In this paper, we evaluate the performance of zone-based registration and distance-based registration. First, we propose the mobility model which can be used to analyze the performance of both zone-based registration and distance-based registration. And using the proposed mobility model, we obtain several performance measures and perform numerical computation to compare the performance of two registration methods. Numerical results show that in general zone-based registration needs less number of registration than distance-based registration. On the other hand, if distance-based registration is used, registration load is equally distributed to all cells in a location area and ping-pong phenomenon is not occurred. And when a VLR area is composed of a few location areas, distance-based registration may need less registration load than zone-based registration. Therefore, a proper registration method should be selected considering system circumstances and implementation complexity, and the selected method should be implemented so as to change system parameters according to system circumstances.