Card Grading Companies Compared (2026)

Each price is the cheapest tier open for new submissions on October 22, 2026, per card, before shipping. Turnaround figures are each company's own posted estimates, not guarantees. Faster tiers exist at the other graders and cost roughly $80–$300 a card. Prices at every grader change often, so check the grader's own site before you ship. We keep the same figures, with sources, on our card grading cost comparison.

• Price: $15 a card for 1–5 cards, $14 for 6–19, $13 for 20–49 and $12 for 50–99, with custom dealer pricing from 100 cards. No minimum and no membership.
• Turnaround: 14 days from the day your cards arrive until grading and encapsulation are complete.
• What you get: four subgrades (centering, corners, edges, surface), a 1–10 grade in half points, a digital report with scans, corner close-ups and a condition map, a tamper-evident slab with a unique cert ID, and online cert verification.
• Payment: you pay after your cards are graded, not at submission.
• Pros: the lowest price on this page that includes subgrades with no card minimum; the shortest posted turnaround; the evidence behind each grade is published.

• Price: about $60–$80 a card at the open tiers. PSA's Value tiers ($24.99–$64.99) have been paused since June 2026.
• Turnaround: posted estimates of 40–100 business days for those tiers.
• Grade: a single overall grade, with no subgrades.
• Pros: one simple overall number; one of the best-known names in the hobby.
• Watch for: the cheapest open tiers cost several times the price of the other graders here, and payment is due at submission.
• Source: allvintagecards.com/psa-grading-costs, checked October 22, 2026.

• Price: $17 a card at Bulk and $20 at Economy.
• Turnaround: about 90–150 working days at those tiers.
• Grade: a single overall grade, with no subgrades.
• Pros: a low entry price for larger batches.
• Watch for: Bulk requires 25 cards and caps declared value at $500, and the posted wait is the longest on this page.
• Source: cardgrade.io/cgc-grading, checked October 22, 2026.

• Price: $14.95 a card at Base, or $17.95 with subgrades. Subgrades are included from the $34.95 Standard tier.
• Turnaround: posted estimates of 75+ business days.
• Pros: subgrades are available at a low price, and Base is the second-lowest entry price on this page.
• Watch for: Base intake has paused and reopened during 2026, so confirm it is open before you plan around it. Subgrades cost extra at Base.
• Source: cardgrade.io/blog/bgs-grading-cost-breakdown, checked October 22, 2026.

• Price: $50 a card at Standard, up from $15 in September 2026.
• Turnaround: posted estimates of 40+ business days.
• Grade: a single overall grade, with no subgrades.
• Pros: a shorter posted wait than CGC or Beckett.
• Watch for: the September 2026 price increase more than tripled the entry price, so older price guides are out of date.
• Source: thecollectornation.com/grading/sgc, checked October 22, 2026.

• Price: $39.95 a card at Base, which is grade-only with a 5-card minimum. Score reports start at the $59.95 Standard tier.
• Turnaround: posted estimates of 60 business days.
• Pros: a scored report is available.
• Watch for: the cheapest tier has no scored report and the full report starts at $59.95.
• Source: thecollectornation.com/grading/tag, checked October 22, 2026.

• Bulk Pokémon and other TCG cards: the per-card price decides this. White Whale's $12 tier from 50 cards and 14-day turnaround suit large Pokémon batches, and the surface heatmap shows wear on holo and full-art cards. CGC Bulk at $17 is the other low entry price, with a 25-card minimum and a long wait.
• Modern sports cards: modern cards are often graded for resale, and the cheapest slab with a believable grade tends to win. White Whale at $12–$15 with subgrades and a report that buyers can verify online is built for this. Check what buyers in your market expect before you choose.
• Fastest turnaround: White Whale posts 14 days from arrival at the regular price. The other graders post 40 to 150 business days for their cheapest tiers, and their faster tiers cost $80–$300 a card.
• Subgrades: White Whale includes all four on every card. Beckett offers them for $3 more at Base or included from Standard. TAG offers a scored report from $59.95. PSA, CGC and SGC give one overall grade.
• A specific label: if your buyer, set registry or collection calls for a particular company's slab, that requirement decides it. Use the table above to see what that choice costs.

White Whale is not a photo pre-screen or an estimate. Your physical cards arrive at our facility, are scanned in high resolution, measured and given a real certified grade, then ultrasonically welded into a tamper-evident slab that ships back to you. The grade is a 1–10 score in half points, set by four subgrades, and the same locked algorithm is applied to every card. Staff can inspect low-confidence results before a grade is certified.

Every card's measurements are published in its digital report, including centering splits, corner close-ups and a surface heatmap, so you can see why a card got its grade. Anyone can check the cert number online without an account. See how AI card grading works and our published grading scale for the details.

• Four subgrades and the digital report are included in the price, not add-ons.
• No minimum and no membership; dealers get custom pricing from 100 cards.
• Pay after grading: you see your grades before you pay.
• Return shipping is $12 for 1–8 cards, $18 for 9–22 and $22 for 23–40.

We compared the cheapest tier each grader had open for new submissions on October 22, 2026, on price per card, posted turnaround and subgrades. White Whale figures come from our own published pricing and process. Competitor figures come from public price trackers (allvintagecards.com, cardgrade.io and thecollectornation.com), listed on our compare page, and are not verified against each grader's own site on the checked date. The graders' business-day estimates are their own, and real turnarounds vary. We are a grading company, so read this comparison with that in mind and confirm current prices with each grader before you submit.