This study focuses on the performance characteristics of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) using the AC impedance technique. The experiment was carried out to investigate the optimal operating conditions of PEMFC such as cell temperature, flow rate, humidified temperature and back-pressure. The fuel cell performance was analyzed by DC electronic-loader with constant voltage mode and expressed by voltage-current density. Additionally, AC impedance was measured to analysis of ohmic and activation loss and expressed by Nyquist plot. The results showed that the cell performance increased with increase of cell temperature, air flow rate, humidified temperature and backpressure. Also, the activation loss decreased as the increase of cell temperature, air flow rate, humidified temperature and backpressure.