the commonly used STP protocols are compared as below:
| Port State | Port Role | Destination MAC | IEEE Standard | timer | spanning-tree | |
| STP | forwarding learning listening blocking discarded | root port designated port edge port | 0180-c200-0000 | 802.1d | hello time (2s) max age (20s) forward delay (15s) | a spanning tree for all vlans |
| RSTP | forwarding learning discarding | root port designated port alternate port backup port edge port | 0180-c200-0000 | 802.1w | hello time (2s) max age (20s) forward delay (15s) | a spanning tree for all vlans |
| VBST | discarding learning forwarding | root port designated port alternate port backup port edge port | 0100-0ccc-cccd | N/A | hello time (2s) max age (20s) forward delay (15s) | a spanning tree for per vlan |
| MSTP | discarding learning forwarding | root port designated port alternate port backup port master port regional edge port edge port | 0180-c200-0000 | 802.1s | hello time (2s) max age (20s) forward delay (15s) | a spanning tree for a group of vlans |
