There have been two recent placebo-controlled trials that have examined cardiovascular disease outcomes for sodium glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor therapy in type 2 diabetes, namely EmpaReg (empagliflozin) and CANVAS (canagliflozin), and more will close out in the next few years. Both EmpaReg and CANVAS showed very similar benefit for the conventional 3-point major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) endpoint, as well as for heart failure hospitalisations and progression of renal disease, in patients allocated active therapy, but there were also differences. In EmpaReg, empagliflozin was associated with significant reductions in cardiovascular and all-cause mortality while there was no such benefit for canagliflozin-treated patients in CANVAS. There was a significantly increased risk of amputations with canagliflozin that was not seen with empagliflozin in EmpaReg. A numerical excess of non-fatal strokes was observed with active therapy versus placebo in EmpaReg while there were fewer strokes in canagliflozin-treated patients in CANVAS. While the two trials cannot be validly compared because of differences in study design, populations and protocols, the results do raise questions such as whether there are within-class differences between available SGLT2 inhibitors that may have clinical implications.