Mastercardvs.Visa
MA vs V · both in Payment rails & networks, part of the Banks, payments & capital markets value chain: The networks and processors that take a fee every time a card is swiped, the fee engine.
Visa is about 1.4× larger than Mastercard by market cap; year to date, Visa leads (+9.5% vs +5.0%).
Side by side
| MA | V | |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $491B | $686B |
| Price | $598.47 | $383.90 |
| Today | −0.2% | −0.1% |
| Return YTD | +5.0% | +9.5% |
| Return 1Y | +1.0% | +10.1% |
| P/E | 30.2 | 30.4 |
| P/S | 14.0 | 15.4 |
| P/B | 87.5 | 19.5 |
Data as of 2026-08-27 · updates daily after U.S. close
The two companies
MastercardMA
The second card network, in a near-duopoly with Visa. Capital-light and fee-based.
Full MA profile →VisaV
Visa lends nothing. It takes a small cut of the value of every transaction that crosses its rails, which makes it a toll on global spending rather than a lender.
Full V profile →More MA & V comparisons
Other head-to-heads in the Payment rails & networks segment.
See where MA and V sit in the full Banks, payments & capital markets map: every segment from suppliers to end markets.Open the Finance value chain →