Methodology v1.1
How NetScore works
NetScore turns verified customer feedback into a single score from 0 to 1,000 — similar in clarity to a credit score, though it is not a financial credit score.
The formula
NetScore = round( 0.35 × Ssatisfaction + 0.25 × Ssupport + 0.25 × Saffordability + 0.15 × Sreliability )
| Dimension | Weight | Max points |
|---|---|---|
| Customer Satisfaction & Voting | 35% | 350 |
| Customer Support | 25% | 250 |
| Affordability & Value | 25% | 250 |
| Reliability & Performance | 15% | 150 |
- 1. Ratings. Verified customers rate their provider 1–10 on each dimension. A rating is mapped to 0–1,000 (1 → 0, 10 → 1,000).
- 2. Recency. Votes are weighted so that a vote loses half its weight after 365 days, keeping scores current.
- 3. Small-sample protection. Each sub-score is blended with a neutral 500 using 15 “virtual votes”, so a handful of votes can’t create an extreme score.
- 4. Minimum threshold. No score is published until a provider has at least 25 eligible verified votes — until then we show “Not enough data”.
- 5. Confidence. Every profile shows its vote count, last calculation time and a confidence level: LOW (<200 votes), MEDIUM (200–999) or HIGH (1,000+).
Score bands
- Excellent850–1000
- Very Good700–849
- Good550–699
- Fair400–549
- Needs Improvement0–399
- Not enough dataBelow 25 verified votes
Popularity is not quality
More votes never raise a score — vote volume only affects confidence. We publish separate views for Highest NetScore, Most Voted, Best Affordability and Best Support, so a large provider can’t look better simply by being big.
Vote integrity rules
- Votes count only after the voter confirms their email address.
- One vote per customer per provider, enforced in the database.
- Rate limits, bot traps and network-level velocity checks; suspicious votes are held for moderators.
- Written reviews are moderated before publication; anyone can report a review, and providers can appeal.
- We keep only a one-way hash of voters’ IP addresses and the postcode area, in line with UK GDPR.
- Every recalculation runs in a single database transaction, is tagged with the methodology version, and is written to an immutable audit log.
Commercial independence
NetScore.uk is free to use. We may earn a commission when you click through to a provider and buy a package. Commissions and sponsored placements are stored separately from customer votes, and the NetScore calculation has no access to them. Sponsored placements are always clearly labelled, and our “Recommended” order is based on NetScore and total contract cost — never commission. Staff who manage commercial partnerships have no access to scoring controls.