Cardano (ADA) vs Ethereum (ETH): comparison
Side-by-side comparison of Cardano and Ethereum: how their prices moved, how they differ technically and what each is used for.
ADA and ETH: key specs
| Cardano (ADA) | Ethereum (ETH) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.208908 | $2,570.75 |
| Ticker | ADA | ETH |
| Type | native blockchain coin | native blockchain coin |
| Launched | 2017 | 2015 |
| Created by | Charles Hoskinson | Vitalik Buterin |
| Consensus | Proof of Stake (Ouroboros) | Proof of Stake |
| Block time | ~20 sec | ~12 sec |
| Max supply | 45 B ADA | no cap |
| Transaction privacy | public transactions | public transactions |
| Circulating supply | 37.51 B ADA | 122.04 M ETH |
| Market cap | $7.84 B | $313.62 B |
| Market cap rank | #19 | #2 |
CoinGecko data as of Sep 11, 2026, 19:03. How we calculate the data
Price change: ADA vs ETH
Both prices are set to 100 at the start of the period, so the chart shows which coin grew or fell more, not the prices themselves.
| Period | ADA | ETH |
|---|---|---|
| 7 days | −6.42% | −1.28% |
| 30 days | +10.71% | +31.65% |
| 90 days | +20.56% | +47.33% |
The correlation of their daily price changes over the last 90 days is 0.66 (moderate).
ADA or ETH: what each is used for
- Smart contracts and appsCardano and Ethereum
How Cardano and Ethereum work
How Cardano works
Cardano uses the Ouroboros consensus protocol, with a block about every 20 seconds, and an extended UTXO model. ADA holders can delegate to stake pools without locking their coins. The maximum supply is 45 billion ADA.
What Cardano is used for
ADA pays fees, is staked to secure the network and is used in Cardano-based DeFi and NFT applications.
How Ethereum works
Since September 2022 Ethereum has used Proof of Stake: validators lock ETH to propose and confirm blocks, with a new slot every 12 seconds. Smart contracts run in the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Part of every transaction fee is burned, so the net supply depends on network activity.
What Ethereum is used for
ETH is used to pay gas fees, as collateral in DeFi, for staking and as a settlement asset across the ecosystem. Layer-2 networks such as Arbitrum and Optimism also use ETH for fees, which makes it the working currency of a large part of the crypto economy.