stack up — compare (with/to something else)
phrasal verbC1IELTS 7+neutraloccasional
to be as good as or as effective as something or someone else, especially when compared directly; to measure up in comparison.
Say it like a native
Textbook I am curious how our product compares with the competition.
Native I wonder how our product stacks up against the competition.
'Stack up against' is the idiomatic 'compare/measure up'; the formal version is flatter.
Pattern: stack up (against/to something/someone)
In use
- When you compare the new phone to last year's model, it really doesn't stack up.work
- While online courses are convenient, some people feel they don't stack up to traditional classroom learning in terms of interaction and motivation.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ How does it stack up with the others?
✓ How does it stack up against the others?
Usually 'stack up AGAINST' (or 'to') — 'with' is less natural here.
Common collocations
stack up + against— against rivals, to the original, well, favourably
Don't confuse it
This sense is figurative and different from the literal sense of 'stack up' (to arrange things in a pile). Here, it means to compare the quality, effectiveness, or performance of something with another.