In order to compare and analyze the similarities and differences between global hectare and national hectare in water resources ecological footprint accounting, based on the theory and method of water resources ecological footprint, two calculation models of water resources ecological footprint in Shanxi Province with "global hectare" and "national hectare" were constructed, and the water resources ecological footprint of Shanxi Province in 2007—2018 were calculated. The results showed that: (1) The change trends of the per capita water resources ecological footprint, per capita water resources ecological carrying capacity and per capita water resources ecological deficit of Shanxi Province during the past 12 year obtained by the two models were similar, and the overall trends of all above indexes were upward. However, the results obtained by the national hectare method were all greater than the results obtained by the global hectare method in the same year. (2) Two different algorithms both showed that the water resources ecological footprint per 10 000-yuan GDP in Shanxi Province from 2007 to 2018 was declining, indicating that water resource utilization rate was improving in the past 12 years. (3) Two different methods showed that the ecological pressure index of water resources in Shanxi Province was far greater than one in the past 12 years, indicating that development and utilization of water resources was in an unsafe state. The research thought that: (1) The main reasons for the differences between the two algorithms were the differences in the water resources equivalence factor, water resources yield factor and the average production capacity of regional water resources. Compared with the global hectare method, the national hectare method could better reflect the development and utilization situation of water resources at the spatial scale below the national level. (2) According to different research purposes, it was necessary to construct the corresponding calculation models to calculate and analyze the water resources ecological footprint, which was not only conducive to better reflect the development and utilization situation of regional water resources on different spatial scales, but also was conducive to the comparison of the water resources ecological footprint on the same spatial and regional scale.