Unfortunately an ESP32-based gadget is not really in the same class as a rpi-based device; it won't be able to send/receive email, browse internet, run applications like ping/traceroute/tcpdumpetc (useful as a mobile diagnostic tool), run MAME (seriously, a portable computer that doesn't have games is useless to me) and can't easily be programmed for.

At this point, and at these prices, there are very specific use-cases for esp32-based devices, and they are mostly all single-use devices (i.e. capture then process some video, caching it then transmitting it for remote storage is one use-case I have seen in the wild).

An rpi device is much more general.