Which IoT connectivity should I use?
Answer six questions about range, power, data, mobility, network and latency and see which of twelve IoT radio options fit best, with every rule shown.
Most IoT projects narrow the radio choice with the same six questions. Pick an answer for each one (or only the ones you know) and the picker ranks twelve options by how well they match. It is a first filter, not a design review: coverage where you deploy, module cost, certification and the ecosystem you sell into can overturn the result. The background is in the IoT connectivity overview, and long-range options are compared under LPWAN.
Last checked 22 October 2026. The fit ratings below are our editorial judgment from each technology's design goals, not measurements. Every fact on this page links to its primary source. If something has changed, write to us and it will be corrected and logged on the editorial policy page.
How the picker decides
- Each answer gives every option 2 points if the option is a good fit, 1 point if it is possible with some effort or cost, and 0 points if it is a poor fit.
- An option that is a poor fit for the range you need ranks after every option that can reach it, whatever its other points. Then options with fewer poor fits rank first, and among options with the same number of poor fits the higher total wins.
- Ties keep the order of the table below. Unanswered questions are ignored.
- The top three are shown with the answers they fit well and the answers they fit poorly.
The table lists, for each option, which answers count as a good fit and which as possible. Any answer not listed scores 0.
| Option | How far must the signal reach? | How is the device powered? | How much data per message? | Does the device move? | Who runs the network? | How fast must a message arrive? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wi-Fi | Good: A room, A building Possible: A campus or a city | Good: Mains power Possible: Battery, months | Good: Kilobytes, Megabytes or more Possible: Bytes | Good: Fixed Possible: Moving | Good: You run it | Good: Seconds are fine, Under a second |
| Bluetooth LE | Good: A room Possible: A building | Good: Mains power, Battery, months, Battery, years | Good: Bytes, Kilobytes | Good: Fixed, Moving | Good: You run it | Good: Seconds are fine, Under a second |
| Zigbee | Good: A room, A building Possible: A campus or a city | Good: Mains power, Battery, months, Battery, years | Good: Bytes Possible: Kilobytes | Good: Fixed | Good: You run it | Good: Seconds are fine, Under a second |
| Thread | Good: A room, A building Possible: A campus or a city | Good: Mains power, Battery, months, Battery, years | Good: Bytes Possible: Kilobytes | Good: Fixed | Good: You run it | Good: Seconds are fine, Under a second |
| Z-Wave | Good: A room, A building Possible: A campus or a city | Good: Mains power, Battery, months, Battery, years | Good: Bytes Possible: Kilobytes | Good: Fixed | Good: You run it | Good: Seconds are fine, Under a second |
| LoRaWAN | Good: A building, A campus or a city Possible: A room, A country or more | Good: Mains power, Battery, months, Battery, years | Good: Bytes | Good: Fixed Possible: Moving | Good: You run it, An operator runs it | Good: Seconds are fine |
| Sigfox | Good: A campus or a city, A country or more Possible: A building | Good: Mains power, Battery, months, Battery, years | Good: Bytes | Good: Fixed, Moving | Good: An operator runs it | Possible: Seconds are fine |
| NB-IoT | Good: A campus or a city, A country or more Possible: A building | Good: Mains power, Battery, months, Battery, years | Good: Bytes, Kilobytes | Good: Fixed | Good: An operator runs it | Good: Seconds are fine |
| LTE-M | Good: A campus or a city, A country or more Possible: A building | Good: Mains power, Battery, months Possible: Battery, years | Good: Bytes, Kilobytes Possible: Megabytes or more | Good: Fixed, Moving | Good: An operator runs it | Good: Seconds are fine Possible: Under a second |
| 5G RedCap | Good: A campus or a city, A country or more Possible: A building | Good: Mains power Possible: Battery, months | Good: Kilobytes, Megabytes or more Possible: Bytes | Good: Fixed, Moving | Good: An operator runs it Possible: You run it | Good: Seconds are fine, Under a second |
| Satellite IoT | Good: A country or more Possible: A campus or a city | Good: Mains power, Battery, months Possible: Battery, years | Good: Bytes Possible: Kilobytes | Good: Fixed, Moving | Good: An operator runs it | Possible: Seconds are fine |
| Wi-Fi HaLow | Good: A building, A campus or a city Possible: A room | Good: Mains power, Battery, months Possible: Battery, years | Good: Bytes, Kilobytes Possible: Megabytes or more | Good: Fixed Possible: Moving | Good: You run it | Good: Seconds are fine, Under a second |
The twelve options in one line each
- Wi-Fi. Uses the network most buildings already have and carries plenty of data, but keeps a radio busy, so it suits mains-powered devices. Official body: Wi-Fi Alliance. Read: Wi-Fi in the glossary.
- Bluetooth LE. Low power and present on every phone, so it suits wearables, beacons and devices set up from an app at short range. Official body: Bluetooth SIG. Read: Bluetooth Low Energy for IoT.
- Zigbee. A low-power mesh for sensors, switches and lights across a building, with a large installed base of devices. Official body: Connectivity Standards Alliance. Read: Zigbee explained.
- Thread. A low-power IPv6 mesh for building-scale sensors and controls, and the low-power transport most Matter devices use. Official body: Thread Group. Read: Thread explained.
- Z-Wave. A sub-GHz home automation mesh with a certified device ecosystem; a good fit for home controls, not for data-heavy devices. Official body: Z-Wave Alliance. Read: Z-Wave in the glossary.
- LoRaWAN. Long range from small batteries for small, infrequent messages; you can run your own gateways or use a network operator. Official body: LoRa Alliance. Read: LoRaWAN explained.
- Sigfox. Tiny, infrequent messages from very cheap devices over an operator network; check coverage and the operator's plans first. Official body: UnaBiz. Read: Sigfox in the glossary.
Status: Sigfox SA went into receivership, and on 21 April 2022 the Commercial Court of Toulouse appointed UnaBiz as the new owner of Sigfox SA and Sigfox France SAS. UnaBiz now presents itself as the owner of the "Sigfox 0G technology" and runs the network with national partner operators. Sources: UnaBiz announcement, UnaBiz home page. Before you commit, confirm coverage in every country you ship to and the operator's long-term plans.
- NB-IoT. Operator cellular for fixed devices that send small messages and sleep for long periods, with good reach indoors and underground. Official body: 3GPP. Read: NB-IoT and LTE-M explained.
- LTE-M. Operator cellular for devices that move or need more data than NB-IoT, still with power-saving modes for battery devices. Official body: 3GPP. Read: NB-IoT and LTE-M explained.
- 5G RedCap. Reduced-capability 5G for devices that need more throughput than LTE-M, such as industrial sensors, video surveillance and wearables. Official body: 3GPP. Read: 5G RedCap in the glossary.
- Satellite IoT. Coverage where no terrestrial network reaches, for small messages from remote or moving assets such as ships, pipelines and herds. Official body: 3GPP. Read: Satellite IoT in the glossary.
- Wi-Fi HaLow. Wi-Fi in sub-1 GHz spectrum: longer range and better wall penetration than ordinary Wi-Fi, on a network you run yourself. Official body: Wi-Fi Alliance. Read: Wi-Fi HaLow in the glossary.
After the radio
The radio moves bits; you still need an application protocol on top. Most cloud-connected fleets use MQTT, while constrained devices on IPv6 networks such as Thread often use CoAP. For smart home products, Matter runs over Wi-Fi, Thread and Ethernet; see which hubs support it in the Matter support table.
More tools: all IoT tools.