Which Arduino for many analogue sensors (and WiFi)? For context, I come from a very software-heavy background so I know very little about hardware.
I'm looking to build a system that requires at least 6 sensors (pH, electrical conductivity, humidity, temperature, light intensity, flow rate), and I want to send all of this input over WiFi at ~10 minute intervals. Most of these sensors will be analogue.
I noticed that for example the Arduino Uno only has 6 analogue inputs. Plus from research, I would need to connect a WiFi module to the Uno which seems too much of a hassle and added cost.
I'm looking at the ARDUINO NANO 33 IOT right now. It seems perfect for what I want to do since it's cheap, has 8 analogue pins, and has WiFi out-of-the-box. Is my reasoning correct in choosing this Arduino? I'm wondering why something with WiFi capability and more pins is cheaper than the Uno.
Thanks in advance!
For short answer: Just use NodeMCU ESP32 or any ESP32 dev board.
TLDR;

ESP32 is actually a wifi module but has very powerful processor (240MHz max), way more faster than Arduino Uno (atmega328 @16MHz). Because of this, wifi comes as natural for ESP32.
You can even buy ESP32 dev board around US$10 (include shipping) while the esp32 module itself costs only $5
Arduino UNO 33 IOT is simply SAMD21 (@48MHz) with external wifi module. This wifi module alone costs about US$10. This configuration is similar to Arduino UNO + wifi shield but of course cheaper because you don't need an extra costly shield for wifi.
The expensive wifi shield is actually HDG204 wifi SIP (system in package) + 32-bit AVR AT32UC3C1512C (66MHz max). Pretty much the wifi shield piggy back on Arduino UNO is 4 times faster than 8-bit micro atmega328 of Arduino UNO. So... it's pricey.
Edit:
ESP32 has 2x 12-bit ADC with 16 channels exposed out to IO pin on most of ESP32 dev board.
If you just read some temperature sensors, range finder sensors, humidity sensors... You are good with most of ADC inside microcontrollers these days. Unless you are building instrumentational device, well, this is a whole different story.