The revision of the DSM-5 and the chapter on mental disorders of the ICD-11 are based on earlier concepts of mental disorders, including psychotic disorders, and thus emphasize common features as well as differences. Both classification systems feature a nosological approach and base the classification of all mental disorders on their psychopathology. Thus, clinical judgment is still crucial for classifications of mental disorders. The main difference is the role of functional impairments, which are mandatory in DSM-5 but not in ICD-11. The time course criteria were harmonized and dimension evaluation was introduced in both systems. Differences in duration criteria lead to different approaches regarding short-term psychotic disorders. Attenuated psychotic symptoms were not given full diagnostic status. Neither DSM-5 nor ICD-11 introduced neurobiological or genetic factors into the classification of psychotic disorders. Both systems take steps towards dimensional assessments of the symptoms of each disorder. Some differences prevail with regard to the criteria of time course and treatment of short-term psychotic disorders, which may indicate different concepts of chronicity on which these decisions are based. The consensus group for the creation of new classification systems did not include the syndrome of attenuated psychotic symptoms among mental disorders, indicating that the borderline towards normality is still doubtful in both classification systems and open to future discussions on the concepts of subclinical or other dimensional ratings of subdiagnostic symptoms in the general population.