Quick summary: ESPHome 2026.11.0b2 arrived on 6 November as a pre-release, adding an experimental ESP32PriceAliExpress price OpenThread border router, sleepy Zigbee end-device support, lower-memory framework changes and more than 30 new components. It is a beta, not the stable 2026.11 release, so the feature set and upgrade notes can still change.
The beta is more than a component refresh
The most important framework work is intended to make larger configurations less wasteful. ESPHome says strings and constant tables have been moved out of runtime RAM where possible, while generated automations now use simpler C++ control flow. That should leave more headroom for busy ESP8266Price and ESP32AliExpress price builds, although the saving will vary with each configuration and should not be treated as a universal benchmark.
Reliability work is also prominent. Native ESPHome OTA can fall back to UDP when Wi-Fi is lossy, the captive portal gains its own web server, and a cached DHCP lease should shorten reconnection time. HTTP request actions are now non-blocking, which is useful for responsive automations but changes how repeated calls from scripts behave.
The ESP32-specific changes
The headline addition for connected-home developers is an experimental OpenThread border router component for ESP32 targets. The beta documentation says this path requires ESP-IDF 5.5.5 or newer. It is an early implementation rather than a promise that every ESP32 board can immediately become a production Thread border router: radio choice, exposed pins, memory, firmware configuration and the surrounding network still matter.
ESPHome’s Zigbee work also expands beyond always-awake devices. The release adds sleepy end-device support and exposes reporting, manufacturer and version settings. Elsewhere, a new ESP32 ULP coprocessor component opens the door to low-power background tasks, while ESP32 camera users gain an RTSP server, sensor windowing or digital zoom, capture delay and a single-image trigger. Secure Connections support has also been added to the ESP32 BLE server.
Beta 2 itself fixes several regressions found during testing. These include ESP32-P4 deep sleep, Windows builds using ESP32 BLE, voice-assistant playback state, BME280/BMP280 compensation at a raw edge value, LD2410/LD2412 device classes and RP2040/RP2350 LED-strip behaviour. The P4 deep-sleep correction is explicitly labelled as a breaking change, so affected test devices deserve a fresh sleep-and-wake check.
What existing configurations need to check
This release has several migration points. Every sub-device declared under esphome: devices: now needs a relation value of via or child. That change lines up with the child-device model introduced alongside Home Assistant 2026.11, but older YAML will need editing before it validates.
Because http_request actions no longer block scripts, a script in the default single mode can skip a second invocation while the first request is still running; queued or parallel mode may be appropriate where every request matters. ESP-IDF 5.0 pins must move to 5.1 or later, internal entities shown by web_server need include_internal, and several long-deprecated options have now been removed.
Availability and practical verdict
ESPHome 2026.11.0b2 is available now from the project’s GitHub releases and beta documentation. Makers who want the new Thread, Zigbee, ULP or camera work can test it on non-critical hardware and keep a known-good firmware image. Production installations are better served by waiting for the stable release unless a specific beta fix is essential.
For context, see our coverage of ESPHome 2026.10.2, the Home Assistant 2026.11 child-device change and the Home Assistant 2026.11 stable release.
Sources
ESPHome 2026.11.0b2 release on GitHub (released 6 November 2026; marked pre-release).
ESPHome 2026.11 beta changelog (current pre-release documentation).
