Both Meshtastic and MeshCore use LoRa radios on the 915 MHz ISM band to create off-grid mesh networks — no internet, no cell towers, no license required. But they take very different approaches to how messages move through the network.
Meshtastic — The Block Party
Imagine your neighborhood is having a block party and everyone’s outside. You want to share a message, so you shout it from your yard. Every neighbor within earshot hears it. Each of them shouts it from their yard, and every neighbor within their earshot hears it too. After three rounds of shouting, the whole block knows — even the people who were way too far away to hear you directly.
That’s how Meshtastic works. When you send a message, every radio within range picks it up and rebroadcasts it in all directions. Those radios reach more radios, and the message fans out across the network. No towers, no internet, no cell service — just radios relaying for each other.
You set a hop limit to keep things under control — say, 3. Each radio that rebroadcasts counts down by one. When it hits zero, that radio doesn’t rebroadcast any further. Without a limit, every message would keep bouncing around the neighborhood indefinitely.
Newer versions of Meshtastic (v2.6+) have gotten smarter about direct messages. The first DM still floods to find the recipient, but the network remembers which relay node delivered it. After that, your DMs follow the learned route instead of flooding every time. Broadcast and channel messages still work the block party way.
What if you want only one person to read it? You shout the message in a code that only they know. Everyone still hears it and passes it along, but only the person with the key can understand it. That’s encryption — your message rides the same mesh, but stays private.
MeshCore — The Rooftop Messengers
Now imagine the same neighborhood — but this time, instead of everyone shouting, only a few people are designated messengers. They’re standing on their rooftops with megaphones. When you want to send a message, you call up to the nearest messenger. They relay it to the next messenger, who relays it to the next, and so on — up to 64 hops if needed. Your regular neighbors hear the messages, but they don’t rebroadcast them. Only the messengers do. That keeps the neighborhood quiet and efficient.
That’s how MeshCore works. Your handheld radio is a Companion — it sends and receives messages but doesn’t relay for others. Repeaters are the messengers on the rooftops. They form the backbone of the network, forwarding traffic between Companions across long distances.
MeshCore is also smarter about routing. The first time you message someone, it floods out through the Repeaters to find them — just like the Meshtastic approach. But along the way, each Repeater stamps the message with its identity. When the message arrives, the recipient sends back the exact path it took. From then on, every message between you two follows that learned route directly. Only the Repeaters on that path forward it — the rest ignore it. Less noise, less congestion, longer range.
Side by Side
| Meshtastic | MeshCore | |
|---|---|---|
| Routing | Flood for broadcasts; learned next-hop routing for DMs (v2.6+) | Flood once to discover, then direct routing on learned paths |
| Who relays | Every node by default; Router role gets priority | Only Repeaters — Companions never relay |
| Max hops | 7 (zero-cost infrastructure hops in v2.7+) | 64 |
| Message speed | 10–20 seconds typical delivery | Sub-second nearby, ~5 seconds across 9 hops — direct routing skips unnecessary relays and less background traffic keeps the channel clear |
| Telemetry | Push — nodes broadcast on timers | Pull — data sent only when requested |
| Maturity | Established, large community | Newer, growing fast |
| Best for | Ad-hoc groups, GPS tracking, events | City-scale networks with dedicated infrastructure |
| Local status | Most active network in the Amarillo area | Still early, but more nodes joining |
How Far Can They Reach?
Both protocols use the same LoRa radios on the same frequencies, so single-hop range is governed by the same physics — antenna height, line of sight, and modem settings. The current ground-to-ground single-hop record is 331 km (205 miles), set on Meshtastic between two mountain peaks in Austria and Italy.
In everyday use, a single hop typically covers a few miles at street level, 10–30 miles from a rooftop or hilltop, and much further with summit-level line of sight. These numbers apply equally to both protocols.
Where the two diverge is multi-hop range — how far a message can travel through the mesh.
| Meshtastic | MeshCore | |
|---|---|---|
| Max hops | 7 (zero-cost infrastructure hops in v2.7+) | 64 |
| Notable network | Bay Mesh (CA) — 300+ miles, Lake Tahoe to San Luis Obispo, 700+ nodes | PugetMesh (PNW) — ~350 miles, Vancouver BC to Eugene OR through mountaintop repeaters |
| What enables it | Zero-cost hops let favorited routers relay without counting against the hop limit | 64-hop ceiling + dedicated repeater backbone on high ground |
Meshtastic’s 7-hop ceiling historically limited end-to-end mesh range to around 70–150 miles. The zero-cost hops feature (v2.7+) is closing that gap by letting designated infrastructure nodes relay without consuming hops. MeshCore’s protocol was designed from the start for long repeater chains, and its 64-hop ceiling makes regional-scale networks straightforward with enough repeater infrastructure.
The bottom line: single-hop range is identical because the radios are the same. Multi-hop range depends on the protocol’s hop limits and how many relay nodes are in the network. Both protocols have demonstrated 300+ mile multi-hop coverage in real-world deployments.
Same Radios, Different Firmware
Most LoRa radios support both protocols — you just flash whichever firmware you prefer. Many people run one of each.