Difference is that Waves has already a working platform on which smart contracts and atomic swaps will be the enabler for enhanced functionality. Just try out the Waves platform yourself and you can see that there is already a working DEX and ICO platform that runs super fast and smoothly. Most platforms have a good market cap, but no product/platform in production. Try to use ADA, EOS, IOTA, VEchain. You will be disappointed as they only have fancy websites with whitepapers, but no platform yet to use.