Conventional Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems used in vehicle bridges with wired device deployment and base station construction can be less economical for footbridges. To achieve cost-effectiveness in footbridge SHM systems, wireless sensor networks and IoT (Internet of Things) techniques can be exploited. Meanwhile, in the perspective of wireless data communication, long range wide area network (LoRaWAN) is a very promising protocol for low-power and wide-area data transmission. In this study, a wireless footbridge vibration monitoring prototype with one LoRa sensor node was tested and validated. The sensor node is responsible for transmitting live LoRa packets, which contain important information of structural behaviours of footbridges, to a receiver node over a long distance through LoRa radio. Information gathered in the LoRa packets, including the average maximum acceleration and peak frequency within ten-second intervals, can be used for serviceability evaluation and basic modal monitoring for footbridges. The proposed prototype was tested on a 1.4 m mild steel cantilever beam. To validate the workability and practicality of the LoRa vibration monitoring prototype, a commercial wireless WT901BLECL BLE accelerometer was also employed for comparison. Consistency in data collection can be observed by comparing the acceleration and fundamental frequency data of the beam measured using the proposed prototype and the commercial accelerometer. Upon improvement, LoRa nodes can be used for cost-effective and reliable outdoor long-distance and low-power footbridge vibration monitoring.