An ad hoc routing protocol is a convention, or standard, that controls how nodes decide which way to route packets between computing devices in a mobile ad hoc network.

In ad hoc networks, nodes are not familiar with the topology of their networks. Instead, they have to discover it: typically, a new node announces its presence and listens for announcements broadcast by its neighbors. Each node learns about others nearby and how to reach them, and may announce that it too can reach them.

Note that in a wider sense, ad hoc protocol can also be used literally, to mean an improvised and often impromptu protocol established for a specific purpose.

The following is a list of some ad hoc network routing protocols.

This type of protocols maintains fresh lists of destinations and their routes by periodically distributing routing tables throughout the network. The main disadvantages of such algorithms are:

Examples of proactive algorithms are:

This type of protocol finds a route on demand by flooding the network with Route Request packets. The main disadvantages of such algorithms are:

Examples of on-demand algorithms are: