The PSA grading scale: what every grade from 1 to 10 allows

Everything below comes from PSA’s own grading standards page, read on 21 October 2026, translated into plain words. The short version: PSA looks at centering, corners, edges and surface on both sides, and the card gets the highest grade that all four still qualify for. A card with perfect corners and a back that’s 80/20 off is a PSA 9 at best, however clean the rest is.

The PSA grading scale, grade by grade

PSA has eleven card grades, each with a name and, from 1.5 up, a centering limit for the front and the back. The ratio is the wider border’s share of the two borders on the same axis, so 55/45 means the bigger border is at most 55% of the pair.

Two things jump out. The back is far more forgiving than the front: everything from a PSA 9 down accepts a back as bad as 90/10. And the jump from 9 to 10 is the tightest step on the scale, on both sides at once. For how the top grade compares at CGC, Beckett, SGC and TAG, see the centering table on our home page.

What each grade allows for corners, edges and surface

PSA describes each grade in a paragraph. Here they are split into the three things you can check with your own eyes. Where PSA doesn’t describe a part, the table says so; at the top grades, read that as clean.

On Pokémon cards the blue back is where wear shows first. Whitening on a back corner or a chipped back edge is often what turns a likely 10 into a 9 or 8, even when the front looks perfect.

What makes a PSA 10?

A PSA 10 is, in PSA’s words, a virtually perfect card. Every one of these has to be true at once:

1. Front centering of about 55/45 or better, left to right and top to bottom.
2. Back centering of about 75/25 or better.
3. Four perfectly sharp corners. No fraying, no whitening, no dings.
4. Sharp focus: the print is in register.
5. Full original gloss, with no scratches or scuffs.
6. No staining of any kind.

The only flaw PSA allows on a 10 is a slight printing imperfection that doesn’t hurt the card’s overall look. That covers the faint print line or speck a modern card can have straight from the pack, not handling wear.

Until early 2025, PSA’s page gave the PSA 10 front limit as approximately 55/45 to 60/40. Collectors noticed the wording change to 55/45 at the time; it’s what the page says today. PSA’s centering note still lets a grader allow a small variance when a card’s eye appeal is strong, which is why you’ll see some 10s that measure a touch past 55/45. Don’t plan on being one of them.

PSA 9 vs PSA 10: what’s the difference?

A PSA 9 is a card with exactly one minor flaw; a PSA 10 has none. That one flaw can be a very slight wax stain on the back, a minor print imperfection, slightly off-white borders, or centering between 55/45 and 60/40 on the front (or between 75/25 and 90/10 on the back).

How big is the price gap between a PSA 9 and a PSA 10?

Often close to double, and sometimes a 9 sells for less than a raw copy. Take Umbreon VMAX 215/203 from Evolving Skies, the alt art collectors call Moonbreon. On Sports Card Investor’s sales feed, PSA 10s sold for $3,500 to $3,700 on 19 October 2026, while PSA 9s sold for $1,710 to $2,100 between 17 and 19 October. The last raw near mint copy went for $2,150 on 18 October.

That last number is the lesson. A raw card carries the hope of a 10, so buyers pay for the chance. Once it comes back a 9, the chance is gone, and on a card like this the slab can be worth less than the raw card was, before you’ve paid the fee. The gap differs from card to card and moves week to week, so check recent sales for your card before you send it. Our guides on what PSA grading costs and whether grading is worth it work through the sums.

Does PSA give half grades?

Yes, from 2.5 to 8.5. PSA added half grades on 1 February 2008 to reward cards that are high-end for their grade, and its standards say graders look at the whole card but with a clear focus on centering. So a PSA 8.5 is usually an 8 whose centering is noticeably better than an 8 needs.

PSA 1.5 is not a half grade in that sense: it’s its own grade, Fair. And there is no PSA 9.5. That sets PSA apart from Beckett, CGC and SGC, which all use a 9.5; our grading company comparison covers how their scales line up, and the TAG grading guide explains TAG’s 1,000-point score.

What do PSA qualifiers mean? OC, ST, PD, OF, MK and MC

A qualifier is a code printed after the grade when one flaw would otherwise drag the whole card down. A card that is an 8 in every way except its centering can come back “PSA 8 OC” instead of a plain lower grade.

PSA lists OC, ST, PD and OF as optional: the card gets either the qualifier or a plain grade low enough to cover the flaw. MK and MC are always applied. Most buyers value a qualified grade below the same number without the code, so a plain lower grade is often the easier card to sell.

PSA’s OC note also explains how it measures: it compares the borders left to right and top to bottom and takes the most off-center part of the card. Cards that grade PSA 7 or better get about 5% leeway on the front. PSA’s own example: a card that meets everything else for a 9 and measures 65/35 may still get the 9 if its eye appeal is good.

What do Authentic, Authentic Altered and N1 to N9 mean?

These are the outcomes without a number. “Authentic” means PSA says the card is real and nothing more. “Authentic Altered” (AA) means it’s real but has been trimmed, recolored, restored or cleaned. Usually a card only goes in a slab that way if you put Auth or AA as the minimum grade on the form, where that option exists; otherwise the card comes back in a sleeve with a no-grade code.

N4 is the expensive one: you pay the fee and get a fake back. If there’s any doubt, run through our guide on how to tell if a Pokémon card is fake first.

How to measure card centering yourself

Measure the border on each side, divide the wider one by the pair, and compare the result with the table above. Do it left to right and top to bottom, on the front and on the back. The worst of the four numbers is the one that counts.

1. Photograph or scan the card flat and square, with the camera straight above it. A tilted photo makes the near border look wider.
2. Measure the left and right borders, from the card’s cut edge to where the printed frame starts. Use the narrowest point of each if the frame sits at a slight angle, since PSA goes by the most off-center part.
3. Work out the ratio: wider border ÷ (left + right) × 100. That’s the first number; 100 minus it is the second.
4. Repeat for the top and bottom borders.
5. Turn the card over and do the same on the back.
6. Find the highest grade whose front limit your worst front ratio meets and whose back limit your worst back ratio meets. That’s the most your centering allows.

A worked example: the left border is 2.0 mm and the right is 1.4 mm. 2.0 ÷ 3.4 × 100 = 58.8, so the card is 59/41 left to right. That misses a PSA 10 (55/45) and fits a PSA 9 (60/40). If the top and bottom are 1.8 mm and 1.6 mm, that axis is 53/47, fine for a 10, but the card is still a 9 on centering because the worse axis decides.

Is the Pokémon card grading scale different?

Not at PSA. Pokémon cards go through the same card grading standards as baseball or basketball cards: the same eleven grades, the same centering limits, the same qualifiers. What changes is where Pokémon cards tend to fail. Holo and full-art surfaces show light scratches that a matte card hides, and the dark blue back makes every white speck on a corner or edge easy to see.

Other graders do use different scales. CGC and Beckett split their 10s into tiers, and TAG scores cards out of 1,000. If you’re deciding where to send a card, the best grading company for Pokémon cards guide compares them side by side.