ESPHome 2026.10: Faster ESP8266 Builds, Compressed OTA
ESPHome 2026.10.0 is out with two headline changes for DIY smart home builders: the native ESP8266 toolchain is now the default, cutting cold compile times nearly in half, and over-the-air updates are compressed on ESP32, RP2040, LibreTiny and host builds, shrinking transfers by about a third. The release also adds 20 new components, outgoing Home Assistant API connections, and a browser-based Device Builder that can flash every supported chip family.