ANSI/AGMA 2003-B97, ISO 10300 standards and a new contact stress model are used to estimate and compare contact stresses in some theoretical straight bevel gear pairs. The contact stress expressions in the different gear standards and new model are formatted to highlight the similarity and differences. The power range of 10 to 15,000 kW, backend modules of 2.5 to 25 mm and backend pitch velocities of 4.58 to 25.37 m/s are covered. The results indicate that the percentage differences between the new contact stress and AGMA models are in the range of 2.22% to 7.40%. These differences are small but can mean significant improvement in the pitting life expectancy of the gears since life and contact stress is related by a power law of approximately 9th degree. For example, a 5% decrease in contact stress could mean a pitting life increase of about 50%. The percentage differences between the new and ISO 10300 models contact stresses are in the range of-6.57% to 67.34%. These are large differences, indicating that much shorter pitting life should be expected based on the ISO model. The differences from The ISO 10300 standards may be attributed to the use of the mid facewidth cone radius in its contact stress model while the new model and AGMA standards use the backend cone radius which is larger than the mid facewidth cone radius. Another contributing factor to the differences is that the load service factor values evaluated from ISO methods are generally higher than those of the new model values which are based largely on AGMA methods. Since the ANSI/AGMA standards yield results that are considered to be conservative and the new contact stress model gives values that are marginally lower than the AGMA predictions, the new contact stress model deserves some serious considerations.