Simscuit vs Wokwi
Wokwi and Simscuit both simulate Arduino and ESP32 projects in a browser, but they are built differently and are best at different things. Wokwi runs your compiled firmware on a simulated chip; Simscuit works out the circuit’s electrical behaviour and runs sketches in its own interpreter. This page explains what that means for you, using Wokwi’s own documentation for Wokwi.
Where Simscuit leads
Wokwi is outstanding at running firmware. Simscuit leads wherever the circuit, the learning and the rest of the project matter.
- The circuit itself is simulated: Simscuit works out every voltage and current, so a missing resistor, a wrong value or an overloaded pin shows real numbers, not only the code’s view of the pins.
- Real electrical consequences: parts pushed past the limits in their datasheet records glow, smoke and burn out, and the Problems panel shows the exact figure that was exceeded and the rating it broke. Hover over any pin or wire to read its voltage and current.
- Breadboard practice with more than 1,000 components drawn at real size, each spec linked to its datasheet source.
- The whole project in one browser tab: circuit, code, simulation, a two-layer PCB, a 3D-printable enclosure, a robot, a phone app (App Builder) and courses, all from the same project, with nothing to install. Wokwi’s documentation describes simulation, not PCB layout or 3D design.
- Manufacturing files from the same circuit: Gerber X2, Excellon drill, BOM and pick-and-place, plus a KiCad 7 project, checked with an independent Gerber reader and by loading them in KiCad 7.
- Robots with real physics (arms, walkers and a hexapod on MuJoCo; rovers with mass, grip and slip) programmed with ordinary Arduino sketches.
- Bench instruments on the canvas: multimeter, two-channel oscilloscope, logic analyser, function generator, bench power supply and more, adjustable live while the circuit runs.
- Python courses that run real CPython (Pyodide) and C++ courses that compile with real Clang, in the browser, with certificates. Organisation workspaces give schools student accounts.
- Every project can stay private on the free plan; Wokwi’s free plan makes projects public.
What Wokwi is
Wokwi is an online electronics simulator for Arduino, ESP32, STM32, Raspberry Pi Pico and other boards. It supports ARM, AVR, RISC-V and Xtensa architectures, and it runs real firmware: you can write Arduino code, MicroPython, CircuitPython or Rust, or upload your own .bin, .elf or .uf2 file built with ESP-IDF or another toolchain.
Its documentation lists Wi-Fi simulation (MQTT, HTTP, NTP and other protocols), a virtual logic analyser, GDB debugging, SD card simulation, a Chips API for making your own parts, Visual Studio Code integration and a command-line tool for running tests in CI. All users can use libraries from the Arduino Library Manager.
What Wokwi does especially well
- Fidelity to the chip: because it runs the compiled firmware, interrupts, timers, FreeRTOS tasks and third-party libraries behave as the code says.
- The ESP32 family in depth: ESP32, S2, S3, C3, C6, H2 and more, with peripherals listed one by one in its documentation.
- Wi-Fi: a simulated ESP32 can reach the internet through Wokwi’s gateway.
- Professional workflows: VS Code, GDB and automated firmware tests in GitHub Actions or GitLab CI.
- Languages beyond Arduino: MicroPython, CircuitPython and Rust.
- A large community sharing projects by link.
Feature by feature
| Simscuit | Wokwi | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free to start; paid Plus, Pro and Institution plans | Free for personal use; Hobby €5.6, Hobby+ €8.1 and Pro €20 per seat a month billed annually; free Community licence for open-source projects; Classroom licence |
| Platform | Web browser on a computer, tablet or phone; installable as an app | Web browser; Wokwi for VS Code (Hobby+ and Pro); CLI for CI |
| Boards | About 20 boards: Arduino Uno, Uno R4 WiFi, Nano, Nano ESP32, Nano 33 BLE Sense, Mega, Leonardo, Due, MKR WiFi 1010, ESP32 DevKit, ESP32-S3, XIAO ESP32C3, NodeMCU ESP8266, Raspberry Pi Pico W, XIAO RP2040, STM32 Nucleo and Blue Pill, Teensy 4.1, micro:bit, Circuit Playground Express, plus bare ATmega and ATtiny chips | Arduino Uno, Nano, Mega, ATtiny85; ESP32, S2, S3, C3, C6, H2 and more; STM32C031, STM32L031, STM32F103C8; Raspberry Pi Pico, Pico W, Pico 2 and Pico 2 W |
| Simulation approach | Works out the circuit’s voltages and currents (nodal analysis with Newton iteration); sketches run in Simscuit’s own Arduino interpreter | Compiles the code and runs the firmware on a simulated microcontroller with its peripherals |
| Languages | Arduino C++ (a supported subset) | Arduino, ESP-IDF, MicroPython, CircuitPython, Rust and custom firmware |
| Wi-Fi and Bluetooth | Not simulated | ESP32 Wi-Fi simulated; Bluetooth listed as not implemented |
| PCB design | Two-layer PCB Design Studio: autorouter, live design rule checks, Gerber X2, Excellon, BOM and placement files, KiCad 7 export | Not among the features its documentation describes |
| 3D design | 3D Design Studio: parametric CAD, assemblies, engineering drawings, STL, 3MF and OpenSCAD export | Not among the features its documentation describes |
| Robotics | Robotics simulator: rovers, arms, walkers, drones and an underwater ROV programmed with Arduino sketches | Servos, steppers and sensors as parts; no robot simulator described |
| Courses | Free Python and C++ for Beginners courses with certificates, games, quizzes and a 3D Explorer | Example projects and documentation |
| Offline use | Installable app with offline support; work is kept on the device and, when signed in, in the account | VS Code offline plug-in on the Pro plan |
| Accounts | Free account; organisation workspaces with student accounts made by administrators | Free plan with public projects; paid plans add unlisted projects, custom libraries and faster builds |
| What each lacks | No interrupts, classes, structs, pointers or other #include libraries in sketches yet; no Wi-Fi or Bluetooth simulation; compiling and uploading to a board are not available yet; parts without a model are Visual only | No electrical (SPICE-style) analysis of the circuit around the chip; Bluetooth, I2S and some peripherals not or only partly simulated; free projects are public |
What Simscuit does not do yet
- Sketches run in Simscuit’s own Arduino interpreter, which covers the common Arduino functions and a documented list of libraries; interrupts, classes, structs, pointers and other #include libraries are not supported yet.
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are not simulated.
- Compiling and uploading to a physical board are not available yet; sketches are exported as .ino files for the Arduino IDE.
- Parts without a simulation model can be placed and wired but are marked Visual only and left out of the simulation.
- There is no SPICE netlist, AC analysis or custom SPICE model import.
Verdict: who should pick which
- Pick Simscuit to learn electronics and Arduino together on a breadboard, to see the electrical results of every wiring choice, to teach a class, or to carry a project on to a PCB, an enclosure, a robot or an app. For students and makers building whole projects, it is the more complete tool.
- Pick Wokwi for firmware that must behave exactly as on the chip: interrupts, FreeRTOS, ESP-IDF, Wi-Fi and MQTT, third-party libraries, MicroPython or Rust, or automated tests in CI.
- Many people will use both: Wokwi to prove the firmware, Simscuit for the circuit, the board and the case.
Moving a sketch between them
- A Wokwi Arduino project keeps its code in sketch.ino and its libraries in libraries.txt. Copy sketch.ino into Simscuit’s code editor.
- Compare libraries.txt with Simscuit’s supported list (Help, Simulation Documentation in Circuit Studio). Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and libraries outside the list will not run in Simscuit.
- Rebuild the circuit on a breadboard in Simscuit; Wokwi’s diagram.json does not import.
- Going the other way is simpler: a sketch that runs in Simscuit is standard Arduino code, so it compiles in Wokwi and in the Arduino IDE.
Sources
Checked 6 November 2026. Products change: follow the links for the current details, and tell us if anything here is out of date.
Questions
Is Simscuit a Wokwi alternative?
For learning Arduino and ESP32 on a breadboard, yes. For firmware that needs the real chip’s behaviour (interrupts, ESP-IDF, Wi-Fi, MicroPython), Wokwi is the better tool.
Does Simscuit simulate ESP32 Wi-Fi like Wokwi?
No. Simscuit simulates the ESP32’s pins, ADC and logic levels but not Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.