Proximity Beacons were designed to attach to fixed points in venues, to provide apps with location context in the area they “mark”. They offer 3 years of battery life, broadcast iBeacon and Eddystone protocols (one or the other, not simultaneously), come with an NFC module, and have a range of up to 70 meters.
Location Beacons are the next generation of beacons with several improvements compared to Proximity Beacons, including multiple packets support, enhanced conditional broadcasting, GPIO support, support for Indoor Location SDK, and improved battery life (up to 7 years). They even have a long range, up to 200 meters. They are the way to go for more complex deployments when more precise location information is needed.
You can check out the difference in detail right here.
We recommend Proximity Beacons as the low-cost option to start prototyping and test out the technology, but if you are aiming for a scalable deployment, Location Beacons, with optimization for Estimote Indoor Location and an increased range, are the way to go.
Learn which will suit your use case better with our Intro to Proximity versus Location article!