The quasi-global sea-level anomaly AVISO altimetric database (weekly SLA, 1993-present) is compared with its collocated counterparts simulated by the models in various wavenumber-frequency bands. This assessment concerns the structure&intensity of the leading modes of variability at global and basin scale, the part of the observed SLA variance simulated by the model (and their mutual correlation), and local investigations of the simulated and observed variabilities in selected regions. We discuss realism of the variability simulated by the 2° and the 1/4° global models with the same forcing, and the sensitivity to resolution is commented. More generally, this validation procedure is applied to all DRAKKAR simulations to guide physical investigations, characterize the structure of model biases, and assess the impact of numerical and physical choices.