ADA vs SUI
Cardano and Sui 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
ADA scores 113 of 250 and ranks 88th of 251. SUI scores 146 and ranks 23rd. SUI leads by 33 points, which is a wide enough margin that the framework is not ambivalent. ADA takes 7 of the 25 variables, SUI takes 16, and 2 are level.
The framework rates ADA WATCH and SUI HOLD. Two tokens close enough to compare do not have to land in the same band, and where they do not, the divergence table below is where the split comes from.
5 variables separate them by 3 points or more. ADA is clear on Vesting Schedule (7 against 2), Supply Inflation (6 against 2) and Circulating / FDV Ratio (7 against 3). SUI is clear on TVL Trend (9 against 3) and Revenue Trend (8 against 3).
Both score 3 or below on Protocol Revenue, Buyback and Burn. 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.
SUI still has 58.8% of its eventual supply to enter circulation against 16.6% for ADA. On the same market capitalisation, a buyer of SUI is taking the 2.43x dilution path and a buyer of ADA the 1.2x one.
ADA is valued at $9.57B against $4.63B for SUI, a 2.1x 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 | 3 | 3 | level | |
| Revenue Trend | 3 | 8 | SUI +5 | |
| P/S Multiple | 2 | 5 | SUI +3 | |
| Real Staking Yield | 6 | 5 | ADA +1 |
Supply
| Supply Inflation | 6 | 2 | ADA +4 | |
| Vesting Schedule | 7 | 2 | ADA +5 | |
| Circulating / FDV Ratio | 7 | 3 | ADA +4 | |
| Buyback and Burn | 1 | 2 | SUI +1 |
Ownership
| Smart Money Flows | 4 | 8 | SUI +4 | |
| Insider Selling | 6 | 4 | ADA +2 | |
| Holder Concentration | 6 | 4 | ADA +2 |
Traction
| TVL Trend | 3 | 9 | SUI +6 | |
| Active Users | 4 | 7 | SUI +3 | |
| Developer Activity | 5 | 8 | SUI +3 | |
| Network Growth | 3 | 7 | SUI +4 |
Position
| Market Share | 3 | 6 | SUI +3 | |
| Competitive Moat | 3 | 7 | SUI +4 | |
| Institutional Adoption | 4 | 6 | SUI +2 | |
| Exchange Depth | 7 | 7 | level | |
| Social Mindshare | 6 | 8 | SUI +2 |
Risk
| Regulatory Safety | 7 | 6 | ADA +1 | |
| Catalyst Calendar | 4 | 7 | SUI +3 | |
| BTC Alpha Potential | 3 | 7 | SUI +4 | |
| Team Execution | 4 | 8 | SUI +4 | |
| Treasury Runway | 6 | 7 | SUI +1 |
Bars read outward from the centre: ADA to the left, SUI 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
| ADA | SUI | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.2547 | $1.12 |
| Market cap | $9.57B | $4.63B |
| Circulating | 83.4% | 41.2% |
| Dilution to full supply | 1.2x | 2.43x |
| Off all-time high | -91.7% | -79% |
| To recover the high | 12x | 4.8x |
| Total value locked | $380.0M | $2.10B |
| Network | Cardano | Sui |
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
ADA · WATCH
Midnight privacy sidechain traction, federated mainnet live since 31 March 2026; Hydra scaling reaching mainnet
Perpetual under-delivery on roadmap; DeFi network far behind competitors; declining developer mindshare
SUI · HOLD
Dominant DEX volume growth; zkLogin adoption driving user onboarding; CETUS liquidity monopoly
Only 33% of tokens in circulation; Mysten Labs/VC releases through 2028 create structural sell pressure
Common questions
- Is ADA or SUI the better investment?
- On this framework SUI scores higher: 146 against 113 of 250, and it is rated HOLD against WATCH. That is a ranking of fundamentals as recorded at the last scoring pass, not a price forecast, and ADA still wins 7 of the 25 individual variables against SUI.
- What is the biggest difference between ADA and SUI?
- TVL Trend. ADA scores 3 of 10 there and SUI scores 9, a gap of 6 points on a single variable.
- Which is bigger, ADA or SUI?
- ADA is valued at $9.57B and SUI at $4.63B 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.