Enneagram type comparison chart: the nine types side by side
A practical chart for comparing your top-scoring types on the features that separate them best, with a short guide to using it.
How to use this chart
Pick the two or three types that scored highest on your test and read across their rows. The columns are chosen because they separate types that look alike from the outside: where attention goes first, what the type avoids, how it reacts when pressure builds and what it most often misses about itself. Circle the cells that match your experience and note one real example beside each.
The nine types compared
| Type | Attention goes first to | Tries hardest to avoid | Under pressure | Typical gift | Common blind spot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What is wrong or could be better | Being wrong or careless | Tightens control, criticises | Integrity and improvement | How harsh the inner critic sounds |
| 2 | What other people need | Being unwanted | Over-gives, then resents | Warmth and attunement | Own needs and motives for helping |
| 3 | Goals and how things look | Failure and worthlessness | Works harder, detaches from feeling | Drive and effectiveness | Feelings set aside for the task |
| 4 | What is missing or meaningful | Being ordinary or without identity | Withdraws into mood | Emotional honesty and depth | What is good in the present |
| 5 | What needs understanding | Being helpless or drained | Retreats and conserves energy | Insight and objectivity | Cost of withholding presence |
| 6 | What could go wrong | Being without support | Doubts, tests, prepares | Loyalty and foresight | Trust in own judgement |
| 7 | What could be exciting | Pain and limitation | Speeds up, adds options | Enthusiasm and creativity | Value of staying with difficulty |
| 8 | Where power and control sit | Vulnerability and being controlled | Pushes harder, confronts | Protection and decisiveness | Impact of intensity on others |
| 9 | Potential conflict | Disruption and separation | Numbs out, goes along | Acceptance and calm | Own priorities and anger |
Reading your circles
- Three or more matching cells in one row make that type a strong candidate.
- Matches split across two neighbouring rows suggest a core type and its wing.
- Matches in the pressure column deserve extra weight, because stress reactions are hard to fake.
- If your matches for gift and blind spot sit in different rows, compare those two types' core fears directly.
Why these columns
Enneagram descriptions usually read as long paragraphs, and it is easy to see yourself in all of them. Breaking the types into a few contrasting features makes the choice concrete. The chart follows common Enneagram vocabulary, such as that used by The Enneagram Institute, and simplifies it. These type patterns come from Enneagram teaching rather than from measurement.
Related questions
Can I use this chart instead of a test?+−
It can help you shortlist types, but a test and reflection over time give a more rounded picture.
Why do several rows fit me?+−
Every type describes common human patterns. Look for the row where the pressure and avoid columns both fit.
Is the blind spot a weakness?+−
It is simply the area a type tends to overlook, and noticing it is part of using the Enneagram well.
Does this chart include wings?+−
No. Read neighbouring rows together to get a sense of how a wing modifies a type.
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