The study aims to compare radiation shielding properties of borate and tellurite glasses. This paper presents a theoretical study on the radiation shielding properties of borate and tellurite glasses described by the forms of 80B 2 O 3 –(10-x)Li 2 O–10Na 2 O–xCdO (x is between 0 and 10 mol%) and 64TeO 2 –15ZnO–xBaO–1V 2 O 5 –(20-x)CdO (x is between 0 and 20 mol%), respectively. The radiation shielding properties of both borate and tellurite glasses were assessed applying Monte Carlo simulations via Geant4 platform. The validation of Geant4 simulations was achieved via Phy-X approach. The obtained findings indicate that the mass attenuation coefficients (MACs) for borate and tellurite glasses decline with increment of photon energy reaching their minimum at the regions of high energies (15 MeV) where the pair production is occurred. The maximum half value layer (HVL) of borate glasses are observed at 15 MeV with the values of 18.1991 cm, 17.0473 cm, 15.8572 cm, 14.4132 cm, 12.8305 cm and 12.0506 cm for the CdO content of 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 mol%, respectively. Therefore, there is a significant effect of CdO on enhancement the shielding ability (reduction of HVL) of borate glasses, and the similar effect is noted for tellurite glasses. Mean free paths (MFPs) of the tellurite glasses are lower than MFPs of the borate glasses for studied energy region. From this result, we can conclude that tellurite glasses have higher photon attenuation properties and thus better shielding material than borate glasses. • Radiation shielding properties of borate and tellurite glasses. • XCOM theoretical calculation. • Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation. • Good agreement between the theory and the simulation. • Significant effect of CdO on the shielding ability of borate and tellurite glasses.