OBJECTIVES: Traditional Time trade off (TTO) method was used in EQ-5D social valuation protocols, and it has some known problems in the valuation of health states considered worse than dead.  The aim of our study is to compare two TTO variants trying to overcome this issue: lead-time and lag-time TTO.  METHODS: Quota sampling was undertook in June 2011 in Buenos Aires, as part of the EQ-5D-5L Multinational Pilot Study. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of the TTO variants with two blocks of 5 EQ-5D-5L health states. Tasks were administered using a web based digital aid (EQ-VT) administered in a group interview. RESULTS: A total of 387 participants were included (mean age 38.85 [SD: 13.97]; 53.14% females). The mean observed values ranged from 0.44 (0.59) for the state 21111 to 0.02 (0.76) for the 53555 in the lead-time group and between 0.53 (0.52) and 0.08 (0.76) in lag-time group. There were no statistically significant differences in the values between TTO variants, except for a significant difference of 0.19 for state 33133. In both variants marked peaks were observed around the value 0 across all states. We also found evidence of an order effect with a greater percentage of responses U=0 in the 5th state valuated compared with the first (16.2% to 27.1% in lead-time; 13.71 to 23.32 in lag-time). There were no differences regarding process indicators or cognitive debriefing. CONCLUSIONS: No important differences were found between TTO variants regarding values for EQ-5D-5L health states, which suggest that they could be equivalent.