Quality scores

The Hackathon Quality Score (HQS) is a 0 to 100 rating HackathonRadar gives every hackathon it tracks. It tells you how well the event is presented and evidenced on its listing. Sponsors use it to shortlist events worth a closer look and to skip listings that are too thin to judge.

What the score reflects

The score covers five dimensions. The Quality Score card on an event page labels them as follows:

The score rates the listing, not the event itself. A well-run event with a sparse listing scores low, because a sponsor cannot evaluate what is not published.

Read a score

Every score also carries a confidence label: High confidence, Medium confidence or Low confidence. Treat a high score with low confidence with care.

On an event page, the Quality Score card shows the total, the confidence label, a bar for each dimension, short reasons such as "Prize pool clearly stated", and a Missing data line that lists what the listing lacks, such as "No judging criteria" or "No code of conduct".

Where scores appear

On Enterprise you see quality scores in these places:

• Event pages. The Quality Score card in the sidebar. See Hackathon pages.
• The database table. Turn on the Quality column in Columns on /database. Each cell shows the score as a colored badge, and hovering shows the confidence and top reasons. You can sort by Quality.
• Minimum score filter. Add minQualityScore to the database URL, for example /database?minQualityScore=70, to show only events scoring at least that much.
• CSV exports. Include the Quality column and the export writes the score followed by its reasons. See Exports.
• Judge opportunities. The MCP find_judge_opportunities tool includes quality scores for Enterprise users. See the MCP server.

Scores update when a listing changes, so an event that adds sponsors or a schedule moves within about a day.

Check one event for free

The Hackathon Quality Checker scores a single hackathon URL on the same 0 to 100 scale. It is free on every plan. You need to be signed in, and you get three runs per tool in any rolling 24 hours.

Paste the event's public URL and press Check my hackathon. The result shows:

• The listing quality score out of 100
• A breakdown across the five dimensions
• A ranked list of fixes under How to improve this listing
• How the event ranks against comparable hackathons

When the page gives too little to work with, the checker says "Not enough on this page to score" instead of showing a number. See Free tools for the other tools.

Common questions

Why does an event have no score? A newly added event may not have one yet. The card then reads "No quality score available for this hackathon."

Can an organizer raise their score? Yes, by publishing more about the event on its listing. The Quality Checker lists the gaps in order of impact.