The main aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of porosity, microstructure, and chemical composition on the wear and compressive strength of dental glass-ionomer or resin composite. Cylindrical samples (6 9 4 mm) were prepared from a nano-hybrid resin composite (Grandio Ò SO/RC, VOCO), a resin-modified glass ionomer (Vitremer TM /VI, 3 M-ESPE) and a conventional glass ionomer (Ionofil Ò Molar/CO, VOCO). Porosity and topography of the materials were evaluated by optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Roughness was evaluated by R a and R t parameters at 0.1 mm/s under cutoff of 0.8 mm. Then, compressive tests were performed at 1 mm/min. Wear tests were carried out at 20 N, 2.5 mm of displacement, at 1 Hz for 90 min in artificial saliva solution. The results were statistically analyzed with a one-way ANOVA and Tukey's test (p \ 0.05). Resin composite revealed a significantly lower porosity (1.21 ± 0.20 %) than glass-ionomer restoratives (5.69-7.54 %) as well as lower values of R a and R t roughness (p \ 0.05). Also, resin composite showed significantly higher values of mechanical strength (334 ± 15.9 MPa) compared to conventional (78.78 ± 13.30 MPa) or modified glass ionomer (169.50 ± 20.98 MPa) (p \ 0.05). For maximal depth of wear, resin composite also showed significantly lower values than glass ionomer (p \ 0.05). Homogeneous wear morphology was noticed by SEM analyses on glass ionomers in opposition to resin composite. Glass ionomers showed a poor mechanical behavior associated to a high porosity and wear rate when compared to resin composite.