A surgical system with clamp closure compensation includes a surgical instrument with a shaft assembly, an end effector, and a closure assembly. The shaft assembly has an articulation section configured to articulate to a selected articulation of a plurality of articulation configurations including a straight configuration and a plurality of predetermined articulated configurations. The end effector distally extends from the articulation section and has a first jaw and a second jaw movably secured relative to each other such that the first and second jaws are configured to selectively move from an open configuration to a first closed configuration. The closure assembly is operatively connected to the end effector and configured to urge the first and second jaws from the open configuration to the first closed configuration based at least on the selected articulation of the articulation section for adjusting tissue compression to compensate for the selected articulation.