In this case “compare” is used in a less formal way, basically “these things are in the same category”. If the speaker had said “those things can’t be compared

In this case “compare” is used in a less formal way, basically “these things are in the same category”. If the speaker had said “those things can’t be compared” that would mean one was so much worse than the other that they weren’t even in the same category. It’s the same sense of the word you might use in the saying “you can’t compare apples and oranges.” The conditions that make an apple good are not the same as the conditions that make an orange good.