This paper compares the XL algorithm with Gröbner basis algorithm. We explain the link between XL computation result and Gröbner basis with the well-known notion of $D$-Gröbner basis. Then we compare these algorithms in two cases: in the fields $\Fand $\Fwith $q\gg n$. For the field $\F we have proved that if XL needs to compute polynomial with degree $D$ to terminate, the whole Gröbner basis is computated without exceeding the degree $D$. We have studied the XL algorithm and $F_5$ algorithm on semi-regular sequences introduced in report~\cite{F5_complexite}. We show that the size of matrix constructed by XL is huge compared to the ones of $F_5$. So the complexity of XL is worth than $F_5$ algorithm on these systems. For the field $\F we introduce an emulated algorithm using Gröbner basis computation to have a comparison between XL and Gröbner basis. We have proved that this algorithm will always reach a lower degree for intermediate polynomials than XL algorithm. A study on semi-regular sequences shows that $F_5$ always has a better behavior than XL algorithm especially when $m$ is near from $n$.