160+ Compare and Contrast Essay Topics: Best Ideas

What Is a Compare and Contrast Essay?

Let’s start with defining a meaning of compare and contrast essay. Such types of writing are typically built around some outstanding or controversial subject which can be viewed from many sides. A subject can also be analyzed in comparison with other options of that kind. In this type of paper, you should highlight the contrasting aspects of a topic or the differences between some options.  

Compare and Contrast Essay Topics: How to Choose?

Picking appropriate topics for compare and contrast essay can sometimes be challenging for students. A good way to do that is making a list of several things you know well so that you would be able to say a lot about differences between them. E.g., cats vs dogs or ‘boomers’ vs. the Generation Z. Then choose the one which matches your academic field best and go on!  

Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

You are lucky as we’ve done this first step for you! Here you can find lots of topics to compare and contrast for an essay. These ideas are picked from good books or from best student works available on the Web. They are divided into different topic categories, so you can choose one and then check it for worthy ideas. Another great idea is paying someone to write your essay. Don't forget to give StudyCrumb a look!

Keep in mind that we have different lists of topics for various essay types. Looking for classification and division essay topics or problem solution topics? You will find them here.

Best Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

Regardless of which field you are best in, history or math, we’ve got a few universal ideas for you to write an excellent essay. Check out these best compare and contrast essay topics and pick one – or come up with your own great idea.

1. Being famous vs being wealthy.
2. Forced lockdown versus recommended quarantine.
3. Traditional classes versus online education.
4. Your current home vs a house of your dreams.
5. Working at home or in the office.
6. Similarities between human beings & chimps.
7. Plato & Socrates: their similarities & differences.
8. Sociology versus psychology.
9. Fiction or non-fiction books.
10. British vs American English.

Cannot find any good topic? Maybe order essays instead, it's faster this way.

Funny Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

Some good laugh would never harm the acceptance of your writing. Be it summer or winter, most people love having fun, so take a look at these funny compare and contrast essay topics.

1. Harry Potter vs Ronald Weasley: who is cooler?
2. Doing laundry or washing dishes: what would you drop?
3. Elders vs young people: differences in lifestyle.
4. Selfies versus traditional photos.
5. Email vs pigeon post.
6. Receiving or giving presents: which is more satisfying?
7. Life in a big city versus living on a farm.
8. Simpsons vs the South Park.
9. Texting or talking to friends?
10. Hulk vs Superman: who would win?

Coudn't find a topic for compare and contrast essay? Give our Topic Generator a try.

Good Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

Do you need some universal ideas for a winning essay? Here you can find a number of good compare and contrast essay topics which can be utilized for nearly any academic field. They focus on general life problems and follow some general ideas of renowned writers or philosophers. Let's explore them in detail.

Unique Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

Pick one of these unique compare and contrast essay topics to talk about some special contrasting occurrence in your life or some other subjects different from traditional problems of our society.

1. Best day vs worst day in my life.
2. Best job & worst job choices.
3. Living with parents vs living alone.
4. My experience with iPhones or Android phones.
5. My favorite romantic movie vs my favorite comedy.
6. Advantages & disadvantages of self-education.
7. My daytime vs nighttime activities.
8. Low carb diet versus vegetarian diet (or any other diet of your choice).
9. My best friend versus my worst enemy.
10. Online vs real-life interaction, according to my experience.

Compare and Contrast Essay Topics for Students

If you are a student, your topic of choice may vary depending on what class you are in. At each age students have different life interests and study in different academic fields. We have collected a set of pre-selected compare and contrast essay topics for different age groups. You can choose to write about education and maybe you would prefer talking about your hobbies – such subjects can be found below.

Compare and Contrast Essay Topics Middle School

Let’s take a look at these compare and contrast essay topics for middle school. Check them out carefully and pick one best related to your field of studies or the one your teacher would like. As a student, you don’t have to write about education only: the subject also can be your family, nature, your dreams, etc. Pay attention to compare and contrast essay outline as it is very crucial for writing such kind of task.

Compare and Contrast Essay Topics for 6th Grade

Let’s start with compare and contrast essay topics for 6th grade. If you are in this grade, you could write about your life or lives of your ancestors, family members, friends or historical figures you’ve read about. You could also discuss some well-known problems of the world.

1. Pursuing your life goals or following others?
2. Selfish or selfless.
3. Advantages & disadvantages of migrating to a new country.
4. Feeling different vs feeling the same as others.
5. Your best & your worst moment(s) in life.
6. Protagonist & antagonist in your favorite book.
7. Homework or leisure time after school.
8. Wartime & peaceful times (you can pick a period from your country's history).
9. Your first & your last day in elementary school.
10. Talking to a friend vs talking to a stranger.

7th Grade Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

Here are several 7th grade compare and contrast essay topics. At this age students are usually expected to write about people, history, video games or other leisure activities. Pick one and write your essay without spending too much time.

1. Starting & ending your typical school day.
2. Your favorite movie vs the book it was based upon.
3. Your mom & your dad (you may describe their daily routines).
4. Your favorite cookie vs your favorite soup.
5. Daily outfit versus holiday outfit.
6. Walking along a familiar path vs discovering new places.
7. Compare your house today & your house 100 years ago.
8. Sunny weather vs rain (or snow).
9. Riding a school bus vs going to school by car.
10. Walking in a forest vs walking by the seaside.

Compare and Contrast Essay Topics for 8th Grade

Check out our pre-selected compare and contrast essay topics for 8th grade. Such subjects can be picked when doing research in modern media or analyzing popular books. Feel free to choose among them.

1. Being a part of a community vs being an outcast.
2. Natural science vs liberal arts: what is more useful for your career?
3. Accomplishments vs failures.
4. Celebrating historical events: pros & cons.
5. Adventure or attention: what would you prefer?
6. AI technology: pros & risks.
7. Half-empty or half-full glass?
8. Being fast learner vs being naturally gifted at something.
9. Pros & cons of getting older.
10. Career in a private corporation or in the government sector?

Compare and Contrast Essay Topics for High-School Students

Here you can find several suggestions for compare and contrast essay topics for high school. You can pick one that is most closely related to your area of interest. Use that idea to write an excellent work your teacher would love.

1. Having a bike vs having a car.
2. Studying at home or studying abroad.
3. Childhood friendship or high school friendship.
4. Diet or workout: which approach is better?
5. Facebook or Twitter.
6. Office work vs freelance.
7. Living in poverty or being rich.
8. Childhood & adulthood.
9. Tea or coffee.
10. Science or superstitions.
11. Family traditions or national traditions.

Compare and Contrast Essay Topics for College

Finally let’s check out what senior level students would write about. We have several categories of pre-selected compare and contrast essay topics. College level essays are typically discussing more complicated matters as students are entering adult life. This can be about making money, pushing your career in a selected academic field, household problems, making food and so on.

Psychology Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

We will start with Psychology compare and contrast essay topics. You could use them for writing texts where you voice and prove your opinion about important psychological problems. Besides, you can just describe some phenomena that are similar to each other.

1. Anthropologist vs psychologist (or sociologist).
2. Anxiety vs depression.
3. Ego vs superego.
4. Anorexia vs bulimia.
5. Agoraphobia vs claustrophobia.
6. Panic attack vs phobia.
7. Suicide vs homicide.
8. Affection vs infatuation.
9. Autism vs Down syndrome.
10. B. F. Skinner theory Vs. John B. Watson theory.
11. Physical vs mental needs of a human.

At this point, write my college essay might sound like a bright idea. Which is, actually!

Sports Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

This section contains some compare and contrast essay topics about sports. Sport plays an important role in students’ life, not only improving their fitness and preparing them for health tests but also helping to build social connections. Let’s see if you find here a proper topic for yourself:

1. Chess vs Checkers.
2. Aikido or judo.
3. Snowboarding vs surfing (you might also choose skiing or other related sports).
4. Ice climbing vs traditional climbing.
5. Baseball or cricket.
6. Rugby vs soccer.
7. Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi.
8. Roger Federer Vs. Rafael Nadal.
9. Women’s football or men’s football.
10. Tennis or badminton.

Biology: Topics for Compare and Contrast Essay

This section contains a few biology topics for compare and contrast essay you could use. They include health related subjects which are relevant for all people. Besides you could write about life of organisms in general:

1. Drugs vs herbs (or other natural alternatives).
2. Warm blooded vs cold blooded animals.
3. Surgery or therapy.
4. Vaccination vs medications.
5. Plastic surgery or cosmetic surgery.
6. Cell replication vs cell division.
7. Autoimmune disease vs autoinflammatory disease.
8. Bacteria or viruses.
9. Antibiotics vs antiviral drugs.
10. Clinic vs hospital.
11. Morning exercise vs evening exercise.

Topics to Write Compare and Contrast Essay About Computer Science

Let’s conclude our series of suggestions with a list of compare and contrast essay topics on computer science. Such essays could describe your work, how to do program or just talk about the place of technologies in your life.

1. Programming vs testing.
2. HTML or CSS.
3. Windows or Mac.
4. Computer-generated imagery vs computer animation.
5. GIF versus video format.
6. Chrome or Opera (or other browsers).
7. Fiber optic cable or coaxial cable.
8. Desktop vs laptop.
9. SSD hard drive vs SSD.
10. Windows 8 vs Windows 10 (you can also pick older operations systems).

Easy Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

Why not start from something simple and understandable for anyone in the world? Here you can find easy compare and contrast essay topics. They could help you with writing a simple essay very quickly. How about starting with such easy things like pets, games or movies? Let's dive into this list of ideas and see if you could pick anything nice here.

Compare and Contrast Essay Topics for Kids

Subjects that juniors would like to write about are not similar to those for college students. Here are some compare and contrast essay topics for kids - the things in the world that kids like. Time to explore them!

1. Reading books vs watching movies.
2. Superhero movies or comedies.
3. Do you prefer Marvel or DC comics?
4. Chocolate or ice-cream.
5. Do you prefer cold or hot weather?
6. What do you prefer for breakfast: cereal or bacon & eggs?
7. Coke vs Pepsi (or choose your own favorite drinks).
8. Fruits or vegetables: what is your choice?
9. Pencil drawing vs painting.
10. Compare two of your favorite movies.

Compare and Contrast Essay Topics for Elementary Students

School children are expected to choose more complicated subjects. Let's take a look at compare and contrast essay topics for elementary students. They typically include some reflections on studying or detailed descriptions of the behavior of a dog (or some other animal).

1. Best pets: cats or dogs.
2. Animal behavior: wild or domesticated.
3. Winter holidays vs summer holidays.
4. Studying remotely or going to your class.
5. Family or friends.
6. Sweet vs salty food.
7. Compare your two favorite kinds of sports.
8. Happy end vs sad end in books (or movies).
9. Short hair vs long hair.
10. Going to seaside or camping in forest.

Compare and Contrast Essay About Animals: Topics

One of the best choices for a winning essay is picking up a good animal related subject. Here are a few ideas on compare and contrast essay (of animals) topics that you could use. There are lots of curious creatures aside from dogs and cats, and writing about one of them could help to captivate your audience.

1. Northern versus southern animals.
2. Tiger vs bear: who would win.
3. Plants versus mushrooms.
4. Visual differences between edible and inedible mushrooms.
5. Insects vs spiders: who is the worst roommate.
6. River versus marine animals.
7. Apes versus monkeys.
8. Bees versus wasps.
9. Migratory versus resident birds.
10. Parrot or canary, which one is a better pet?

Interesting Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

A key success factor for a writer is captivating their audience. The first step towards that is picking a subject that would fuel their curiosity. We have found some really interesting compare and contrast essay topics which step away from traditional school subjects. These ideas are a result of various successful books as well as online research. Feel free to pick one that you find contrasting enough.

Controversial Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

It is natural for people to argue about things. And sometimes a great idea can be born from an argument. Below are several controversial compare and contrast essay topics. Feel free to pick one if you would like to invite your audience to an argument:

1. Pros & cons of being alone.
2. Being an only child versus having many siblings.
3. Creationism against atheism.
4. Meat diet or veganism.
5. Participating in political activities vs staying neutral.
6. Positive & negative aspects of nuclear weapon.
7. Free speech vs censure in the Internet.
8. Pros & cons of death penalty.
9. Private vs state-owned schools.
10. Progressive tax system vs flat tax system.

Art History: Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

If you are fond of history and prefer to write about beautiful examples made by humans, consider picking from these art history compare and contrast essay topics. After all, art is immortal so you don’t need to collect only the most up-to-date data for such a subject.

1. Shakespeare: a real person or a myth?
2. Roman or Greek mythology.
3. Eastern or western architecture in Mediterranean (you can also pick any other region with different cultural influences).
4. Impressionism vs Expressionism.
5. Opera or ballet.
6. Mosaic or Fresco.
7. Medieval or Renaissance art.
8. Baroque or Neoclassicism.
9. 19th vs 20th century music.
10. Classical music vs jazz.
11. Rock vs pop music.

Final Thoughts on Compare and Contrast Essay Ideas

Sure thing, these are far from all compare and contrast essay topics available out there. But hopefully, you have found at least one good idea to get started. Use any of these topics to generate a more specific idea for your assignment. 

Remember, these topics are just a small taste of what we have to offer. Whether you need evaluative essay topics or cause and effect topics, we've got you covered.