The new gravity field model EGM2008 has been evaluated by comparisons with other, satellite-only as well as combined global gravity field models. Our evaluation comprises orbit adjustment tests, comparisons of the spectral behaviour, GPS/leveling tests and ocean geoid comparisons. For the GPS/leveling tests and the ocean geoid comparisons the new EGM2008 model outperforms all other tested models. Orbit adjustment tests for CHAMP, GRACE and other satellites show a very good inner consistency for EGM2008 and its corresponding satellite-only model ITG-GRACE03S. In these tests EGM2008 shows no major performance differences to the other tested models.