# How much power does the SDK really consume on the ESP32-C6

**URL:** <https://forum.qoitech.com/t/how-much-power-does-the-sdk-really-consume-on-the-esp32-c6/576>\
**Category:** Tutorials\
**Created:** [July 2, 2026, 1:12pm UTC](https://forum.qoitech.com/t/how-much-power-does-the-sdk-really-consume-on-the-esp32-c6/576 "2026-07-02T13:12:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mariahernandez](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/forum.qoitech.com/mariahernandez/32/491_2.png) [@mariahernandez](https://forum.qoitech.com/u/mariahernandez)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 1:12pm UTC](https://forum.qoitech.com/t/how-much-power-does-the-sdk-really-consume-on-the-esp32-c6/576/1 "2026-07-02T13:12:33Z")

</div>

![](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/uploads/qoitech/original/1X/208c4c05bffa1e8657fcceade7770b07a89d9992.jpeg)

Kevin Leon ran a power comparison of Arduino, Zephyr RTOS, and ESP-IDF using the same workloads and an automated measurement setup with Otii.

The study looks at workload measurements, SDK overhead, UART sync, automation methods, and real ESP32-C6 power trace analysis.

Some interesting findings:

- ESP-IDF had the most stable and lowest power use right from the start.

- Zephyr introduced a consistent RTOS overhead of roughly 10–12%.
- Arduino showed surprisingly good active efficiency, but also unexpected idle behavior and even a stack overflow event visible directly in the power trace.

Read the full study 👇

> **[ESP32-C6 power consumption: Arduino vs Zephyr vs ESP-IDF comparison](https://www.qoitech.com/blog/esp32-c6-power-consumption-comparison/)**
>
> Learn from our Arduino, ESP-IDF, and Zephyr RTOS ESP32-C6 power consumption benchmark for most efficient IoT framework.