Abstract We have studied both resistive bolometric and kinetic inductive bolometric effects using the same meander line made of YBa 2 Cu 3 O x thin film as a sensing element near the superconducting transition as a function of temperature and irradiation intensity. It was found that the kinetic inductive bolometer shows higher response with respect to the thermal irradiation than the resistive bolometer under the same thermal surroundings. This performance seems to arise mainly from the reduction of 1/ f and Johnson noise since the operating temperature range of the kinetic inductive bolometer is below the onset temperature of dissipation. The temperature increase Δ T of the sensing element of kinetic inductive bolometer due to the absorption of the incident radiation was obtained from the scaling of the inductive response. A response was found to be proportional to Δ T implying that the main photoresponse mechanism is mostly bolometric.