Active tags, due to their onboard power supply, also transmit at higher power levels than passive tags, allowing them to be more effective in "RF challenged" environments like water (including humans/cattle, which are mostly water), metal (shipping containers, vehicles), or at longer distances, generating strong responses from weak requests (as opposed to passive tags, which work the other way around).

Many active tags today have practical ranges of hundreds of meters, and a battery life of up to 10 years. Some active RFID tags include sensors such as temperature logging which have been used to monitor the temperature of perishable goods like fresh produce or certain pharmaceutical products.

Other sensors that have been married with active RFID include humidity, shock/vibration, light, radiation, temperature, and atmospherics like ethylene. Active tags typically have much longer range (approximately 500 m/1500 feet) and larger memories than passive tags, as well as the ability to store additional information sent by the transceiver.