The AppsInsight Score is a 0–100 rating computed for every app in the directory from five weighted categories: Editorial Review (30 points), Trust & Verification (25), Community (20), Product Profile (20), and Freshness (5). The score is calculated by an automated engine from published rules — the table below is generated live from that engine, so what you read here is exactly what runs in production.
Why we built a transparent score
Most software directories rank products without saying how. We took the opposite approach: every point an app can earn is defined in a public rule registry, and every app’s profile shows its full category-by-category breakdown. If two apps have different scores, you can see precisely why. Transparency also keeps us honest — we cannot quietly favor a product without it showing up in the math.
The five categories and their exact weights
| Signal | Max points | How it is earned |
|---|---|---|
| Editorial Review | 30 | |
| Product quality | 10 | Assigned by AppsInsight editors during review — cannot be influenced by vendors. |
| Ease of use | 5 | Assigned by AppsInsight editors during review — cannot be influenced by vendors. |
| Feature depth | 5 | Assigned by AppsInsight editors during review — cannot be influenced by vendors. |
| Innovation | 5 | Assigned by AppsInsight editors during review — cannot be influenced by vendors. |
| Value for money | 3 | Assigned by AppsInsight editors during review — cannot be influenced by vendors. |
| Recommendation confidence | 2 | Assigned by AppsInsight editors during review — cannot be influenced by vendors. |
| Trust & Verification | 25 | |
| AppsInsight badge installed | 15 | Add the AppsInsight badge (linking to your profile) to your website homepage or footer, then submit the page URL for verification. |
| HTTPS website | 1 | Serve your website over HTTPS. |
| Business support email | 1 | Add a business support email to your listing. |
| Privacy policy published | 2 | Link to your privacy policy. |
| Terms of service published | 1 | Link to your terms of service. |
| Security certifications | 2 | Add security & compliance badges (SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR). |
| Knowledge base / help center | 2 | Link to your public knowledge base or help center. |
| Social profiles linked | 1 | Link at least two social profiles (LinkedIn, X, GitHub…). |
| Community | 20 | |
| Verified reviews & rating | 15 | Collect user reviews. Milestones at 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 250 and 500 reviews — weighted by your average rating. |
| Recent reviews | 5 | Keep reviews coming — full points when your latest review is under 30 days old. |
| Product Profile | 20 | |
| Detailed description | 3 | Write a detailed overview — 400+ words earns full points. |
| Screenshots | 3 | Upload screenshots — 10+ earns full points. |
| Demo video | 2 | Add a demo or product video. |
| FAQ | 2 | Answer common questions — 8+ FAQs earns full points. |
| Feature list | 2 | List your key features — 15+ earns full points. |
| Pricing published | 3 | Publish your pricing — add plan tiers for full points. |
| Pros & cons | 1 | Add both pros and cons for a balanced listing. |
| Integrations | 2 | Tag the tools you integrate with — 8+ earns full points. |
| API available | 1 | Mark whether an API is available. |
| Company details | 1 | Fill in company name, founded year and headquarters. |
| Freshness | 5 | |
| Listing recently updated | 3 | Update your listing regularly — updated within 7 days earns full points. |
| Recent changelog entry | 2 | Add a changelog entry from the last 90 days. |
| Total | 100 |
Editorial Review — 30 points
Our editors evaluate each app on six criteria: product quality, ease of use, feature depth, innovation, value for money, and recommendation confidence. These are the only points on AppsInsight that come from human judgment, and they are the hardest to earn. Editorial points are assigned during a structured review and cannot be influenced, requested, or purchased by vendors.
Trust & Verification — 25 points
These points reward externally observable trust signals: serving the website over HTTPS, publishing a privacy policy and terms of service, providing a business support email and a public knowledge base, holding security certifications such as SOC 2 or ISO 27001, and installing the AppsInsight verification badge, which confirms the vendor controls the listed website.
Community — 20 points
Verified user reviews drive this category. Points accrue at review-count milestones (5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500), weighted by the average rating, plus a recency component that rewards apps whose latest review is fresh. A wave of five-star reviews on a product nobody has reviewed in a year is worth less than a steady stream of recent, verified feedback.
Product Profile — 20 points
Complete, honest listings help buyers decide, so we reward them: a detailed description, screenshots, a demo video, FAQs, a feature list, published pricing, pros and cons, tagged integrations, API availability, and company details. Each element has quality tiers — for example, full description points require 400+ words, not a one-line blurb.
Freshness — 5 points
Software changes fast. Listings updated within the last week and changelogs with entries from the last 90 days earn freshness points; stale listings gradually lose them.
Provisional scores
An app that has neither an editorial review nor any community reviews shows a “Score building” state instead of a number. We do not publish a score built only from self-reported profile data — a listing must have at least one independent signal before its number goes public.
How often scores update
Scores recalculate automatically whenever something that affects them changes: the listing is edited, a review is approved or removed, or badge verification changes. In addition, a full weekly pass recalculates every app in the directory and refreshes the “Top N%” percentiles from the real score distribution. Every score change is recorded in an internal audit log showing exactly which rules moved.
What vendors can and cannot influence
Vendors can earn up to 70 of the 100 points through legitimate work: completing their profile, maintaining trust signals, collecting genuine reviews, and keeping their listing fresh. Vendors cannot influence the 30 editorial points, cannot pay to raise any component of the score, and cannot pay to remove reviews. Payment of any kind — advertising, referral fees, or claimed listings — has zero effect on the score. See How We Make Money.