The pumping characteristics of a single-stage disk-type drag pump (DTDP) are calculated for the variation of the vertical clearance between a rotor and stator by the three-dimensional direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. The gas flow mainly belongs to the molecular transition flow region. Spiral channels of a DTDP are cut on the both the upper and lower sides of a rotating disk, but a stationary disk is planar. The interaction between molecules is described by the variable hard-sphere model. The no time counter method is used as a collision sampling technique. The vertical clearance has a significant effect on the pumping performance. Experiments are performed under the outlet pressure range of 0.4∼533 Pa. When the numerical results are compared with the experimental data, the numerical results agree well quantitatively