Best French cheeses

9019 duels later, Comté is still #1 in the French cheeses ranking, with Reblochon close behind.

Comté edges out Reblochon by 24 ELO points at the top, separating the mountain cheese from its Savoyard neighbor. The podium assembles three alpine varieties, with Beaufort at 1297 points trailing Reblochon by just 12 points. Camembert, the Norman soft cheese, lands at rank 4 with 1286 points, while Brie rounds out the top 5 at 1272 points. The dominance of traditional cheeses suggests the community values heritage and terroir over industrial production. Emmental, despite its classic status, struggles at rank 13 with 1115 points, perhaps a victim of its ubiquity. The bottom reveals a sharp divide: mass-market brands Kiri and Babybel languish at ranks 14 and 15, scoring 971 and 947 ELO points respectively. Their low placement confirms that processed cheese faces an uphill battle against artisanal rivals in this ranking.

This ranking drew 9019 duels from 226 players, who pitted 15 contenders against each other in head-to-head matchups. The data reflects preferences as of 10 October 2026. Vote now to push your favorite French cheese higher in the ranking or to challenge Comté's reign at the summit.

Updated on October 10, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →