Methodology
The ranking formula, in full
A score is five measured components multiplied by public weights. Nothing else enters it: not ad spend, not sponsorship, not the vendor's plan.
Component weights
Each component is measured from 0 to 100. The score is the sum of each value times its weight, so the maximum is 100.
| Component | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Review quality | 30% | Average rating, adjusted for how many reviews back it. |
| Release freshness | 25% | Days since the latest release reached us through the vendor's feed. |
| Review volume | 20% | Number of reviews on a logarithmic scale: the thousandth review adds less than the tenth. |
| Vendor responsiveness | 15% | Share of reviews the vendor answered publicly. |
| Adoption signals | 10% | Public usage signals; today, stars on the listing's public repository, on a log scale. |
| Sponsorship | 0% | Never counted. Sponsored listings appear in a separate, labeled lane. |
| Total | 100% |
Before the first review: public signals only
A listing without reviews is ranked on two facts anyone can check: how recently it shipped a release and how widely its public repository is adopted. Adoption is logarithmic and reaches 100 at 1,000,000 repository stars. Review components join the score once verified reviews exist.
| Component | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Release freshness | 50% | Days since the latest release reached us through the vendor's feed. |
| Adoption signals | 50% | Public usage signals; today, stars on the listing's public repository, on a log scale. |
Few reviews are pulled toward the average
A rating built on a handful of reviews is unreliable, so we blend it with a prior of 3.8 stars counted as 12 extra reviews. The more real reviews a listing has, the less the prior matters.
adjusted rating = (rating × reviews + 3.8 × 12) ÷ (reviews + 12)
- 78.8 review quality for 5 reviews averaging 5.0 stars
- 92.0 review quality for 500 reviews averaging 4.7 stars
Five perfect reviews do not beat five hundred good ones.
Freshness decays after a month without a release
Freshness stays at 100 for 30 days after a release, then falls in a straight line to 0 at 365 days. The next release resets it to 100.
Anti-fraud rules
A review only counts toward a score after it passes these checks.
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Review bursts are held
When a listing gets an unusual spike, such as many five-star reviews from accounts created the same day, the whole batch waits for a moderator and counts only once cleared.
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Incentives are disclosed
Reviewers state whether they got a gift card, discount or payment. Disclosed incentives stay visible on the review; undisclosed ones found by moderators remove it.
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Usage is verified
A review gets the verified badge only with proof of use, such as a work e-mail on the customer's domain or an in-app confirmation. Unverified reviews stay labeled as such.
Sponsorship policy
Money buys a labeled slot, never a rank
Vendors can pay for a slot in the sponsored lane above a category list. The slot is marked Sponsored, its weight in the formula is 0%, and the listing keeps the position it earned everywhere else.
Worked example: today's #1
Linux kernel ranks #1 overall today. Each receipt line is a component value times its weight, and the lines add up to the score.
- Release freshness +49.4 98.8 × 50%
- Adoption signals +45.0 89.9 × 50%