Teltonika vs GT06 vs H02 vs GPS103: Which Tracker Protocols Should Your Platform Support?
Teltonika, GT06, H02 and GPS103 side by side - format, handshake, heartbeats, data and ports - and what each one means for your tracking platform.
A tracking platform rarely gets to choose its hardware. Customers bring what they already have, which usually means a mix of Teltonika devices and budget trackers from Concox, Jimi IoT, SinoTrack, CanTrack or Coban. Four protocols cover a large share of that mix.
Side by Side
- Teltonika (Teltonika devices) - binary format. Login: the device sends its IMEI and the server accepts. Heartbeat: none. Checksum: CRC-16. Data: rich - any AVL ID, CAN, DTC. Traccar port 5027.
- GT06 (Concox, Jimi IoT) - binary format. Login: the server must ACK. Heartbeat: about every 3 minutes, ACKed. Checksum: CRC-16/X.25. Data: medium. Traccar port 5023.
- H02 (SinoTrack, CanTrack) - text format. Login: none. Heartbeat: optional. Checksum: none. Data: basic, plus extras. Traccar port 5013.
- GPS103 (Coban) - text format. Login: the server answers
LOAD. Heartbeat: about every 60 seconds, answeredON. Checksum: none. Data: basic, plus an OBD line. Traccar port 5001.
What It Means for Your Platform
- Teltonika carries the most data: hundreds of AVL IDs, CAN bus values and fault codes. It's the one to support in depth if your customers run serious fleets.
- GT06 is the volume protocol of budget hardware and the most cloned format in Traccar's device catalog. Get the login ACK right and most of it follows.
- H02 is the simplest to parse and the easiest to get wrong: speed in knots and active-low alarm bits.
- GPS103 adds a text handshake and a separate OBD line with engine data.
Model Names Don't Tell You the Protocol
A tracker sold as "TK103" might speak GT06, H02, GPS103 or TK103. Even within one brand, models differ: the SinoTrack ST-901 uses H02, while the ST-901 A+ uses JT/T 808. When a device won't connect, check its exact model against a device list such as Traccar's before blaming your parser.
Test All Four Without Hardware
Telemify emulates all four. One account, one virtual device per protocol, the same route, and your platform sees four kinds of trackers driving at once. The protocol dropdown groups protocols by brand, so you can pick the right one without knowing the protocol's name.
