Tinkercad and the ESP32: what to use instead
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Short answer: no. Tinkercad Circuits does not have an ESP32. Its microcontrollers are the Arduino Uno, the BBC micro:bit and the ATtiny. If your project needs an ESP32, an ESP32-C3 or an ESP32-S3, you need a different simulator.
Mokxi is one, free and in the browser. The circuit above is an ESP32-C3 reading a DHT22 temperature and humidity sensor, a BH1750 light sensor and a PIR motion sensor, the room sensor many people build first. Press Run and the serial monitor prints each reading, starting with 21.5 degrees and 46% humidity. Open it in the editor to change the readings, edit the code and run it again. No account is needed to open and run it.
What Tinkercad Circuits does well
Tinkercad Circuits is free, from Autodesk, and approved in a great many schools. Its component library is broad and aimed at beginners, and it has block coding next to text for the Uno and the micro:bit, which matters a lot for younger students. It also sits beside Tinkercad’s 3D design tools, which suits classes that go on to print an enclosure.
If you teach beginners who need blocks, or you only need an Uno, Tinkercad is a fine choice and there is no reason to move.
Why people look for an ESP32 in Tinkercad
The ESP32 has become the default board for connected projects: it has WiFi, far more memory and speed than an Uno, and boards like the ESP32-C3 SuperMini cost about the same as an Arduino clone. Tutorials, kits and final year projects now start on it. Students who learned on Tinkercad’s Uno hit a wall the first time a project says ESP32.
The other common reasons are parts and libraries. A sketch from a tutorial includes a library, and the simulator needs to compile it, and the part it drives has to exist on the canvas.
Which ESP32 boards Mokxi simulates
The classic ESP32 DevKit V1 and the ESP32-DevKitC V4, the LOLIN32 Lite, the ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1, the ESP32-C3-DevKitM-1 and the ESP32-C3 SuperMini, the ESP32-C6-DevKitC-1, the Arduino Nano ESP32, and the Seeed XIAO ESP32-C3, C6 and S3. The ESP8266 is there too, as the NodeMCU, the Wemos D1 mini and the ESP-01S. All of them are on the free plan, beside the Arduino boards, the Raspberry Pi Pico and two STM32 boards.
Your sketch is ordinary Arduino C++, compiled in the browser tab by a real clang, and the firmware runs on a model of the chip, so GPIO, PWM, the ADC, timers, I2C, SPI and serial behave like the board. WiFi runs on a simulated network inside the browser, so a sketch can serve a web page or make HTTP requests to a mock server; it cannot reach the real internet. Bluetooth is not simulated.
Each board page lists what is covered and what is not, so you can check before you start.
Parts and libraries
The parts an ESP32 project usually needs are in the catalog: the DHT11 and DHT22, the BME280 and BMP280, the SSD1306 OLED, I2C LCDs, NeoPixels, servos, the HC-SR04, relays, PIR sensors, MAX7219 matrices and many more, each wired pin by pin on a real breadboard with rails and a center channel.
More than 100 common Arduino libraries are built in, including DHT, the Adafruit SSD1306 and GFX headers, LiquidCrystal_I2C, Adafruit NeoPixel, Servo (ESP32Servo on the ESP32) and Wire. You can add a library of your own as a zip or as .h and .cpp files on every plan.
Moving a Tinkercad project over
Tinkercad keeps a design on its own servers and has no file that says how it is wired, so no tool can import a Tinkercad circuit whole. You can bring the code and the parts list: copy the code from the Code panel in Text mode, copy the Component List, and paste both on Mokxi’s import page. The parts are placed with their values and the code goes on the Uno, ready for you to wire.
To move an Uno sketch to an ESP32, change the pin numbers and check the voltages. The ESP32 runs at 3.3 V, so a 5 V sensor output needs a divider or a level shifter on its way into a GPIO, and analogRead returns 0 to 4095 instead of 0 to 1023.
A first ESP32 project to try
If you are coming from Tinkercad’s Uno, start with something you already know. Open the ESP32-C3 blink or button example, change the pin number, and run it: the code is the same Arduino code you wrote before. Then try the room sensor above, which adds a DHT22, a light sensor and a PIR on one board. The ESP32 beginner projects page lists ten more in a sensible order, each one running in the browser.
When Tinkercad is still the better answer
Mokxi has no block coding and no 3D design. For students young enough to need blocks, Tinkercad is the better first tool, and Mokxi is a good next step once they write text. And if your school has approved Tinkercad and you only use the Uno, switching costs time for little gain.
Questions
Does Tinkercad have an ESP32?
No. Tinkercad Circuits simulates the Arduino Uno, the micro:bit and the ATtiny. For an ESP32 you need another simulator, such as Mokxi or Wokwi.
Can I simulate an ESP32-C3 SuperMini online?
Yes. Mokxi has the ESP32-C3 SuperMini and the ESP32-C3-DevKitM-1, free in the browser, with your Arduino code compiled in the tab.
Can Tinkercad simulate a DHT22 or an OLED?
Check Tinkercad’s component panel for the part you need; its list changes over time. Mokxi has the DHT11, the DHT22 and the SSD1306 OLED on every board, including the Uno, with the usual libraries built in.
Is there an ESP32 simulator with WiFi?
Mokxi simulates WiFi on a network inside the browser: a sketch can serve pages and make HTTP requests to a mock server, but not reach the real internet. Wokwi’s simulated WiFi can reach the internet and supports MQTT.
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