Vivax malaria has the highest incidence in central China. High-throughput and cost-effective testing methods are essential for vivax malaria diagnosis in this area. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is an established nucleic acid amplification method, which provides a promising platform for the molecular detection of malaria parasites in development countries. This study was performed to compare the LAMP method, the nested PCR-based method, and microscopic examinations in diagnosing vivax malaria. LAMP detected vivax malaria parasites in 160 of 164 microscopically positive samples (sensitivity, 97.6%), whereas nested PCR detected Plasmodium vivax in 162 of 164 samples (sensitivity, 98.8%). No false-positive results were obtained by LAMP or nested PCR among fever-positive and healthy samples. The sensitivities and specificities of the two molecular tests were consistently high. In addition, the reproducibility of the LAMP assays using water bath, which reduced the cost substantially. LAMP method is an accurate, rapid, simple, and cost-effective method that may be useful for diagnosis in field diagnoses instead of nested PCR. This method is feasible to diagnose vivax malaria parasite in endemic areas of central China.