Here are some things to know about both projects
Both Meshtastic and MeshCore are designed for the same basic purpose: enabling decentralised, off-grid communication via low-power LoRa radio. They allow text messages and GPS data to be sent over long distances without the need for cellular networks, Wi-Fi or an internet connection.
Meshtastic and the relatively new project MeshCore are two separate, different software projects that are not compatible with each other. Both can use inexpensive LoRa hardware.
Meshtastic
The initial concept for Meshtastic, created by Kevin Hester (user ‘geeksville’) in the USA, appeared on GitHub in 2019. The project was founded to enable off-grid, long-range, low-power communication using LoRa radios. The project gained traction in early 2020 through public firmware releases and community adoption, particularly via the Meshtastic Forums and GitHub.
The project grew rapidly 2021 onwards with many contributors, new hardware integrations (like T-Beam, T-Echo, and RAK devices), and wide adoption for emergency communication, hiking, and disaster resilience.
MeshCore
MeshCore appears to have been launched at the beginning of 2025 in the UK. It was initiated by Andy Kirby, the founder, in collaboration with Scott Powell, a developer at Ripple Radios, who worked on the firmware. Liam Cottle also contributed to the client apps.
The goal from the outset was to provide a lightweight, multi-hop LoRa-based mesh communication system independent of the internet or cellular infrastructure, suggesting a fresh code-base rather than a direct fork of something else.
1. Suitable Use Cases for Meshtastic
Meshtastic is currently the better-known and more widely used project, building a ‘flooding mesh’ network. This means that every device on the network acts as both a client and a repeater by default. When you send a message, every node that receives it forwards it until it reaches its destination or the maximum number of ‘hops’ is reached. It appears to perform stateless message passing.
Motto: ‘Keep it simple, transparent and useful for people, especially in ad-hoc situations.’
Meshtastic Use Cases
Outdoor activities: Meshtastic is ideal for groups of bikers, hikers, skiers, paragliders or sailors who want to stay in touch in areas without mobile phone reception. The GPS function enables you to view the locations of all group members on a map within the Meshtastic app.
Crisis preparedness and emergency communication: When normal infrastructure fails during a natural disaster, Meshtastic can be used to quickly set up a self-sufficient communication network. No network planning is necessary, as the mesh text communication network is created ad-hoc simply by switching on several Meshtastic devices.
Events & festivals: For coordinating teams in sprawling or congested areas where cell phone networks often break down like festivals, sport events or exhibitions.
Meshtastic Advantages
- Very large and active community.
- Meshtastic is completely free and open source, including its Android/iOS mobile apps, and is licensed under the GPL license. Because Meshtastic is licensed under the GPL license, any project forks must also remain open source, helping ensure that improvements can benefit related projects.
- Well established and available on many different hardware platforms.
Meshtastic Disadvantages
- Many Meshtastic users have complained that some of their messages do not arrive, citing ‘overwhelming’ telematic traffic, poorly managed flood routing and other reasons.
Places where Meshtastic is used
In the Meshtastic map (above screenshot is from November 2025) are only nodes which are ‘currently’ connected to the free Meshtastic MQTT server with available GPS data. The numbers gives you an idea about the countries you can expect other devices to be online.
As a rough estimate, I would expect between five and ten times more nodes to be online off-grid with LoRa without an MQTT-based internet connection.
2. Suitable Use Cases for MeshCore
MeshCore is a newer, alternative project based on a C++ library that follows a different networking philosophy. It supports autonomous, scalable, mission-critical mesh for complex, adaptive systems (e.g; IoT sensor webs and semi-industrial networks). State-aware, so it maintains awareness of neighboring nodes and network health.
Motto: ‘Make the network itself adaptive and intelligent, a more reliable mesh for systems.’
MeshCore Use Cases
Semi-industrial IoT use cases like remote sensor networks and machinery control. Examples with a mainly fixed infrastructure: A large, multi-kilometer freight railyard, shipping port, or industrial storage depot. The area is filled with metal containers, heavy machinery, and has limited or non-existent Wi-Fi. Cellular (LTE-M) is an option, but it requires a monthly SIM card fee for every single asset, which is cost-prohibitive for thousands of sensors. Here MeshCore’s design shines because of its network efficiency, scalability and extreme low power consumption for:
- Asset Tracking: The operations manager needs to know the location of hundreds of shipping containers, chassis, and high-value portable equipment (like generators or welding carts) within the yard.
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Condition Monitoring: They need to monitor the status of critical, hard-to-reach infrastructure, such as:
- Track Switches: Are they in the correct position? Is the heating element working in winter?
- Refrigerated Containers: What is their current temperature and fuel level
- Pumps: Are the sump pumps in drainage culverts operational?
Smart Farming / Precision Agriculture: Farmers could use a LoRa mesh to connect dozens of sensors across vast fields. This allows them to monitor:
- Soil Moisture: To control irrigation systems and water only where needed.
- Remote Weather: To get hyper-local data on temperature and rainfall.
- Livestock: Track the location of cattle or other animals on large pastures.
- Equipment: Monitor fuel levels or the status of remote water pumps.
Building a large and efficient community network with proper planning of fixed node deployments, roles and configuration with continuous analysis and control of the mesh network. This use case is best suited to cooperative people or a single organisation in control of the MeshCore nodes.
MeshCore Advantages
- A more efficient mesh network for larger communities can be achieved by planning the deployment of fixed nodes with well-defined roles in strategic locations, such as on roofs or hills and utilizing the advanced networking features of MeshCore. This improves the reliability of text message deliveries and confirmations, as its routing is more efficient for fixed networks.
- Fewer telemetry beacons and reduced ‘network chatter’. Since not every node repeats everything, the network is potentially ‘quieter’ and more efficient.
- The ‘room server’ BBS (bulletin board system) function, nevertheless Meshtastic introduced a ‘store and forward’ feature for Meshtastic devices with pSRAM (pseudo-static random-access memory).
MeshCore Disadvantages
- MeshCore is open source based on a MIT license except the T-Deck firmware and Liam’s Android/iOS mobile apps which are proprietary (closed source). The MIT License does not require modified or derivative versions of the code to be published or shared, which can reduce the incentive for project forks to contribute their improvements back to the broader open-source ecosystem.
- A small one-time payment is required in the mobile apps to access the full range of features or to avoid forced waiting times.
- The community is significantly smaller than that of Meshtastic.
- Dependence on individuals, albeit brilliant developers. May Scott and Liam enjoy a long and productive life!
Places where MeshCore is used
In the MeshCore map (above screenshot is from November 2025) are probably all ‘live’ nodes which are connected to the MeshCore Android or iOS app with available GPS data. The numbers gives you an idea about the countries you can expect MeshCore devices to be online. UK and Germany are currently hotspots of MeshCore activities.
In some very active MeshCore discussion groups, it is not uncommon to see multiple postings within a single minute. Many Meshtastic users also seem to migrate to MeshCore networks, which are often active on alternative LoRa radio settings other than ‘LongFast’. For example, better use the EU/UK (Narrow) Radio Settings to see other people on MeshCore in the European Union (EU).
Summary
Neither Meshtastic nor MeshCore is fundamentally the better system; it always depends on your use case. And let’s not forget: Competition between Meshtastic and MeshCore encourages continuous improvement and innovation in both systems.
For beginners and mobile ad-hoc groups, Meshtastic is the easiest and most well-established starting point. However, if you are an advanced user looking to build a well-planned, optimised static network with route setting capabilities and higher message transport reliability, MeshCore is a promising alternative.
Unfortunately, there is no sign yet of an attempt to create or support communication gateways between Meshtastic and MeshCore.
MeshCore vs Meshtastic: Key Differences Explained
Source: https://tech.swiss-1.ch/meshtastic-vs-meshcore-comparison-use-case/
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