Quick Verdict
We can't give you a clean, branch-by-branch cutoff comparison here — our sourced material has a specific 2026 JEE Advanced opening/closing rank only for IIT Guwahati's CSE program, and no equivalent rank figures for any IIT Delhi branch. What we can say with sourced confidence: IIT Delhi consistently ranks higher nationally (NIRF Engineering #2 versus IIT Guwahati's #8 in 2025), and general JEE Advanced admission logic means that a more sought-after, similarly-sized institute typically closes at tighter (lower) ranks — so IIT Delhi branches are very likely to have tougher closing ranks than IIT Guwahati's, though we don't have the numbers to prove it directly for this pair.
Snapshot
| Metric | IIT Delhi | IIT Guwahati |
|---|---|---|
| NIRF Engineering Rank 2025 | 2 | 8 (dropped from 7th in 2024 after IIT Hyderabad moved ahead) (source) |
| Total B.Tech seats (approx.) | 1,086 | 786 (source) |
| Number of UG programs | Not available in sources | 12 (source) |
| CSE 2026 Round 1 JEE Advanced rank (opening–closing) | Not available in sources | 123–456 (source) |
| Admission route for B.Tech | JEE Advanced + JoSAA counselling (common to both) | JEE Advanced + JoSAA counselling (source) |
Detailed Analysis
Admission to B.Tech programs at both institutes runs through the same national process: qualify JEE Advanced, then go through JoSAA counselling, where seat allocation depends on rank, category, and the branch preferences a candidate lists at registration. Cutoffs (the opening and closing ranks at which seats fill for a given branch, category, and round) are published separately by each institute after every JoSAA round, and they differ by course and category — a general-category CSE seat closes at a very different rank than an OBC-NCL Civil Engineering seat, for instance.
For IIT Guwahati, we have one concrete 2026 data point: in Round 1, its CSE program opened at rank 123 and closed at rank 456. IIT Guwahati offers 12 undergraduate programs in total, spanning disciplines including Computer Science and Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Biosciences and Bioengineering. No comparable branch-wise opening/closing rank figures for IIT Delhi appear anywhere in our sourced material, so a direct rank-for-rank comparison between the two institutes' branches isn't possible from what we have.
What the numbers do support is a competitiveness proxy: IIT Delhi has held the No. 2 spot in the NIRF Engineering ranking for 2025, while IIT Guwahati sits at No. 8, having recently been overtaken by IIT Hyderabad and dropping from 7th in 2024. Higher-ranked, more prestigious IITs generally attract more applicants per seat and close at tighter (lower) JEE Advanced ranks across the board — but this is a general pattern in the admissions ecosystem, not a sourced fact specific to this pair, so treat it as directional reasoning rather than a hard number.
Seat count is another relevant factor: IIT Delhi offers roughly 1,086 total B.Tech seats against IIT Guwahati's approximately 786, out of a combined ~17,385 B.Tech seats across all 23 IITs. Fewer seats at a similarly (or more) in-demand institute generally means tighter competition for each spot, which would reinforce Delhi's likely-tougher-cutoff position — again, inferred from seat counts and rankings rather than directly measured. It's also worth knowing that the reservation structure (Open/General 45%, OBC-NCL 27%, EWS 10%, SC 15%, ST 7.5%, PwD 5% horizontal, plus a 20% supernumerary female quota) applies uniformly across IITs, so category cutoffs at both institutes are shaped by the same national reservation policy rather than institute-specific rules.
At the postgraduate level, both institutes admit through GATE. IIT Guwahati released its GATE 2026 results on March 19, 2026, alongside branch-wise qualifying marks and M.Tech admission cutoffs. It's worth distinguishing the GATE "qualifying cutoff" (the minimum score to be deemed GATE-qualified) from the institute's actual admission cutoff for a specific M.Tech program — the two are not the same number, and our sources don't include IIT Delhi's equivalent GATE cutoff figures for comparison.
Verdict
Based on national ranking and seat-count proxies, IIT Delhi is very likely the harder institute to get into on a branch-by-branch basis, given its higher NIRF Engineering rank and smaller seat pool relative to demand. IIT Guwahati is the more realistic target if your JEE Advanced rank falls short of what Delhi's branches typically require — our one confirmed data point (CSE closing around rank 456 in the 2026 Round 1) gives a sense of how competitive even Guwahati's top branch is. The one condition for treating this differently: if you find an official, branch-wise closing-rank comparison for both institutes (which we did not have access to here), defer to those actual numbers over the ranking-based inference in this piece.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do we have exact JEE Advanced closing ranks for IIT Delhi branches?
A: No — our sources contain no branch-wise cutoff figures for IIT Delhi; only IIT Guwahati's 2026 CSE rank (123-456) is available.
Q: What was IIT Guwahati's CSE cutoff for 2026?
A: In Round 1, the opening rank was 123 and the closing rank was 456.
Q: How many B.Tech seats does each institute have?
A: IIT Delhi has approximately 1,086 seats; IIT Guwahati has approximately 786, out of ~17,385 total B.Tech seats across all 23 IITs.
Q: Which institute ranks higher nationally in engineering?
A: IIT Delhi, at No. 2 in the 2025 NIRF Engineering ranking, versus IIT Guwahati at No. 8.
Q: Did IIT Guwahati's ranking change recently?
A: Yes — it dropped from 7th in 2024 to 8th in 2025 after IIT Hyderabad moved ahead of it.
Q: Do cutoffs differ by category (General, OBC-NCL, SC, ST, EWS)?
A: Yes, cutoffs vary by course and category at both institutes, under the same national reservation structure (45% Open, 27% OBC-NCL, 15% SC, 10% EWS, 7.5% ST, plus a 5% horizontal PwD quota and a 20% supernumerary female quota).
Q: How many undergraduate programs does IIT Guwahati offer?
A: 12, spanning disciplines like CSE, Electronics and Communication, Mechanical, Civil, Chemical Engineering, and Biosciences and Bioengineering.
Q: Are M.Tech (GATE) cutoffs available for comparison?
A: IIT Guwahati publishes branch-wise GATE qualifying marks and admission cutoffs after its results (2026 results released March 19); no equivalent IIT Delhi GATE cutoff data was available in our sources.
Related
For the complete picture beyond Branch Cutoffs -- placements, academics, campus life, and more -- see the full IIT Delhi vs IIT Guwahati comparison.