The present application provides paging methods and devices, which can reduce signaling overhead. A method comprises: determining a paging time of a first terminal device by using at least one first bit of a first identifier of the first terminal device; transmitting a paging message during the paging time; where the paging message carries identifier information of the first terminal device, and the identifier information is obtained based on at least one second bit, except the at least one first bit, of the first identifier of the first terminal device, or, the identifier information is obtained based on a second identifier of the first terminal device, where a length of the identifier information is shorter than the second identifier of the first terminal device.