MIFARE vs. NFC Forum Tag Types
Comparing 2 standards across 13 specifications. 12 key differences identified.
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.
NFC Forum Tag Types (Types 1 through 5) are standardized memory and communication specifications established by the NFC Forum, operating at 13.56 MHz. They define how data is formatted in NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF) across underlying ISO/IEC 14443 Type A/B, FeliCa, and ISO/IEC 15693 radio architectures.
Specification Comparison Table
13 Parameters| Parameter / Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Frequency Bands
|
13.56 MHz | 13.56 MHz |
|
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) | — |
|
Data Format Standard
|
— | NDEF (NFC Data Exchange Format) |
|
Type 1 Baseline
|
— | Innovision Topaz (ISO 14443-A, 106 kbps, 96B–2KB) |
|
Type 2 Baseline
|
— | NXP NTAG / MIFARE Ultralight (ISO 14443-A, 106 kbps, 48B–2KB) |
|
Type 3 Baseline
|
— | Sony FeliCa Lite (JIS X 6319-4, 212/424 kbps, up to 1MB) |
|
Type 4 Baseline
|
— | ISO/IEC 14443 Type A & B T=CL (106–848 kbps, up to 32KB) |
|
Type 5 Baseline
|
— | ISO/IEC 15693 Vicinity (26.48 kbps, up to 64KB) |