Cut-Resistant Glove Rating Comparator

Last updated 2026-08-22

Two safety standards answer "how cut-resistant is this glove?" — ANSI/ISEA 105 (used in the US) and EN 388 (used in the EU, Canada, Australia and elsewhere). Both use the same test machine, a TDM-100 tomodynamometer, pressing a blade through the material under increasing force. But ANSI/ISEA 105 reports the result in grams-force on a nine-level A1-A9 scale, and EN 388 reports it in Newtons on a six-level A-F scale. A raw force reading converts between grams and Newtons by plain physics — that part is exact. What does not exist is an official rule saying a given ANSI level and a given EN 388 level mean the same thing.

Two glove brands' own pages say so directly. HexArmor's own page states: "An ANSI/ISEA A4 and an EN 388 Level D are not the same rating" — "the letter and number designations are not directly interchangeable." Ergodyne's own page adds that the 2016 revisions let the two standards "be compared... more accurately," but "that doesn't mean they're interchangeable." Below, enter a raw test force and see both scales' own numbers — not one number pretending to be the other.

Why the top of ANSI/ISEA's scale is a blind spot for EN 388

HexArmor's own page states plainly: "EN 388 tops out at Level F, which is roughly equivalent to an ANSI/ISEA A6." EN 388 has no level above F, and F itself has no stated upper bound — so a glove that clears ANSI/ISEA's A6 threshold (3,000g / ~29.4N), A9 threshold (6,000g / ~58.8N), or anything far beyond it, all get exactly the same EN 388 designation: Level F. ANSI/ISEA's three highest levels, A7, A8 and A9, exist specifically to distinguish force ranges that EN 388 does not distinguish at all.

The two scales, each brand's own numbers

ANSI/ISEA 105 level	Minimum force (their own scale)	Same force in Newtons
A1	200 gf	2.0 N
A2	500 gf	4.9 N
A3	1,000 gf	9.8 N
A4	1,500 gf	14.7 N
A5	2,200 gf	21.6 N
A6	3,000 gf	29.4 N
A7	4,000 gf	39.2 N
A8	5,000 gf	49.0 N
A9	6,000 gf	58.8 N

Source: PK Safety's own table, cross-checked against the A4/A5 boundary stated on Superior Glove's own product page.

EN 388:2016 level	Minimum force (their own scale)	Same force in grams-force
A	2 N	204 gf
B	5 N	510 gf
C	10 N	1,020 gf
D	15 N	1,530 gf
E	22 N	2,243 gf
F	30 N	3,059 gf

Source: wcsafety.com's own reference table, corroborated by HexArmor's own page.

What this does not do

It does not certify a glove as officially rated under either standard — an official ANSI/ISEA or EN 388 rating requires the manufacturer to actually run and publish that specific standard's full test, not just clear a force threshold this tool computes.
It does not know your glove's raw test force unless you do — most consumer packaging shows only the finished level (e.g. "A4"), not the underlying grams or Newtons. This tool is for when you have the actual number: a lab report, a spec sheet, or (as HexArmor's own page quotes as a real example) a specific tested result like "1,633 grams."
It treats the unit conversion (grams ↔ Newtons) as exact physics. It does not treat the two standards' level boundaries as equivalent to each other — see the note above from HexArmor's and Ergodyne's own pages.
Above EN 388's Level F, it says so rather than inventing a finer distinction EN 388 itself does not make.

Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere. Ergodyne's own page was the third source confirming the "not interchangeable" caution independently. The bike lock security rating comparator and the recovery strap safety rating comparator found the same shape before — independent rating systems that answer a similar question without converting into each other — in two different consumer markets; this is the same shape again in industrial safety equipment. The paper shredder security level comparator found the mirror-image version: one real standardized scale, and an unregulated marketing word layered on top that different brands apply to different points on it. The paint sheen gloss level comparator found that same mirror-image version too — one brand's own data sheet even contradicts the name it gave the product. The drywall anchor weight rating comparator found a third variant: one brand states two numbers for the same product (pull-out and shear) that don't convert into each other either, while other brands state only one, unlabeled.