Adafruit Metro ESP32-P4 Hydra: A $34.95 Uno-Shaped P4 Board

Adafruit's Metro line has always been about taking powerful chips and putting them in the friendly Arduino Uno footprint makers already know. The new Metro ESP32-P4 Hydra, which went on sale on October 26, 2026, does that with Espressif's fastest microcontroller yet, then adds a second chip for Wi-Fi 6. At $34.95, it is one of the most approachable ways to get an ESP32-P4 board with camera and display connectors onto your bench.

• Price: $34.95 from the Adafruit store (product ID 6536), limited to two per customer at launch
• Main chip: ESP32-P4 with a dual-core 32-bit RISC-V CPU at up to 360 MHz, plus 16MB PSRAM and 16MB QSPI NOR flash
• Wireless: an ESP32-C6 co-processor over SDIO for Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth LE 5.3, Thread and Zigbee
• Video: two-lane MIPI DSI and CSI connectors in the Raspberry Pi 22-pin format

What's Inside the Metro ESP32-P4 Hydra?

The "Hydra" name fits a board with two Espressif chips. The ESP32-P4 does the heavy lifting: two high-performance RISC-V cores with AI instruction extensions and a single-precision FPU, a 40 MHz low-power core, 768KB of on-chip L2 memory, a 2D pixel processing accelerator and hardware H.264 and JPEG support. Because the P4 has no radio of its own, Adafruit pairs it with an ESP32-C6 that handles wireless. Adafruit notes that Bluetooth, Thread and Zigbee on the C6 may need extra firmware work to expose.

The rest of the spec sheet reads like a well-stocked development board:

• USB: a USB-C port for power, serial debug, JTAG and TinyUF2 drag-and-drop updates, plus a USB 2.0 High-Speed Type-A host port with its own 5V boost supply
• Expansion: Arduino Uno headers with D0 to D13 and six analog inputs, a separate SPI header and a STEMMA QT connector for I2C and I3C sensors
• Storage and power: a microSD slot, a 7 to 12V barrel jack and a single-cell LiPo connector with onboard charging
• Size: 72.3 x 53.3 x 14.7 mm

One detail to note before ordering: Adafruit is shipping the original ESP32-P4 "v1" chip, not the newer ESP32-P4X v3 revision, and its product page says buyers who need the P4X should wait.

Which Raspberry Pi Displays and Cameras Work With It?

The MIPI connectors follow the Raspberry Pi format, so off-the-shelf Pi accessories plug straight in. Adafruit lists the 5-inch and 7-inch Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 panels (720 x 1280, capacitive touch) and Pi Zero-style cameras with the OV5647 sensor. The newer IMX708-based Camera Module 3 is not supported. That makes this single-board microcontroller a natural fit for touch control panels, smart doorbells, camera-based sensors and other human-machine interface projects.

What Software Does the ESP32-P4 Hydra Support?

You can program it today with Espressif's ESP-IDF framework, and the board is supported in CircuitPython 11.0.0-alpha.2, although the ESP32-P4 CircuitPython port is still in alpha. Adafruit says Arduino support is in progress. CNX Software also notes that detailed documentation is still being written, so early buyers should expect some rough edges.

Where the Hydra Fits in the ESP32-P4 Lineup

The ESP32-P4 has quickly become the go-to chip for display-heavy maker projects, from the $32 Wireless-Tag WT32P4C5-43S touch display to LILYGO's T-HaLow P4. The Hydra's angle is the Uno layout, Pi-compatible connectors and Adafruit's CircuitPython ecosystem. If you are still deciding which chip family suits your build, our ESP32 variant buyer's guide breaks down the options. More boards like this live in our mini computers section.

Sources: CNX Software — October 26, 2026; Adafruit product page — October 26, 2026.