Nitrous oxide (N2O) is primarily produced in soils by microbially-mediated processes of denitrification and to a lesser extends nitrification. The N2O emission is influenced by soil and environmental factors, land use and management practices. This study compared three sets of algorithms (WNMM, DAYCENT and DNDC gas modules) of simulating soil nitrification and denitrification, and their N2O contribution within one model framework of WNMM with two measurement datasets from two regions in the North China Plain. For the two-year dataset from Luancheng, the three gas modules generated similar soil mineral N dynamics in the 0-20cm topsoil. The simply-structured WNMM gas module performed the best among the three gas modules for predicting soil denitrification (R2=0.28) and N2O emission (R2=0.45). When applied to the one year dataset from Fengqiu, the WNMM gas module consistently performed better in estimating N2O emissions (R2=0.54) compared to the other two modules while the simulations using the DNDC and DAYCENT gas modules explained over 40% of the temporal variation of N2O emission from the soil. The well-performed WNMM gas module was tested on a sandy loam soil at Rutherglen, Australia under wheat cropping for 2004. The soil water content (0-6cm) and mineral-N contents (0-20cm) were satisfactorily estimated by WNMM. There is good agreement between WNMM predictions and field data for N2O emission during the warmer months of the year and following major rainfall events and N fertilizer applications. However, during the winter the model underestimated N2O emission. We speculate that more N2O leakage in nitrification and/or slowly shifting towards N2 in the partition of N2O and N2 in denitrification at low temperature. Further research is required to develop algorithms that adequately describe N2O emission over winter.