Compare different NFC Chips to better understand which one to choose between MIFARE®, NTAG®, ICODE®, based on memory, compatibility, and other.
- Technical Specifications of NTAG® NFC ICs
- Technical Specifications of ST25TA NFC ICs
- Technical Specifications of ST25TV NFC ICs
- Technical Specifications of ICODE® SLIX ICs
- Technical Specifications of other NFC ICs
- Glossary
You can find different types of NFC Chips on Shop NFC, such as: NTAG® Series, MIFARE Classic®, MIFARE Ultralight®, MIFARE® DESFire®, MIFARE Plus®, ST25TA and ICODE® Series.
In general, NTAG® Series ICs are compatible with every NFC mobile device. The Operative Frequency of NFC Tags is 13.56 MHz.
NFC Tags does not work on metal surfaces. If you need to use the NFC Tags close to metal, you should choose the On-Metal NFC Tags which are specially made for this purpose.
To better understand the technical characteristics of the different types of NFC Tags, please refer to the following tables, which will help you to better understand what kind of Tags you need.
See Also:
- the Apps you can use to write an NFC Tag
- smartphones and tablets compatible with NFC tag
- NFC FAQ
- how to choose NFC Tags
- how to choose an NFC Reader
Technical specifications of NTAG® NFC ICs (ISO 14443-A)
NTAG213 - NTAG215 - NTAG216
| NTAG213 / NTAG213 TT | NTAG215 | NTAG216 | |
| Total capacity (1) | 180 bytes | 540 bytes | 924 bytes |
| Available memory (2) | 144 bytes | 504 bytes | 888 bytes |
| URL length (3) | 132 characters | 492 characters | 854 characters |
| Text length (4) | 130 characters | 490 characters | 852 characters |
| V-Card Fields (5) | 4-5 | 9-10 | 10+ |
| Data retention | 10 years | ||
| Read/write endurance | 100,000 cycles | ||
| Why choose this chip | Great chip, very versatile. It is expected that will replace the predecessor NTAG203. |
Good memory, even if smaller than NTAG216. | The latest chip, with higher capacity and high scan strength. Perfect for V-Card or other uses that require high storage. |
| NFC Forum Specifics (6) | NFC Forum Type 2 | ||
| Encryption (7) | Not supported | ||
| Serial Number (UID) (8) | Yes (7 bytes) | ||
| Compatibility (9) | Compatible with all NFC Smartphones, NFC Tablets, and ISO14443-A NFC Readers (check software compatibility) | ||
| Password Protection (10) | Yes | ||
| Scan Counter | Yes | ||
NTAG203 - NTAG210 - NTAG210μ - NTAG212
| NTAG203 | NTAG210 / NTAG210μ |
NTAG212 | |
| Total capacity (1) | 168 bytes | 80 bytes | 164 bytes |
| Available memory (2) | 137 bytes | 48 bytes | 128 bytes |
| URL length (3) | 132 characters | 41 characters | 122 characters |
| Text length (4) | 130 characters | 39 characters | 120 characters |
| V-Card Fields (5) | 4-5 | 1-2 | 3-4 |
| Data retention | 5 years | 10 years | |
| Read/write endurance | 10,000 cycles | 100,000 cycles | |
| Why choose this chip | Obsolete. Replaced by Ntag213. | Very cheap. Ideal for URLs and short codes, or where only UID is needed. | Unusual chip. It can be used in marketing or where more memory is required than NTAG210. |
| NFC Forum Specifics (6) | NFC Forum Type 2 | ||
| Encryption (7) | Not supported | ||
| Serial Number (UID) (8) | Yes (7 bytes) | ||
| Compatibility (9) | Compatible with all NFC Smartphones, NFC Tablets, and ISO14443-A NFC Readers (check software compatibility) | ||
| Password Protection (10) | No | Yes / No | Yes |
| Scan Counter | No | ||
NTAG 413 DNA - NTAG 424 DNA
| NTAG413 DNA | NTAG424 DNA | ||
| Available memory (2) | 128 bytes | 256 bytes | |
| Communication rate | 424 kbps | 848 kbps | |
| Data retention | 50 years | ||
| Read/write endurance | Min. 200,000 cycles (typically 500,000) | ||
| Why choose this chip / Special features |
Supporting Secure Unique NFC Message (SUN), which enable and simpify at the same time many applcications involving security and encryption, such as: advanced anti-counterfeiting, secured sensitive data applications, secure login, authentication, etc. File system compliant with ISO 7816 |
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| NFC Forum Specifics (6) | NFC Forum Type 4 | ||
| Encryption (7) | AES-128 | ||
| Serial Number (UID) (8) | Yes (7 bytes) | ||
| Compatibility (9) | Compatible with all NFC Smartphones, NFC Tablets, and ISO14443-A NFC Readers (check software compatibility) | ||
| Scan Counter | Yes (32 bytes) | ||
More info on: NTAG chips
Technical specifications of ST25TA NFC ICs (ISO 14443-A)
| ST25TA512B | ST25TA02KB | ST25TA16K | ST25TA64K | |
| Available memory (2) | 512 bit / 64 byte | 2048 bit / 256 byte | 16 kbit / 2 kbyte | 64 kbit / 8 kbyte |
| Data retention | 200 years | |||
| Read/write endurance | 1 million cycles | |||
| Why choose this chip | For the high number of read/write cycles supported; for the long-term data retention; for the password protection both in reading and writing mode. | For the high number of read/write cycles supported; for the long-term data retention; for the password protection both in reading and writing mode; for memory (greater than NTAG216 one). | ||
| NFC Forum Specifics (6) | Type 4 | |||
| Encryption (7) | No | |||
| Serial Number (UID) (8) | Yes (7 byte) | |||
| Compatibility (9) | Compatible with NFC smartphones and ISO14443-A NFC Readers (check software compatibility) | |||
| Password Protection (10) | Yes (both in reading and writing mode) | |||
| Scan Counter | Yes | No | ||
| TruST25™ digital signature | Yes | No | ||
Technical specifications of ST25TV NFC ICs (ISO 15693)
| ST25TV512 | ST25TV02K | |
| Total user memory (2) | 512 bits / 64 bytes | 2048 bits / 256 bytes |
| Data retention | 60 years | |
| Read/write endurance | 100,000 cycles | |
| Why choose this chip |
|
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| NFC Forum Specifics (6) | NFC Forum Type V | |
| Encryption (7) | No | |
| Serial Number (UID) (8) | Yes (8 bytes) | |
| Compatibility (9) | Compatible with NFC smartphones and ISO 15693 NFC Readers (check software compatibility) | |
| Password Protection (10) | Yes (both in reading and writing mode) | |
| Scan Counter | Yes | |
| TruST25™ digital signature | Yes | |
Technical specification of ICODE® SLIX ICs (ISO 15693, ISO 18000)
| ICODE® SLIX-L | ICODE® SLIX | ICODE® SLIX-S | ICODE® SLIX 2 | |
| Total capacity (1) | 32 bytes | 112 bytes | 160 bytes | 316 bytes |
| Data Retention | 50 years | |||
| Write Endurance | 100,000 cycles | |||
| Why choose this chip | Inventory, supply chain management, asset tracking, automation. | Inventory, supply chain management, anti-counterfeting. | Inventory, supply chain management, anti-counterfeting. | Inventory, supply chain management, anti-counterfeting, asset tracking, ticketing. |
| NFC Forum Specifics (6) | Type V | |||
| Password protection | No | Yes | ||
| Serial Number (UID) (8) | Yes (8 bytes) | |||
| Compatibility (9) | Compatible with NFC smartphones and ISO15693 NFC Readers (check software compatibility) | |||
More info on: ICODE® chips
Technical Specifications of other types of NFC Tags
| MIFARE Classic® EV1 1k | MIFARE Classic® EV1 4k | MIFARE Ultralight® EV1 | |
| Total capacity (1) | 1 kb (1024 bytes) | 4 kb (4048 bytes) | 64 bytes |
| Available memory (2) | 716 bytes | 3440 bytes | 46 bytes |
| URL length (3) | 256 characters | 2000 characters | 41 characters |
| Text length (4) | 709 characters | about 3000 characters | 39 characters |
| V-Card Fields (5) | 9-10 | 10+ | 1-2 |
| Why choose this chip | Use these ones only if you are using readers and/or softwares only compatible with MIFARE Classic® standard. Their hardware encryption is no longer secure. The large memory could be useful, but we suggest to use MIFARE® DESFire® IC instead. | Cost effective, short URLs, smart poster and general NFC use. | |
| NFC Forum T2 (6) | No | Yes | |
| Cryptography (7) | Yes (not recommended) | No | |
| Serial number UID (8) | Yes (4 or 7 byte) | Yes (7 byte) | |
| Universal Compatibility (9) | No | Format could be needed | |
More info on: Mifare Classic® - Mifare Ultralight® - Mifare® Desfire®
Glossary
- Total capacity: is the total memory of the Tag. Part of it, however, is not writable, as required for some functions.
- Available memory: the actual memory you have to write data to the NFC Tag.
- URL length: The maximum number of characters that a link on this Tag can contain, net of the 'http://www.'
- Text length: The maximum number of characters that you can write on this NFC Tag.
- V-Card Fields: V-Card is the standard for import or export contacts of an address book. The values are approximate because the number depends of the length of each field.
- NFC Forum specifications: compatibility with the technical specifications drawn up by the NFC Forum. For more information, please visit http://www.nfc-forum.org.
- Encryption: a safety feature on the chip, which can help prevent the cloning is an advanced feature that requires technical skills, but not necessary for standard use.
- Serial Number: the Tag contains a unique ID.
- Universal Compatibility: nTag chips are the only compatible with every smartphone and tablet. To check other compatibility, see the list of NFC enabled smartphones and tablets
- Password Protection: NTAG® and ICODE® SLIX S ICs can be protected with a password to prevent them from rewriting. A pw-protected NFC Tag cannot be overwritten, but can be read by everyone. You can use a 32-bit password. To use this feature, we recommend the NXP app, NFC TagWriter. ST25TA chips can be protected both in reading and writing mode. A Tag protected in read mode is unreadable.
More general info on NFC Tags
MIFARE®, NTAG®, MIFARE Classic®, MIFARE Ultralight®, MIFARE Plus®, DESFire® and ICODE® are trademarks of NXP Semiconductors.
