"Compare to" vs. "compare with" in English

Some authors claim that “compare to” and “compare with” mean essentially the same, but this is not supported by how they tend to be used in English literature. In fact, the verb compare has several different meanings, some of which take the preposition “to”, while the others take “with”:

For example,

means that football experts claim there are many similarities between the footballer in question and Pelé (with the implied meaning that he is as good as Pelé). The shared similarities don't always have to be positive:

Here the implied meaning is not only that Stalinism is similar to Fascism, but also that Stalinism is as bad as Fascism.

In the sense described above, only compare to is used. Compare with expresses a different concept:

For example,

When “compare” is used in this sense, it is possible to say “and” instead of “with”, as in

This is not possible with “compare to”; “experts compare him and the legendary Pelé” simply doesn't work.

The passive: Compared to/compared with

However, when the verb is used in the passive, both compared to and compared with are common. For example:

Considering the meanings described above, one would expect only “compared with” to make sense, but the fact is, “compared to” is several times more common than “compared with” in English literature.