AAVE vs PENDLE
Aave and Pendle Finance scored on the same 25 variables, ranked against the same 251 tokens, with every gap between them shown.
Scoring pass 18 Sept 2026. Market snapshot 7 Oct 2026.
What separates them
AAVE scores 156 of 250 and ranks 18th of 251. PENDLE scores 160 and ranks 13th. PENDLE leads by 4 points, which is inside the range where the individual variables matter more than the total. AAVE takes 10 of the 25 variables, PENDLE takes 13, and 2 are level.
4 variables separate them by 3 points or more. AAVE is clear on P/S Multiple (8 against 5) and Circulating / FDV Ratio (9 against 6). PENDLE is clear on Buyback and Burn (9 against 4) and Team Execution (8 against 4).
Both score 3 or below on BTC Alpha Potential. A weakness both sides share is not a reason to prefer either. It is a reason to check whether the category itself carries the problem.
PENDLE still has 38.3% of its eventual supply to enter circulation against 3.5% for AAVE. On the same market capitalisation, a buyer of PENDLE is taking the 1.62x dilution path and a buyer of AAVE the 1.04x one.
AAVE is valued at $2.65B against $391.5M for PENDLE, a 6.8x difference. The smaller of the two scores higher on fundamentals, which is the disagreement worth understanding before either position is taken.
All 25 variables, head to head
Both tokens were scored by the same framework in the same pass, so the numbers are directly comparable. What a comparison adds over two separate pages is the gap: a 6 against a 6 is a non-event, a 9 against a 3 is the reason to hold one and not the other.
Cash flow
| Protocol Revenue | 7 | 6 | AAVE +1 | |
| Revenue Trend | 5 | 3 | AAVE +2 | |
| P/S Multiple | 8 | 5 | AAVE +3 | |
| Real Staking Yield | 6 | 7 | PENDLE +1 |
Supply
| Supply Inflation | 9 | 8 | AAVE +1 | |
| Vesting Schedule | 9 | 9 | level | |
| Circulating / FDV Ratio | 9 | 6 | AAVE +3 | |
| Buyback and Burn | 4 | 9 | PENDLE +5 |
Ownership
| Smart Money Flows | 7 | 6 | AAVE +1 | |
| Insider Selling | 6 | 4 | AAVE +2 | |
| Holder Concentration | 4 | 5 | PENDLE +1 |
Traction
| TVL Trend | 3 | 4 | PENDLE +1 | |
| Active Users | 6 | 4 | AAVE +2 | |
| Developer Activity | 4 | 6 | PENDLE +2 | |
| Network Growth | 6 | 7 | PENDLE +1 |
Position
| Market Share | 8 | 9 | PENDLE +1 | |
| Competitive Moat | 7 | 9 | PENDLE +2 | |
| Institutional Adoption | 8 | 9 | PENDLE +1 | |
| Exchange Depth | 8 | 7 | AAVE +1 | |
| Social Mindshare | 5 | 5 | level |
Risk
| Regulatory Safety | 8 | 6 | AAVE +2 | |
| Catalyst Calendar | 7 | 8 | PENDLE +1 | |
| BTC Alpha Potential | 2 | 3 | PENDLE +1 | |
| Team Execution | 4 | 8 | PENDLE +4 | |
| Treasury Runway | 6 | 7 | PENDLE +1 |
Bars read outward from the centre: AAVE to the left, PENDLE to the right. The side that leads a variable is filled. Each score is 1 to 10 against the same definition applied to all 251 rated tokens.
Market and supply
| AAVE | PENDLE | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $171.60 | $2.25 |
| Market cap | $2.65B | $391.5M |
| Circulating | 96.5% | 61.7% |
| Dilution to full supply | 1.04x | 1.62x |
| Off all-time high | -74.1% | -70% |
| To recover the high | 3.9x | 3.3x |
| Total value locked | $14.49B | $1.17B |
| Network | Ethereum | Ethereum |
Price, market cap and all-time high from the CoinGecko snapshot fetched 7 Oct 2026. Supply shares are derived from circulating and eventual supply counts, which do not move with price. The 25 scores come from the research pass dated 18 Sept 2026.
Catalyst and risk on each side
AAVE · HOLD
V4 multi-chain expansion, Grayscale/Bitwise ETF filings, CLARITY Act DeFi safe harbor, Horizon $1B target
KelpDAO bad debt resolution, Morpho $175M raise competitive threat, governance centralization (top 3 = 58% votes)
PENDLE · HOLD
Solana/Hyperliquid/TON chain expansion, Fortune 2026 list, Vietnam IFC delegation, 21Shares ETP (APEN) on SIX, Boros funding rate scaling, KYC Citadels + Shariah, one-click leveraged PTs, RWA $151M growing
Revenue collapsed 87.6% from peak ($4.44M/mo→$552K/mo). TVL -91% from $13.4B. No max supply cap (perpetual 2% inflation). Team holds 15% circ (25.59M), consistently selling ($9.76M cumulative). Ethena 50-75% TVL concentration. Hayes partially exited.
Common questions
- Is AAVE or PENDLE the better investment?
- On this framework PENDLE scores higher: 160 against 156 of 250, and it is rated HOLD against HOLD. That is a ranking of fundamentals as recorded at the last scoring pass, not a price forecast, and AAVE still wins 10 of the 25 individual variables against PENDLE.
- What is the biggest difference between AAVE and PENDLE?
- Buyback and Burn. AAVE scores 4 of 10 there and PENDLE scores 9, a gap of 5 points on a single variable.
- Which is bigger, AAVE or PENDLE?
- AAVE is valued at $2.65B and PENDLE at $391.5M on the latest market snapshot.
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Research and analysis, not investment advice. A higher score is one framework applied consistently to 251 tokens, not a prediction that one asset will outperform the other.