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The electric potential techniques are of two types: the direct current potential drop method (DCPD) and the alternating current potential drop method (ACPD). While the latter can be used mainly to detect surface defects, the first is more appropriate for detecting the initiation of cracks and monitoring their growth. One of the advantages of the ACPD is that it can be easily employed as a non‐destructive inspection tool. The DCPD has been used mainly in the laboratory environments under various conditions of loading including high gross inelastic deformations where subsurface flaws are present. Both these techniques have high accuracy and can be used as tools to detect defects in manufactured parts such as flaws in welds. Their findings are very useful in preventive maintenance; the inspectors and engineers use them to take decisions for scheduling maintenance. The present paper presents a review of the evolution in the design of ACPD and DCPD systems, with their advantages, disadvantages and fields of application. It is shown that ACPD and DCPD have comparable sensitivity and are widely used for surface crack measurement. The relatively new AC field measurement technique will be described. Its performance will be compared to that of ACPD. The use of DCPD in applications involving high temperature and gross inelastic strains will be stressed. The results obtained in low cycle fatigue conditions show that by including a special reference potential ratio, the DCPD yields a good estimation of the average surface and subsurface crack lengths. The method also allows an accurate detection of crack initiation in these conditions.