An XOR gate serves as a handy function that can be applied in many different types of computational circuits and is generally used in arithmetic logic circuits, computational logic comparators and error detection circuits. An exclusive OR gate is mainly used to build circuits that execute arithmetic operations and calculations, particularly adders and half-adders, as it can provide a "carry-bit" function. It can also serve as a controlled inverter where one input passes the binary data and the other input is supplied with a control signal.

An XOR gate is typically found in applications dealing with a basic logic comparator that generates a logic "1" output when its two input bits are unequal. This is the reason why it gained an inequality status as an add function. Considered a hybrid, its effectiveness and adaptability has turned it into a standard logical function complete with its own Boolean expression, operator and symbol.