Landscape connectivity is important for maintaining the integrity of ecosystem structure and function, but usually ignored in practical ecosystem management and conservation planning. Graph theory and circuit theory were commonly considered as useful methods to quantify landscape connectivity through identifying potential corridors and key ecological nodes and thus contributed greatly to policy-making at both regional and global scales. The Yellow River Delta (YRD) has typical coastal wetland ecosystems and provided unique ecosystem services, such as high bird diversity. However, natural wetlands in this delta have been greatly fragmented due to global climate changes and human activities, especially after 1980's. How to efficiently evaluate wetland landscape and to identify those hotspots for maintaining wetland connectivity is a primary task for regional wetland conservation and management. Using wetland classification and land cover data in the YRD, 56 wetland patches without human disturbances and with larger areas were selected as source patches. We designed two resistance surface schemes, considering the characteristics of coastal wetlands and rivers in this delta. The principles, processing procedures and analysis scales of models from graph theory (the Least Cost Distance model, LCD) and circuit theory (Circuitscape), respectively, based on source patches and resistance surface designation, were compared. Finally, we assessed the wetland connectivity of the YRD using the two models and provide specific suggestions for wetland protection in this delta. The results showed that, (1) the Least Cost Path (LCP) generated by the LCD model is consistent with the high current density area obtained by Circuitscape, (2) different resistance values schemes for rivers and water bodies have clear impacts on outputs of LCP, (3) the key ecological nodes, such as pinch points generated on the two resistance surface are mainly concentrated in the central area of the YRD, (4) according to the improvement score of the obstacle area, three major improvement areas of this delta are extracted:industrial and mining areas, aquaculture ponds in the east, aquaculture ponds in the west and the current estuary of the Yellow River. The results indicated that the LCD model could identify the optimal ecological corridors and Circuitscape model could identify potential corridors, obstacle areas and pinch points. Combination of the two models can not only quantify the spatial patterns of potential corridors and key ecological notes, but also identify the objects of wetland protection and restoration for the YRD and thus provide a scientific and feasible research scheme for landscape protection and wetland management in the other coastal zone.