# How the Score works

Written by {AuthorName}, Solana validator operator · Formula version 1.0, updated Sep 25, 2026  
Source: https://dev.solana-staking.io/methodology

> Every Solana validator gets a Score from 0 to 100. Reliability counts for 65 points and fees for 35. Four rules can lower a score after that: a validator that keeps 100% of rewards scores 0, and one that is offline or blacklisted loses a set share. The same formula applies to every validator and is published in full below.

## The Score at a glance

| Band | Score | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Reliable | 70–100 | A strong record and fair fees. |
| Average | 50–69 | Some weak spots. Check the flags before staking. |
| Poor | 1–49 | Several problems: fees, uptime, size or history. |
| Disqualified | 0 | Keeps 100% of inflation rewards — the main part of staking income. |

The bands were set from the real spread of scores when the formula was published: about four in ten validators were Reliable and about one in five were Poor or Disqualified.

## What we measure

The Score adds up 11 parts. Each part scores from zero to its full points, and the parts add up to 100.

### Reliability — 65 points

| Part | Points | What it checks | Why it matters to you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performance | 9 | Vote credits (points a validator earns for correct, on-time votes) over the last 10 epochs — an epoch is about 1–2 days — compared with the best validator in each epoch | A validator that votes late or misses votes earns less for its stakers. |
| Uptime | 8 | Minutes offline per day over the last 30 days | Offline time is time your stake earns nothing. |
| Track record | 4 | How long we've seen it on mainnet; full points at 30 epochs | A long record is harder to fake than a good week. |
| Software version | 4 | Its client version compared with what most of the network runs | Outdated software is more likely to fall behind or fail. |
| Foundation dependency | 12 | How much of its stake comes from the Solana Foundation's delegation program | Foundation stake can be moved away. A validator that relies on it can shrink suddenly. |
| Stake sources | 8 | How many independent sources its stake comes from; full points at 4 or more, halved if one source holds 95% or more | Stake spread across many sources is more stable. |
| Individual stakers | 5 | Share of stake from individual delegators rather than pools; full points at 50% | Real delegators choosing a validator is a signal pools can't buy. |
| Size | 10 | Total stake: most points around 200,000 SOL, none below 30,000 or above 1,000,000 SOL | Very small validators produce few blocks; very large ones concentrate the network. |
| Hosting provider | 5 | Share of all network stake at the same hosting provider; zero at 33% or more (unknown providers are not penalized) | If one provider goes down, every validator on it goes down together. |

### Fees — 35 points

| Part | Points | What it checks | Why it matters to you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inflation commission | 17.5 | Full points at 0%, falling to zero at 5% | This is the cut the validator takes from your staking rewards. |
| MEV commission | 17.5 | Full points at 0%, falling to zero at 10%. A validator that doesn't run Jito gets zero here, so its maximum Score is about 82 | MEV tips are extra rewards; the commission is how much of them it keeps. |

The 5% and 10% limits follow the Solana Foundation's delegation criteria ([solana.org/delegation-criteria](https://solana.org/delegation-criteria)).

## Rules that lower a score

After the parts are added up, four rules apply:

1. **Keeps 100% of inflation rewards → Score 0.** Its stakers lose the main part of their rewards, so nothing else counts.
2. **Not voting right now (offline) → Score × 0.4.** The network marks a validator "delinquent" when its votes fall too far behind; we call that offline. The score recovers as soon as it's voting again.
3. **Blacklisted by Jito or Marinade → Score × 0.85.** Blacklists point to behavior that harms other users or the network.
4. **Doesn't run Jito → MEV part is zero** (see above).

## New and unrated validators

- **Provisional:** A validator with less than 5 epochs of history gets a score, but we mark it "provisional" and don't rank it. Early numbers swing a lot.
- **No rating:** Shown as "—". It means we don't have a score yet (for example, during the current epoch or for a validator we stopped tracking). It never means zero.

## Flags

Flags sit next to the name in the list and on the validator page. Red flags are problems that cost you rewards now; yellow ones are worth a look.

| Flag | Color | When it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Offline now | red | The validator is not voting at the moment. |
| Blacklisted | red | It's on the Jito or Marinade blacklist. |
| Keeps 100% | red | Its inflation commission is 100%. |
| Fees raised | red | It raised its commission in the last 30 days, or spiked it and dropped it again within the last 90 (a "commission rug pull"). |
| Very large | yellow | More than 4,000,000 SOL staked. This is our own threshold for "one of the largest validators", not a protocol rule. |
| Often offline | yellow | Offline on 5 or more of the last 90 days. |
| New | gray | Less than 5 epochs of history. |

## Other numbers on the site

- **Realized rewards (last 30 days):** What stakers actually earned with a validator over the epochs of the last 30 days, per year, after the validator's fees. It's the past, not a forecast: rates change every epoch.
- **Uptime strip (90 days):** One bar per day. Green: offline 15 minutes or less. Amber: 15 minutes to about 2.4 hours. Red: longer. Hatched: no data for that day. (Note: the Score uses the last 30 days; the strip shows 90 so you can see the longer pattern.)
- **Uptime % (90 days):** The share of time the validator was online over the last 90 days; days without data are left out. 99% or more is good (green), 90% to 99% calls for caution (yellow), below 90% is poor (red).
- **Typical commission:** The median inflation commission of validators that are voting and don't charge 100%. Half of validators charge this or less.
- **"Good for beginners" and Top picks:** Validators rated Reliable, with no red flags, an inflation commission of 7% or less, at least 30 epochs of history and not flagged "Very large". Top picks are the six highest scores among them.

## Where the data comes from

| Data | Source | Updated |
|---|---|---|
| Stake, votes, commission, versions | Solana network (RPC) | Every few minutes; scores settle once per epoch |
| MEV rewards and MEV commission | Jito | Hourly |
| Rewards history gaps | Trillium (public validator-rewards data) | Once per epoch |
| Blacklists | Jito and Marinade | Daily |
| Solana Foundation delegation | Solana Foundation Delegation Program data | Once per epoch |
| Hosting provider and location | Public IP data | Once per epoch |

Scores are recalculated after every epoch, about every 1–2 days. The date and epoch of the data are shown on every page.

## What the Score is not

- **Not a guarantee.** A high score describes a validator's record so far. Validators can change their fees or go offline at any time.
- **Not investment advice.** It's a way to compare validators, not a recommendation to buy or stake any amount.
- **Not for sale.** A score, a flag or a place in Top picks can't be bought.
- **Not about your coins.** When you stake natively, your SOL stays in your own stake account. A validator's score affects your rewards, not the safety of your SOL.

See the formula applied to every validator. [Browse validators](https://dev.solana-staking.io/validators)

## Questions

### Why is my favorite validator rated Average?

Usually one or two parts pull it down: fees above 5% / 10%, a large share of stake from the Solana Foundation or one pool, or a very large or very small stake. Open its page: the verdict names the main reasons.

### I run a validator. How do I improve my score?

Every part is listed above with its full-points level. The biggest levers are fees, independence from Foundation stake, several stake sources and steady uptime. Scores update after every epoch.

### Why does size matter? Isn't bigger safer?

Big validators aren't more likely to keep your SOL safe — your SOL is never theirs. But when too much stake sits with a few validators, the network is easier to disrupt. Mid-sized validators score best on size.

### How often does the formula change?

Rarely, and never quietly. Every change gets a new version number and a line in the change log below, with the date.

### Can a validator pay for a better score?

No. Every validator is scored by the same rules from public data.

## Change log

- v1.0 (Sep 25, 2026) — First public version.

## Sources

- [solana.org/delegation-criteria](https://solana.org/delegation-criteria)
- [solana.com/docs](https://solana.com/docs)
- [jito.network/docs](https://jito.network/docs)
- [trillium.so](https://trillium.so)