In this article, the design and analysis of a meandered line monopole antenna with a defected ground structure (DGS) for RFID applications are investigated. In the proposed antenna, the linearly polarized meandered line acts as the main radiator whereas the inverted C-shaped patch acts as a parasitic element. The defects on the ground plane are responsible for providing low pass filter performance. From the measurement, it is found that the antenna operates over the frequency range of 5.74 GHz–6 GHz with a resonating frequency at 5.82 GHz. The designed antenna structure shows omnidirectional radiation characteristics with the realized gain value greater than 4 dBi in the entire operating frequency range. It has an overall dimension of 0.55λ0 × 0.55λ0 × 0.03λ0 at resonating frequency which is effectively fit for use in RFID readers operating at 5.82 GHz ISM band. © 2020 Elsevier GmbH