Stalin was definitely worse than the Czar. There can be a hypothetical asked about if Stalin hadn’t gone to power how would it have been (but still Lenin and the others were pretty cut throat about holding power instead of letting Mensheviks or SRs gain influence). However, given how Stalins regime played out and how the inertia of it kept going with the next few guys, it can be objectively said that’s he czars weren’t nearly as bad. Out of touch conservatives who occasionally got too violent we’re the czars while Stalin was just a straight up mass murderer.