# item.guide
Side-by-Side Comparison Smart Cards & RFID

HID Prox & iCLASS vs. NFC Forum Tag Types

Comparing 2 standards across 12 specifications. 12 key differences identified.

Comparing:
HID Prox & iCLASS
NFC Forum Tag Types

HID Prox and iCLASS are proprietary physical access control credentials developed by HID Global. They encompass legacy 125 kHz unencrypted Prox (such as 26-bit Wiegand H10301), 13.56 MHz read/write iCLASS smart cards, and modern Seos microprocessor cards utilizing AES-128 encryption.

View full HID Prox & iCLASS spec sheet →

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.

View full NFC Forum Tag Types spec sheet →

Specification Comparison Table

12 Parameters
Parameter / Spec
Operating Frequencies
125 kHz (Prox) / 13.56 MHz (iCLASS / Seos) —
Common Bit Formats
26-bit H10301, 37-bit H10302/H10304, Corporate 1000 —
Standard Compliance (iCLASS)
ISO/IEC 15693 and ISO/IEC 14443-A/B —
Security Cryptography
None (Prox), 64-bit DES (Legacy iCLASS), AES-128 (iCLASS SE / Seos) —
Reader Interface Protocol
Wiegand / OSDP (Open Supervised Device Protocol) —
Frequency Bands
— 13.56 MHz
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)