ISO/IEC 15693 vs. MIFARE
Comparing 2 standards across 13 specifications. 12 key differences identified.
ISO/IEC 15693 (NFC Forum Type 5) is an international standard for High-Frequency (13.56 MHz) Vicinity Integrated Circuit Cards (VICC). Engineered with relaxed power requirements and highly sensitive subcarrier modulation, it achieves read ranges up to 1 to 1.5 meters, making it the standard for library item tracking, ski resort passes, and pharmaceutical logistics.
MIFARE is a proprietary contactless smart card technology developed by Mikron (now NXP Semiconductors) conforming to ISO/IEC 14443 Type A. Spanning MIFARE Classic, Ultralight, Plus, and DESFire EV1/2/3, it is widely cited by NXP and industry sources as the world's most widely deployed contactless smart card platform for transit ticketing and access control.
Specification Comparison Table
13 Parameters| Parameter / Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Frequency Bands
|
13.56 MHz | 13.56 MHz |
|
Operating Distance
|
Up to 1.0 to 1.5 m (Vicinity range) | — |
|
NFC Forum Classification
|
Type 5 Tag | — |
|
Data Rates (Downlink)
|
26.48 kbps (High data rate) / 1.65 kbps (Low rate) | — |
|
Downlink Modulation
|
100% or 10%–30% ASK (1-out-of-4 or 1-out-of-256 pulse position coding) | — |
|
Uplink Modulation
|
Manchester coding on 423.75 kHz single or dual subcarriers | — |
|
Prominent Silicon Families
|
NXP ICODE, STMicroelectronics ST25TV, Texas Instruments Tag-it | — |
|
Standard Compliance
|
— | ISO/IEC 14443-A (Parts 1–4 for DESFire/Plus) |
|
Communication Rate
|
— | 106 to 848 kbps |
|
Typical Read Range
|
— | 2.5 to 10 cm |
|
Primary Variants
|
— | Classic (1K/4K), Ultralight, Plus, DESFire EV1/EV2/EV3 |
|
Security Ciphers
|
— | Crypto-1 (Classic, Broken), AES-128 (Plus/DESFire), 3DES (DESFire EV1) |
|
Common Criteria Certification
|
— | EAL5+ (DESFire EV2/EV3) |