/posts/7-esp32-projects-that-replaced-commercial-smart-home-gadgets-in-my-house-with-cheaper-local-hardwar-cvbsyiybd) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I replaced my Raspberry Pis with $5 ESP32s for smart home projects, and they do everything I need](https://daily.dev/posts/i-replaced-my-raspberry-pis-with-5-esp32s-for-smart-home-projects-and-they-do-everything-i-need-tusk09yso) · XDA Developers · 3 upvotes · 0 comments - [6 smart home devices anyone can build with a cheap ESP32 and an even cheaper sensor](https://daily.dev/posts/6-smart-home-devices-anyone-can-build-with-a-cheap-esp32-and-an-even-cheaper-sensor-alpetqwxv) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I stopped buying smart home gadgets and started building them for a fraction of the price](https://daily.dev/posts/i-stopped-buying-smart-home-gadgets-and-started-building-them-for-a-fraction-of-the-price-scykq2d5g) · XDA Developers · 4 upvotes · 1 comments --- Tags: [#tech-news](https://daily.dev/tags/tech-news), [#iot](https://daily.dev/tags/iot) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/6-esp32-projects-that-make-more-sense-than-buying-another-smart-home-gadget-wzbafhlat) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"6 ESP32 projects that make more sense than buying another smart home gadget","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/6-esp32-projects-that-make-more-sense-than-buying-another-smart-home-gadget-wzbafhlat","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/6-esp32-projects-that-make-more-sense-than-buying-another-smart-home-gadget-wzbafhlat"},"datePublished":"2026-07-05T15:01:11.559Z","dateModified":"2026-07-05T15:01:37.397Z","description":"A hands-on overview of six DIY smart home projects built with ESP32 microcontrollers and ESPHome, presented as practical alternatives to commercial smart home...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/24ceb74f21eda5584c249e8f7801ad99?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/24ceb74f21eda5584c249e8f7801ad99?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"XDA Developers","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"XDA Developers","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--kCg6yyAP--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774964407/logos/xda-developers?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/6-esp32-projects-that-make-more-sense-than-buying-another-smart-home-gadget-wzbafhlat","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"tech-news,iot","timeRequired":"PT10M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"XDA Developers","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"6 ESP32 projects that make more sense than buying another smart home gadget"}]} ```