I n 2018, global chicken meat production was estimated at 114,267 tons of meat, with a national production of 15 tons in Benin (FAO, 2020) for a population of 11,362,269 (INSAE, 2020). This production is largely provided by local chickens that are better appreciated by consumers but whose availability is below demand (Tougan, 2013, Youssao et al., 2013. To remedy this problem, stakeholders in the poultry industry have selected the Goliath chicken, which has experienced great growth since 2006, the year of its revelation thanks to its vulgarization by the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries. Although the growth of this chicken is appreciated by the breeders, little information is available on the characteristics of the carcass and the quality of the meat of this chicken. For a better appreciation of the quality of this meat, two studies were carried out on the characteristics of the carcass and the quality of the meat of these chickens. The first study took into account the age effect (Ahokpossi et al., 2023a) as a factor of research Article Abstract | Carcass composition and meat quality vary between species and within species vary by breed. The objective of the study was to compare the carcass and meat quality characteristics of Goliath chickens recently developed by farmers with those of local chickens and exotic chickens commonly found in Benin. Thus, data on carcass characteristics, and sensory meat quality were collected on 120 chickens divided into four groups: (1 and 2), each composed of 20 males and 20 females Goliath chickens, group 3 was composed of local chickens (10 males and 10 females) and group 4 was composed of 20 Cobb 500 broilers. These birds were reared in intensive system (IS) and free-range system (FS). Groups 1 and 4 were reared in confinement and slaughtered at 12 weeks of age and 8 weeks of age, respectively; groups 2 and 3 were reared in free-range and slaughtered at 20 weeks of age. The slaughter ages were chosen according to farmers' practices. For the confinement-raised birds, Cobb 500 had the highest averages of live weight, hot carcass weight, cold carcass weight, breast weight, wing weight, and thigh-to-drumstick weight, and the highest carcass yield and proportion of breast (P<0.001). The Cobb 500 have whiter meat. Based on the sensory characteristics, the meat of Goliath was more tender than Cobb 500 The muscle of local chickens was more reddish and yellowish than that of the Goliath (P<0.001). The meat of Goliath chicken was rated higher than that of the locals by panelists. Regardless of farming methods, the meat of Goliath chickens was accepted and appreciated by the panelists.