125 kHz RFID Cards
125 kHz low-frequency RFID cards on chips such as TK4100, EM4200, EM4305, T5577 and HITAG 2, used for access control, time and attendance, parking and asset tracking.
RFID Cards
RFID and NFC cards for hotel keys, access credentials, transport and branded NFC programmes. Choose from 125 kHz, MIFARE Classic, DESFire, NTAG and UHF chips in PVC, paper, wood and other materials. Confirm the reader or lock specification, printing, numbering and encoding before requesting samples or a project quotation.
Find your starting point
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Blank RFID Cards
Blank white PVC and PVC/PET composite RFID cards in ISO ID-1 size, with the LF, HF/NFC or UHF chip your readers accept, ready for in-house printing on dye-sublimation or retransfer card printers.
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Clamshell Card
Clamshell cards are thick, rigid ABS proximity cards, commonly around 1.8 mm, with a larger antenna for 125 kHz access, attendance and parking readers.
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Combi Card
A combi card holds two or three RFID chips of different frequencies and protocols in a single card body, without extra size or thickness.
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Dual Interface Card
A dual interface smart card carries a single chip that works through both a contact pad and a contactless RFID antenna, so one card serves inserted-reader and tap applications in payment, ID and transport.
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Eco RFID Card
Eco-friendly RFID and NFC cards with PLA, PETG, recycled PVC, paper, wood or bamboo bodies, carrying the same chip families your readers and locks already use.
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EM4200 Card
EM4200 125 kHz read-only RFID cards, a laser-programmed replacement for the discontinued EM4100/EM4102 and EM4005/4105 chips, for access control, attendance and membership.
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EM4305 Cards
Rewritable 125 kHz EM4305 cards for access, membership and other LF identification systems.
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FeliCa Card
FeliCa Lite-S cards using Sony RC-S966 for applications that fit its 224-byte memory and MAC-based access controls.
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Google Review NFC Card
A Google review NFC card opens your business's Google review page when a customer taps it with an NFC phone, helping collect feedback in shops, restaurants and at events.
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HITAG 2 Card
The HITAG 2 card is a 125 kHz low-frequency card built on the NXP PCF7936 chip, used in access control, vehicle identification, parking and industrial systems.
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Hotel Key Cards
Hotel key cards for properties, lock-system integrators and distributors.
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Inkjet PVC ID Card
Inkjet-printable PVC ID cards have an inkjet-receptive coated surface, so you can print full-colour badges in-house on a standard inkjet card printer.
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Java Card
NXP JCOP Java Cards for integrators who load and manage their own applets.
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LEGIC Card
LEGIC advant, CTC and legacy prime cards, key fobs and tags built on the exact chip your integrator specifies, printed to your artwork and supplied for your system owner to initialise.
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Metal NFC Card
A metal NFC card is a stainless-steel business card with an embedded NTAG chip.
Selection & ordering guide
How to specify RFID cards for a repeatable order
A card order has two specifications: the credential your system accepts and the physical card your customer receives. Confirm both, whether you are replacing hotel cards, issuing access badges or building an NFC card programme.
Match the credential specification
Provide the exact chip family and version, reader or lock model, and encoding requirements. Ask your system provider to confirm these details when the existing card is only described as “RFID” or “MIFARE”.
Separate card material from chip choice
Compare PVC, wood, paper and metal formats against the required finish, printer and daily use. Request the proposed card construction and test the finished sample with the intended reader, rather than approving artwork alone.
Agree printing and data handling
Specify both sides of the artwork, visible numbering, variable data and the party responsible for encoding. For a team NFC programme, decide who owns the destination URLs and maintains the profiles after delivery.
What decides the cost of an RFID card
A finished card carries two things people confuse: the chip inside and the card the holder receives. Both, plus how the order is printed, encoded, tested and packed, sit inside a single per-card figure, which is why two quotes for a card that looks identical on paper can differ several times over. Fix the specification below before comparing numbers; indicative bands are confirmed in the quotation, against a like-for-like specification.
A bare price-per-card comparison misleads because it hides these levers: a quote well below a like-for-like specification usually signals a different chip die, a thinner body or omitted testing rather than a genuine saving. Send the chip, material, print, encoding and quantity together and the comparison becomes real. Genuine, traceable silicon is worth confirming for any access-control or hospitality programme. Start from RFID cards; indicative bands are confirmed in the quotation.
| Cost driver | What moves it |
|---|---|
| Chip family and memory | A read-only LF chip, a MIFARE Classic inlay and an AES-128 DESFire or NTAG 424 DNA chip span a wide range; larger user memory and secure elements cost more. |
| Card material | Virgin PVC is the floor; recycled PVC, PET, wood, bamboo and polycarbonate each add to it. The choice is usually about brand, durability and disposal rather than the chip. |
| Printing and finishing | Single-colour or blank stock is cheapest; full CMYK on both faces, foil, UV varnish, embossing and anti-counterfeit inks each add a production step. |
| Encoding | Blank cards cost least; sector or key programming, NDEF URLs and diversified-key personalisation add per-card handling. See the RFID encoding service. |
| Quantity tier | Pilot runs carry the setup cost across few cards; first-production and established-programme volumes step down as setup is spread across more cards. Consolidating SKUs and orders reaches the next tier sooner. |
| Certification and test documents | Read-rate testing, serialised reject logs and any product-specific documents your customer requires add cost that a bare quote omits. |
| Packaging | Loose, plain-sleeved or branded-sleeve packing, and individual-piece versus roll delivery, each carry their own increment and lead time. |
LF 125 kHz or HF 13.56 MHz
The card body and print are the same either way; the frequency decides security, phone compatibility and which readers the card talks to. Match the band to the installed system first, then choose the material.
For a mixed estate, dual-frequency LF+HF cards (specified per project) let one credential work on old LF readers and new HF readers while the readers are replaced in phases. Confirm the exact chip and reader model with your system provider before ordering: LF options start from the EM4305 and T5577 cards, HF from DESFire and MIFARE Plus.
| Attribute | LF 125 kHz | HF 13.56 MHz |
|---|---|---|
| Read range class | Proximity, a few centimetres; tolerant of gloves and pockets | Proximity, a few centimetres; ISO 15693 vicinity readers reach further |
| Security | EM4100 broadcasts a fixed ID in the clear; T5577 is writable but unencrypted | MIFARE Plus and DESFire use AES-128 mutual authentication; NTAG 424 DNA adds signed tap messages |
| Data | A short serial number, plus a few writable bits on T5577 | Multi-application file systems, roughly 1 kB up to several kB |
| Phone compatibility | None — no smartphone reads 125 kHz | Yes — NFC phones read ISO 14443 (Apple and Android) |
| Typical systems | Legacy proximity access, parking, some animal ID | Modern access, hotels, transit, membership, NFC tap |
| Migration | Kept only to match an installed LF reader estate | The default for new builds; dual-frequency cards bridge a phased reader swap |
How long cards, tags and wristbands last
Chips rarely set the lifespan. Chip makers rate modern silicon far beyond any card service life — NXP rates DESFire EV3 for around 1,000,000 write cycles and 25 years of data retention (EV2: around 500,000 cycles and 25 years), and NTAG 213/215/216 for around 100,000 write cycles and 10 years — yet the body around the chip gives out first. Service life is a distribution, not a single number; cycle counts are confirmed per product.
Validate the real figure with a small pilot in the actual environment, and specify the target at a working percentile rather than the average. Cycle and wash-cycle counts are confirmed per product and destination.
- Bend and handling — for cards, the antenna-to-chip bond and the lamination edge fatigue with wallet flex and re-taps long before the chip does.
- Material and finish — polycarbonate and metal-faced bodies survive far more handling than PVC; wood veneer and heavy textures flex and abrade sooner.
- Lamination and seal — a small lamination defect that survives pocket carry for years can fail within months once moisture, heat or chemicals reach the inlay.
- UV and outdoor exposure — sunlight breaks down PVC, silicone and adhesives on lanyard and outdoor credentials; darker, UV-stabilised materials last longer.
- Wash and heat cycles — laundry tags are rated in wash cycles at a stated temperature; hotter, high-bleach or autoclave cycles cut that sharply, so autoclave-rated tags must be specified explicitly.
- Stressors stack — water, UV and abrasion together, as on a poolside lanyard card, shorten life far more than any one of them alone.
What to include in your enquiry
- Reader or lock model, current chip specification and required encoding format.
- Card dimensions, material, finish, print artwork and variable data.
- Who supplies and approves the encoding data; any required sample test.
- Quantity by design, delivery destination and target arrival date.
Include what you know. If the chip or product is undecided, describe the application and current equipment so we can review the options with you.