Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) address the need for accurate diagnosis of malaria, particularly in resource limited settings. In this study, two malaria RDTs were compared with gold standard microscopy: On Site Pf/Pv test detecting Plasmodium falciparum-specific histidine rich protein-2 (Pf HR P2) and P. vivax-specific parasitic lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH) antigens; and SD Bioline anti-Pf/Pv test detecting anti-HR P2 and anti-pL DH antibodies for the diagnosis of P. falciparum and P. vivax infections, respectively. For OnSite test, the overall sensitivity was found 96.2% , specificity 98.2% , positive predictive value (PPV ) 98.2% , negative predictive value (NPV ) 96.4% and agreement with microscopy was found to be 0.94. On the other hand SD Bioline test, the overall sensitivity was 75.4%, specificity 83.7%, PPV 84.3% , NPV 74.5% and agreement with microscopy was 0.59. These data revealed that the R DT based on antigen detection (Onsite test) was more reliable than that based on the antibody detection (SD Bioline test).DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjmm.v5i2.16931 Bangladesh J Med Microbiol 2011; 05 (02): 11-15