PreGrade TCG

Card centering & grade estimator

Upload a front and/or back scan. Drag the pink guides to the outer edge of the card, and the blue guides to the inner border. Auto-detect gives a starting guess — your placement is what counts.

Adjust image — square up a tilted scan
0°

Left / Right

— / —
L 50%R 50%

Place all four vertical lines.

Top / Bottom

— / —
T 50%B 50%

Place all four horizontal lines.

Centering ceiling

— max grade from
centering alone

Centering only. Corners, edges, surface and print are not assessed and can lower the final grade.

Scans this session

Card identity & value

Identify the card from your scan, then pull current raw & graded prices.

Market estimate

Run “Identify & price”, or type a name and hit Links.

Centering thresholds — PSA

Worse axis must stay within the listed ratio
Grade Front (L/R & T/B) Back

Measure card centering and estimate your grade

PreGrade TCG is a free, browser-based card centering tool for trading cards — Pokémon, sports and more. Upload a scan, place the guides, and get precise left/right and top/bottom centering percentages along with the centering grade ceiling for PSA, BGS, CGC and TAG. It's a fast way to pre-grade a card and decide whether it's worth submitting before you pay for grading.

How to check centering before grading

  1. Scan or photograph the card straight-on, filling the frame.
  2. Drag the pink guides to the outer edges of the card.
  3. Drag the blue guides to the inner border of the artwork.
  4. Read your front and back centering ratios and the grade ceiling for each company.

Frequently asked questions

What is a card centering calculator?
A card centering calculator measures how evenly a trading card's image sits inside its borders. PreGrade TCG reads the left/right and top/bottom border widths from your scan and reports the centering as a ratio (for example 55/45), then tells you the highest grade that centering could earn.
How do I measure card centering?
Upload a front (and optionally back) scan, drag the pink guides to the outer edges of the card and the blue guides to the inner border, and Centerline calculates your left/right and top/bottom centering percentages instantly. You can rotate or tilt the image to square up a crooked scan first.
What centering does a PSA 10 need?
Under PSA's current standards a Gem Mint 10 allows centering up to about 55/45 on the front and 75/25 on the reverse. A PSA 9 allows 60/40 front and 90/10 back. Centerline shows the centering ceiling for PSA, BGS, CGC and TAG side by side.
Which grading companies are supported?
Centerline includes the published centering tolerances for PSA, BGS (Beckett), CGC and TAG, including their Pristine and Gem Mint tiers, so you can compare the best possible grade across every standard at once.
Does centering alone determine my card's grade?
No. Centering is one factor — corners, edges, surface and print quality also affect the final grade and can lower it. Centerline estimates the centering ceiling only: the highest grade your centering would allow.
Is PreGrade TCG free, and are my images uploaded?
Yes, it's free. Centering measurement runs entirely in your browser, so your scans never leave your device for that. The optional card identification and value lookup is the only feature that sends an image to our server, and only when you choose to run it.