No, when it comes down to it, different designs do different things, very few designs do anything well and often work in spite of whatever design changes are in them.
Freediving blades are efficient in a wide slow cadence kick and develop very good power/speed, but their maneuverability is lacking, and their shear size makes them clumsy when trying to be close to reefs etc. I can't say I have ever even hear of anyone attempting helicopter turns or back kicking with them.
Stiffer Scuba fins- well not all are stiffer, in fact many are very soft so..
Stiff Paddles- ie Jets, Hollis Fin, Turtles, Rockets, etc...- good frog kicking (very low speed) at very low output, very good fine control. However they are difficult ot maintain a powerful flutter kick and speed with them, sure people will tell you they can do it, but actually maintaining it for a mile long swim trying to overcome a 1-2 knot current, well, I haven't seen that yet either.
Softer Paddles- Volo's and Superchannels for example- much better fins for a flutter kick, but they begin to sacrifice the fine positioning control that the stiff paddles offer.
Splits- the concept for splits was conceived in Itally back in the 60's or 70's but as far as I know, it was never brought to market, just a dead patent. The concept sat dead for years, until Bob Evans playing with his Original Force Fin started expirementing with how far he could bring the splits between the blade tips back. His testing brought the first Split fin to market (now called the Foil Force Fin) showed it at DEMA where some guys literally stole it off his table and changed all of the critical aspects because it was too hard and too expensive to mass produce then relabeled it "natures wing". These splits work in spite of the split, hence the reason lots of testing has shown them to significantly improve in performance by taping the splits shut with duck tape. Their performance is based on their flexibility, similar to the softer paddles. But "most" splits work best with a very high cadence kick that is at very low power. They can be efficient at short distances, but I have rarely found anyone that can maintain the 3+ knots these fins are capable of for more than a few yards, much less the endurance to actually get somewhere quickly, the cadence is simply too high.
Then there is the 4th style of fins- Force Fins, sure lots of people are going to say they are junk and they are too expensive, eh whatever, this company is basically alive today because of military special forces around the world continuing to buy them. They are short, flexible and responsive. They have the fine positioning control that stiff paddles have, they have the maintained speed that the flexible paddles do, but none of the cramping. Its a weird match made in heaven (or California in this case). Efficiency of these is impressive, but don't fit a lot of people because they don't "feel" like they are going anyway, but I want to actually go there, not feel like I worked to get there.
But that isn't the whole story on efficiency. there is of course another dimension, length, width, stiffness and foot pocket design. If the footpocket doesn't hold the foot in the right place, contact/leverage the heel correctly, flex in the right place (pivot under the foot not in beyond of it). The story goes on forever, which is exactly why so many fins (ok basically all of them) on the market absolutely suck.
