esp-idf vs arduino

[mairswartz]

Hi,
I am looking for high level comparisons between esp32 for Arduino and esp-idf. I would like to know which one should I invest time in to study and why. There seems to be a ton of Arduino resources out there so why would I choose the IDF. is it more reliable? are there things I can do with FREERTOS that I can't do with Arduino?

Thanks in advance

[sukeshak]

If you are looking for hobby use... Arduino is a good option... Arduino has more library support etc...

If you are looking for prototype and production, its better to go with ESP-IDF... but there is nothing wrong in starting with Arduino and then jumping over once ready.

If you are new to these devices Arduino will be much easier as a start.

[WiFive]

The problem with some Arduino library code is that it has no hardware specific optimizations