AbstractThis letter gives the comparison of the 3D hybrid implicit–explicit finite‐difference time‐domain (HIE‐FDTD) method with the ADI‐FDTD method through numerical examples. It shows that the HIE‐FDTD method has higher accuracy than the ADI‐FDTD method, especially for larger rate of field variation; the time step size, which has a detrimental effect on the accuracy of ADI‐FDTD, does not affect the accuracy of HIE‐FDTD method. The computation efficiency of the HIE‐FDTD method is higher than ADI‐FDTD method. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 49: 1001–1005, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).DOI 10.1002/mop.22340