Fungal spores are a major component of ambient bioaerosols, contributing to environmental pollution relevant for human health, agriculture, and ecosystem management. Timely monitoring is critical, as spores can rapidly induce infections or allergic responses. Conventional Hirst-type samplers rely on time-consuming microscopic analysis, limiting near real-time reporting. Automated measurement systems offer an alternative, although their counting efficiency across fungal spore sizes and morphologies remains unclear. This study evaluates the performance of the BAA500 and Hirst-type sampler for five fungal spore types grouped by size: small (Cladosporium, Ganoderma), medium (Epicoccum, Polythrincium), and large (Alternaria). After genus data labelling, the BAA500 effectively discriminated all groups. The BAA500 capture efficiency was highest for medium-sized spores, capturing 2.1- and 3.4-fold higher concentrations of Epicoccum and Polythrincium, respectively, whereas small spores were underestimated more than tenfold compared to the Hirst-type sampler. The strongest correlation between devices was observed for Alternaria (
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