The received hierarchy is PSA first, Beckett second, CGC third, everyone else nowhere. We priced every grading company against PSA on the same cards, using 183,466 verified sold comps, and two thirds of that hierarchy is out of date. TAG has passed Beckett on volume and its 10 prices at PSA parity. Beckett's black label 10 is the only stamp on the board that beats a PSA 10. CGC's 10 is worth about half of one.
Who actually writes the graded tape
| Company | Verified comps | Share | Cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 146,552 | 79.88% | 1,277 |
| CGC | 21,677 | 11.82% | 1,130 |
| TAG | 5,650 | 3.08% | 607 |
| BGS | 4,561 | 2.49% | 520 |
| ACE | 3,904 | 2.13% | 570 |
| SGC | 530 | 0.29% | 256 |
| AGS | 425 | 0.23% | 274 |
What each stamp is worth on the same card
Comparing companies across different cards tells you which cards they grade, not which stamp the market pays for. So every figure below is a median of same card ratios, with the PSA leg required to carry at least five verified comps. A TAG 10 comes in at 0.99 times a PSA 10 across 46 cards. A BGS 10 at 1.48 across 11 cards, and every one of the 15 cards at the looser three comp threshold is above parity. An ACE 10 at 0.59, a CGC 10 at 0.49, a BGS 9.5 at 0.53.
The cleanest cut is a three way panel: the 46 cards where PSA, TAG and CGC all carry at least five comps. Median TAG over PSA is 0.99, CGC over PSA is 0.51, and TAG over CGC is 1.98. TAG beats CGC on 44 of the 46. TAG meets or beats PSA on 23 of 46, which is as close to a coin flip as this kind of measurement gets.
Where the challengers win and lose
TAG above PSA: Psyduck from 151 at $350 against PSA's $275, Mew ex from Paldean Fates at $3,125 against $2,500 with CGC third at $1,450, and Mega Charizard X ex at $275 against $228.50 with CGC at $125. TAG below PSA: Victini at 0.73x, and Umbreon VMAX from Evolving Skies at $3,525.50 against PSA's $4,250 on only ten comps.
Beckett's 10 is the outlier that survives every cut. Lugia V from Silver Tempest is $1,400 in a PSA 10 on 476 comps and $3,100 in a BGS 10 on nine. Pikachu ex from Surging Sparks is $1,000 against $2,025 on eight. The comp counts are small by construction, because a black label is rare, and that rarity is the entire product.
Population: 13,000 grade rows across 1,344 distinct graded keys and 183,466 verified sold comps, from our stored graded payloads as of September 4, 2026. Every cross company figure is the median of same card ratios, never a comparison of company wide averages, and the PSA leg is required to carry at least five verified comps unless a looser threshold is stated inline with its own n. The three way panel restricts to the 46 cards where PSA, TAG and CGC each carry at least five comps. Era composition of each grader's universe is reported because it is the main confound: TAG's universe is entirely modern. SGC is shown for completeness at four cards and is too thin to quote as a statistic. No regression is run; numerator and denominator of every ratio are different companies' independent comp sets.