ARB vs POL
Arbitrum and Polygon system Token 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
ARB scores 134 of 250 and ranks 42nd of 251. POL scores 123 and ranks 56th. ARB leads by 11 points, which is a real gap, though small enough that one variable moving would close much of it. ARB takes 13 of the 25 variables, POL takes 2, and 10 are level.
2 variables separate them by 3 points or more. ARB is clear on Market Share (8 against 5). POL is clear on Real Staking Yield (5 against 2).
Both score 3 or below on Vesting Schedule, 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.
ARB still has 32.1% of its eventual supply to enter circulation against 0% for POL. On the same market capitalisation, a buyer of ARB is taking the 1.47x dilution path and a buyer of POL the 1x one.
ARB is valued at $1.25B against $1.08B for POL, a 1.2x 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 | 4 | POL +1 | |
| Revenue Trend | 5 | 4 | ARB +1 | |
| P/S Multiple | 4 | 4 | level | |
| Real Staking Yield | 2 | 5 | POL +3 |
Supply
| Supply Inflation | 4 | 3 | ARB +1 | |
| Vesting Schedule | 3 | 3 | level | |
| Circulating / FDV Ratio | 5 | 4 | ARB +1 | |
| Buyback and Burn | 3 | 3 | level |
Ownership
| Smart Money Flows | 6 | 5 | ARB +1 | |
| Insider Selling | 4 | 4 | level | |
| Holder Concentration | 5 | 5 | level |
Traction
| TVL Trend | 6 | 5 | ARB +1 | |
| Active Users | 7 | 6 | ARB +1 | |
| Developer Activity | 8 | 7 | ARB +1 | |
| Network Growth | 7 | 6 | ARB +1 |
Position
| Market Share | 8 | 5 | ARB +3 | |
| Competitive Moat | 5 | 5 | level | |
| Institutional Adoption | 6 | 6 | level | |
| Exchange Depth | 7 | 7 | level | |
| Social Mindshare | 6 | 5 | ARB +1 |
Risk
| Regulatory Safety | 7 | 7 | level | |
| Catalyst Calendar | 6 | 5 | ARB +1 | |
| BTC Alpha Potential | 4 | 3 | ARB +1 | |
| Team Execution | 7 | 6 | ARB +1 | |
| Treasury Runway | 6 | 6 | level |
Bars read outward from the centre: ARB to the left, POL 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
| ARB | POL | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.1840 | $0.1020 |
| Market cap | $1.25B | $1.08B |
| Circulating | 67.9% | 100% |
| Dilution to full supply | 1.47x | 1x |
| Off all-time high | -92.3% | -92.1% |
| To recover the high | 13x | 12.7x |
| Total value locked | $2.20B | $650.0M |
| Network | Arbitrum | Polygon |
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
ARB · CAUTIOUS HOLD
BOLD dispute resolution upgrade; Stylus enabling Rust/C++ smart contracts expanding developer base
42% circulating with significant investor releases remaining; sequencer revenue not well-accrued to ARB token holders
POL · CAUTIOUS HOLD
AggLayer connecting all Polygon CDK chains into unified liquidity layer; ETH Foundation alignment
Only 38% circulating; MATIC migration not fully complete; AggLayer adoption slower than expected
Common questions
- Is ARB or POL the better investment?
- On this framework ARB scores higher: 134 against 123 of 250, and it is rated CAUTIOUS HOLD against CAUTIOUS HOLD. That is a ranking of fundamentals as recorded at the last scoring pass, not a price forecast, and ARB still wins 13 of the 25 individual variables against POL.
- What is the biggest difference between ARB and POL?
- Real Staking Yield. ARB scores 2 of 10 there and POL scores 5, a gap of 3 points on a single variable.
- Which is bigger, ARB or POL?
- ARB is valued at $1.25B and POL at $1.08B 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.