ADA vs XTZ
Cardano and Tezos 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. XTZ scores 88 and ranks 199th. ADA leads by 25 points, which is a real gap, though small enough that one variable moving would close much of it. ADA takes 17 of the 25 variables, XTZ takes 2, and 6 are level.
The framework rates ADA WATCH and XTZ PASS. 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.
One variable separates them by 3 points or more. ADA is clear on Social Mindshare (6 against 2).
Both score 3 or below on Protocol Revenue, Revenue Trend, P/S Multiple, Buyback and Burn, TVL Trend, Network Growth and 3 more. 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.
ADA is valued at $9.57B against $336.3M for XTZ, a 28.4x difference. The larger of the two also scores higher, so the market and the framework agree on the ordering here.
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 | 2 | ADA +1 | |
| Revenue Trend | 3 | 2 | ADA +1 | |
| P/S Multiple | 2 | 3 | XTZ +1 | |
| Real Staking Yield | 6 | 5 | ADA +1 |
Supply
| Supply Inflation | 6 | 5 | ADA +1 | |
| Vesting Schedule | 7 | 7 | level | |
| Circulating / FDV Ratio | 7 | 8 | XTZ +1 | |
| Buyback and Burn | 1 | 1 | level |
Ownership
| Smart Money Flows | 4 | 2 | ADA +2 | |
| Insider Selling | 6 | 4 | ADA +2 | |
| Holder Concentration | 6 | 4 | ADA +2 |
Traction
| TVL Trend | 3 | 2 | ADA +1 | |
| Active Users | 4 | 2 | ADA +2 | |
| Developer Activity | 5 | 3 | ADA +2 | |
| Network Growth | 3 | 2 | ADA +1 |
Position
| Market Share | 3 | 2 | ADA +1 | |
| Competitive Moat | 3 | 3 | level | |
| Institutional Adoption | 4 | 4 | level | |
| Exchange Depth | 7 | 5 | ADA +2 | |
| Social Mindshare | 6 | 2 | ADA +4 |
Risk
| Regulatory Safety | 7 | 7 | level | |
| Catalyst Calendar | 4 | 2 | ADA +2 | |
| BTC Alpha Potential | 3 | 2 | ADA +1 | |
| Team Execution | 4 | 4 | level | |
| Treasury Runway | 6 | 5 | ADA +1 |
Bars read outward from the centre: ADA to the left, XTZ 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 | XTZ | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.2547 | $0.3062 |
| Market cap | $9.57B | $336.3M |
| Circulating | 83.4% | 98.2% |
| Dilution to full supply | 1.2x | 1.02x |
| Off all-time high | -91.7% | -96.6% |
| To recover the high | 12x | 29.4x |
| Total value locked | $380.0M | $22.0M |
| Network | Cardano | Tezos |
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
XTZ · PASS
Tezos institutional tokenization and RWA focus may sustain niche enterprise use
No meaningful DeFi network, developer exodus, volume near all-time-lows, token has no value accrual mechanism
Common questions
- Is ADA or XTZ the better investment?
- On this framework ADA scores higher: 113 against 88 of 250, and it is rated WATCH against PASS. That is a ranking of fundamentals as recorded at the last scoring pass, not a price forecast, and ADA still wins 17 of the 25 individual variables against XTZ.
- What is the biggest difference between ADA and XTZ?
- Social Mindshare. ADA scores 6 of 10 there and XTZ scores 2, a gap of 4 points on a single variable.
- Which is bigger, ADA or XTZ?
- ADA is valued at $9.57B and XTZ at $336.3M 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.