Meh... The comparison is not that simple.
In fact, AniList is better in some factors. For example, notifications and the weekly timer until upcoming episodes make it easy to update on which ones have released and make the path to adding new episodes you've watched a shorter time. Also, updates from your friends are more accessible and allow comments, the list of favorites is extended (and allowing you to include studios in favorites, too) and the possibility of giving notes with decimals are other good factors that add to the platform's use. Even the icon images of some characters are much prettier in AniList than in MAL, and the Reviews system allows people to post images and summaries of what they've written. I personally think it's a site that works best in terms of interaction with other people and profile.
However, there are things that AniList gets wrong, and a lot, in my opinion. First, the recommendation system is horrible, because people who haven't watched the anime or the recommended animes can simply like or dislike it and negatively interfere with the accuracy of the recommendations. Also, they can barely write about the similarities between the two animes. While some people don't have much to write or, in some cases, want to avoid spoilers, this sort of thing helps, because knowing exactly what and how it's similar allows us to see whether or not the recommendation is valid from our perspective. The anime ranking on that site is also completely messed up. Almost every anime I select when I'm circulating is "TOP 1-5 something in the year", and I can't even take those rankings seriously.
The possibility of giving broken grades is also a factor that hinders in some cases, since a significant amount of people will simply give 1/100 to the anime they don't like, facilitating trolls and the bots scheme to lower grades. This being that I barely mentioned the Likes and Dislikes of Reviews system, which is terrible, not because the system itself is bad, but because many people will dislike any review just seeing the rating that the person gave to the work without not even read what was written in the review. It's a very fertile environment for trolls, especially when you consider that when you write a review of an anime or manga that has just been released several years ago and has an established fanbase, most people probably won't read the review if not very short.
Therefore, although even better in terms of interaction, AniList is much inferior, in my point of view, in the anime and information department itself, because reviews, grades and rankings, for example, suffer a lot with that site scheme. Of course, there's also the plus of stats, but that can be done on MyAnimeList too, with MAL Plus. Anyway, it's complicated to compare the two sites, and I end up using both, one as a complement to the other, although I prefer MAL. |