In this paper, different topologies were discussed and their effect on the design of photonic crystal applications was evaluated. They can be classified into four categories (i.e., ring resonator, selfcollimation, waveguide, and cavity-based structures). The figure of merits of each topology and its impact on design modules were explained and compared for two different applications (i.e., half-adder and decoder). Finite difference time domain (FDTD) and plane wave expansion methods are the two numerical approaches that were used to analyze the proposed designs. The truth table for each application was introduced. Comparison tables were organized to discriminate the valued characteristics for each structure. Based on the extracted tables, the appropriate topology can be chosen for the required design application according to the needed characteristic.