At HostDean, we strive to provide accurate, fair, and up-to-date ratings to help users make informed decisions. That’s why we created DeanScore, our 5-star rating system designed to reflect a web hosting provider’s true performance based on user feedback.
What is DeanScore?
DeanScore is a dynamic rating system calculated automatically using user reviews. It’s not just a simple average; instead, it employs a Bayesian Average to ensure fairness and reliability.
DeanScore also accounts for the age of reviews, giving more weight to recent feedback since it reflects the provider’s current quality of service.
How is DeanScore Calculated?
Our internal system automatically calculates DeanScore without human intervention when the provider receives a new user review.
The DeanScore of a provider is not its Arithmetic Mean (average) because it has issues, and we believe it can’t be used in a good scoring system.
For example, if we have two web hosting providers:
- The first has 1,000 reviews with an average of 4.9 out of 5.0.
- The second has a single 5-star review only.
If we calculate the rating average for the two, the first will have 4.9 stars while the second one’s average will be 5.0 stars!
As you can see, this is not logical and does not represent the true rating of the providers.
On the other hand, at HostDean, we use Bayesian Average, which takes into account the number of reviews a provider has and the average of all providers on HostDean, which represents the industry average.
Moreover, when calculating the provider’s DeanScore, the system gives each review a weight in the equation that depends on the age of the review, where more recent reviews have a higher weight than older ones.
Providers with few reviews start with a neutral DeanScore. Each calculation includes an automatic baseline of 7 reviews at 3.5 stars. As real user reviews accumulate, the effect of this baseline gradually diminishes.
Bayesian Average
This statistical method balances the score by considering the number of reviews and the overall average across all providers listed on HostDean.
Providers with fewer reviews benefit from this approach as it reduces the likelihood of extreme ratings disproportionately influencing their scores.
Weighted by Time
Recent reviews have a higher impact on the DeanScore than older ones.
This ensures that a provider’s current performance is accurately represented, even if it has improved or declined over time.
Comprehensive Aggregation
All valid reviews contribute to the DeanScore, providing a holistic view of user satisfaction.
Prevents Manipulation
New providers can’t easily game the system with just a few high ratings.
We include seven 3.5-star reviews in all DeanScore calculations by default. As a hosting provider gains more user reviews, this default value has less impact on the overall score.
DeanScore Rating Weights: How We Calculate Our Ratings
DeanScore ratings are based on five key factors (performance, reliability, pricing, support, features), each weighted equally at 20% of the total DeanScore score, which corresponds to a single star of the 5 stars.
Total DeanScore Calculation
Each factor is scored on a 1- to 5-point scale. The total score is then calculated by applying equal weight (20%) to each factor:
Total DeanScore = (Performance Score×0.2) + (Reliability Score×0.2) + (Pricing Score×0.2) + (Support Score×0.2) + (Features Score×0.2)
Example DeanScore Calculation:
If a hosting provider has these scores:
- Performance: 4.8
- Reliability: 4.7
- Pricing: 4.6
- Support: 4.8
- Features: 4.6
The total DeanScore is:
Total DeanScore=(4.8×0.2)+(4.7×0.2)+(4.6×0.2)+(4.8×0.2)+(4.6×0.2)=4.7
Here are the five factors we calculate:
1. Performance (20%)
Measures server performance, response time, TTFB, page load speed, and sustained performance under load.
2. Reliability (20%)
Measures how reliable the hosting service is, including uptime, backups, security, etc..
3. Pricing (20%)
Evaluates the cost-effectiveness of hosting plans. Cheap, reasonable, or expensive prices, price-to-value ratio, money-back guarantee, high renewal prices, freebies, free domain name, cheap add-ons, cheaper or more expensive than competitors, extra fees for features that are usually free, etc..
4. Support (20%)
Assesses the quality of support, availability (24/7, free, phone, chat, email/ticket, knowledgebase, video guides), response time, courtesy & patience, professionalism, etc..
5. Features (20%)
Assesses the breadth and quality of features offered, including paid control panels like cPanel and Plesk provided for free, ease-of-use, global presence (data centers), useful tools, free website builder, free features (free backups, SSL, CDN, email accounts, etc), free migration, hourly backups, 1-click installs, CMS integrations, etc..
Why Do We Use Bayesian Average?
The Bayesian Average ensures that DeanScore is fair and representative, especially for providers with fewer reviews.
Instead of relying solely on raw averages, which extreme ratings or limited data can skew, the Bayesian method incorporates the overall average score across all providers.
This approach ensures a level playing field, so providers are neither unfairly penalized nor over-rewarded due to the number of reviews they’ve received.
Why Does Review Age Matter?
The web hosting industry evolves rapidly, and a provider’s service quality can change over time.
By giving more weight to recent reviews, DeanScore stays relevant and accurately reflects the provider’s current status.
This helps users make better decisions based on up-to-date information.
DeanScore: Helping You Choose with Confidence
With DeanScore, you can trust that the ratings you see on HostDean are both fair and accurate.
Our system is designed to highlight the providers who consistently deliver excellent service while providing a transparent view of their performance trends over time.
Let DeanScore guide you to the best web hosting solutions, backed by real user experiences and a data-driven approach.