MoatScan AI has now analyzed 610+ US-listed companies, scoring each across the five moat pillars — network effects, switching costs, intangible assets, cost advantages, and efficient scale — and assigning an overall Moat Score (0–100) plus a durability rating (Wide / Narrow / No Moat). This article looks at what sits at the top of that distribution as of October 2026: the widest moats in the database, and the patterns they share.
The table below is a snapshot; the live wide moat stocks list re-ranks automatically as new analyses are generated and old ones are refreshed.
The top wide-moat companies by Moat Score
| # | Company | Moat Score | Moat Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mastercard Incorporated (MA) | 84/100 | Stable |
| 2 | ASML Holding N.V. (ASML) | 83/100 | Positive |
| 3 | Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) | 82/100 | Positive |
| 4 | Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPCX) | 82/100 | Positive |
| 5 | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSM) | 82/100 | Positive |
| 6 | Visa Inc. (V) | 82/100 | Stable |
| 7 | Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) | 81/100 | Positive |
| 8 | CME Group Inc. (CME) | 79/100 | Positive |
| 9 | Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) | 78/100 | Stable |
| 10 | Texas Instruments Incorporated (TXN) | 78/100 | Positive |
Each linked analysis includes the full five-pillar breakdown with evidence, a management quality assessment, an AI opportunity/threat scoring, a financial health score, and a valuation model with its assumptions stated.
Pattern 1: The widest moats stack multiple pillars
Almost nothing at the top of the list relies on a single moat source. The signature of a 80+ Moat Score is two or three pillars reinforcing each other: a network effect that creates switching costs, a scale advantage that funds the brand, a license that protects the network. Single-pillar moats — even strong ones — tend to land in the 60s and 70s, because one mechanism means one point of failure.
The practical lesson for anyone analyzing a moat: when you hear a one-sentence moat story ("they have the network"), ask what the second pillar is. The companies built to survive twenty years usually have an answer.
Pattern 2: Durability and strength are different axes
Not every high scorer earns a Wide Moat rating, and some Wide Moat names score lower than you'd expect. That's by design — the score measures how strong the advantages are today; the rating judges how long they should last. A high-scoring company facing a credible platform-shift threat (see How AI Is Reshaping Economic Moats) can earn a Narrow rating despite today's dominance; a steady efficient-scale business can earn Wide with a moderate score.
When the two disagree, that disagreement is the analysis — it tells you exactly which question about the business matters most.
Pattern 3: A moat score measures the business, not the share price
The most important caveat in this entire article: a Moat Score describes how well a company's profits are protected from competition. It says nothing about the price the market puts on those profits, and the companies at the top of this list are among the most widely studied businesses in the world.
Price is a separate question, with its own methods and its own uncertainty. Each linked analysis carries a separate financial analysis with a valuation model whose growth, margin and discount-rate assumptions are stated openly — DCF Valuation Explained covers how to read one critically, and why two careful models can disagree widely.
Explore the data yourself
- The full ranked list, updated automatically: wide moat stocks and narrow moat stocks
- Pillar-by-pillar leaders: network effects · switching costs · intangible assets · cost advantages · efficient scale
- Or search any US ticker and run a fresh analysis: start free.
Methodology: each company is analyzed by MoatScan AI across five moat pillars (each rated 0–10, with written evidence); the Moat Score is a weighted average scaled to 0–100, and the Wide/Narrow/No-Moat rating is assessed independently as a durability judgment. Details in our methodology. Scores reflect each company's most recent analysis date and are refreshed as analyses re-run.
MoatScan AI is a free educational research tool. This article explains how businesses and their competitive positions work; it is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security.