Hi everyone, wanted to make a tier list for all major grading companies for PTCG. All grades are 10 or 10+ for the companies. If you don’t know one of the companies simply omit it from your list.
Rank them keeping value AND condition in mind.
Please share your results here :)))
Create a Pokemon Grading Company Graded 10 Tier List - TierMaker
Mods get in here
(I thought this was a ranking list for aesthetic quality before realising near the end of typing that you wanted it ranked by value or whatever, but I will go through with my post because I think it bares mentioning)
Generally, the companies really fall short in both of these metrics. PSA whilst obviously being the most financially sound choice for value and return, does some of the hackiest work in the industry when it comes to information presentation. They consistently fail to complete the primary point of a label which is to effectively tell a viewer what the card/collectible is, in as much detail as possible.
I find that CGC does the best job at information delivery because they allow enough real estate to designate the card properly, their Pristine label is aesthetically pleasing and their normal label does an as good a job at information delivery but is (purposefully) less aesthetic than the Pristine label for obvious reasons.
The old CGC is aesthetically poor, but does almost as good a job as the new labels at presenting the information.
ARS gets a high rank mostly from it’s aesthetic quality and presentation. It is the most professional and ‘high-class’ looking label of all the companies by far. I have seen it described as mimicking a museum plaque, which gives a legitimacy and importance to whatever is inside. The design of the label means most of the information about the card is gated behind a QR code scan which keeps it from going above B-tier, but it is the standout winner on pure aesthetics.
You might think that TAG should score highly because it presents the information well, and aesthetically is quite similar to the new CGC labels. But the major issue I have with these labels is they are see-through. It obfuscates information unless it is placed in front of a black or equally as dark background, and in my opinion sacrifices too much opportunity for brand identity for the sake of ‘cleanness’.
S: Although they’re defintely in a decline, the BGS black label 10s are likely still the most expensive compared to raw card value to graded card value.
A: BGS gold label 10s and old CGC Perfect 10s are also pretty hard to grade, and although it depends a lot on the cards themselves, in general I’d put them slightly above the average 10s.
B: These are the general 10s, at which I’d put PSA-10s (regardless of cert number 
), TAG-10s, and old CGC Pristine 10s.
C: SGC-10s and new CGC Perfect 10s. The new CGC 10s are much easier to grade, so I’d value them below PSA-10s and the likes. And SGC-10s have always been pretty consistent, but at the same time slightly below PSA due to popularity.
D: ACE-10s, PCA-10s, new CGC Pristine 10s are at the bottom of this tier list. Of course, I’d argue there are even two tiers below it if more grading companies are included: E for less popular but still reasonable grading companies, like GRAAD (Italian), Platin (German), CGA/ARK (Australian), EG (Spanish), etc. And then F (or Z tbh) for junk slabs.
And before this tier list I didn’t even knew about the Japanese grading company ARS. I might try and get an ARS-10 Pokémon Web Moltres for my graded Moltres WotC #21 promo collection perhaps. 
Ranked solely based on the looks of the label, ignoring the value, condition, and slabs themselves for a moment:
S: The custom ACE labels are top tier. And I’ve personally always liked the black with gold labels of BGS black label 10s. 
A: The light blue old CGC labels took some time to grew on me, but they do look very solid. Especially the pristine/perfect 10s with golden number. For their new labels, I like the Pristine 10 more than the Perfect 10 tbch.
B: Hence why the new label CGC Perfect 10 is a tier lower. In this tier, I’d also put the classic red & white PSA labels, and the PCA label with the star isn’t too bad either.
C: Most of the other BGS labels aren’t too great. The golden BGS 9.5 & 10 and silver 8.5 & 9.0 still aren’t too bad tbch, but their diagonal white labels of graded 8.0 and lower I would have defintely put at F-tier. And not much to say about the SGC looks tbh.
D: I’m not a big fan of the QR-codes on the TAG nor ARS labels.. The back of the ARS labels with the Japanese card information does look pretty good though, ngl, especially the silver one.
Greetz,
Quuador
It’s french
Mais c’est quoi ce truc, putain? 
(I’ve been to these basements before.)
A: TAG has great-looking labels (actually just text etched into the plastic) but not quite the same value as PSA.
B: CGC labels are clean and there is good value. I love EDGE’s subgrade icon next to the overall grade. Not much value yet for EDGE but could see AI grading picking up over time and these guys and TAG gaining value.
C: BGS - tons of value but label looks like it was designed by someone’s high school neighbor who took a graphic design class in high school. Old PSA - good value but very fakeable.
D: SGC, CGC, ACE - good value for SGC but not a great label. CGC and ACE are pretty good labels
BGS 10 BL > BGS 10 > CGC 10 Pri <=> PSA 10 (depending on the card) > CGC “10” > BGS 9.5 > PSA 9
every other grading company = doesnt matter coz its trash 
