How Vibometer works
Vibometer measures distribution readiness across findability, credibility, shareability, positioning, momentum, and vibe. These are inputs to distribution. The score does not predict revenue, and it judges your app's public presentation, never the product behind it.
- Every signal is externally observable. We only look at what the public internet sees.
- Signals are deterministic where possible. The three positioning signals and two of the vibe signals use rubric-locked LLM evaluation. Prompt versions plus the text and vision model IDs are recorded on each run; rankings compare the same methodology and models.
- Every fixable gap maps to a concrete next step. Maturity signals such as domain age are labeled honestly because they improve through time and earned authority, not a quick edit.
- If an external data source is unavailable for a run, that signal is excluded from the denominator rather than counted as zero. The scorecard shows the missing coverage, and a reading missing a score-bearing signal is provisional: it cannot enter rankings, power a badge, or be used for paid audit delivery.
- Weights are heuristic, stated below, and versioned (current:
v1.3/pos-rubric-1+vibe-rubric-1). Once we have enough scored apps with outcome data we'll validate them empirically. Until then, we make no predictive claims.
findability: 25 points
Can people who are looking for something like your app actually find it?
- Pages indexed by Google (8): via search results for site:yourdomain
- Title, meta description & H1 quality (7): parsed from your landing page
- Domain age (5): via public RDAP registration records
- Domain popularity (5): via the Tranco top-1M ranking
- Sitemap & robots.txt present (5)
credibility: 20 points
When someone lands, do they trust it enough to try it?
- HTTPS & secure assets (4)
- Social proof on landing page (6): testimonials, usage numbers, trust statements
- Reviews & ratings (4): structured data or embedded review widgets
- Pricing clarity (5): a findable pricing page with real numbers
- Press & community mentions (6): external pages mentioning your domain
shareability: 15 points
When someone loves it, how easily does that spread?
- Social share cards (8): Open Graph & Twitter card completeness
- Share & referral mechanics (5): share buttons, referral or affiliate programs
- Public updates footprint (7): a findable changelog and blog/content section
positioning: 15 points
Does the copy tell a stranger what this is, who it's for, and why it beats alternatives?
- Headline value-prop clarity (8): LLM-evaluated against a fixed rubric
- Identifiable category (4): LLM-evaluated against a fixed rubric
- Differentiation vs. alternatives (3): LLM-evaluated against a fixed rubric
momentum: 10 points
Does the project look alive?
- Recent content & updates (4): sitemap lastmod dates and page freshness
- Social & community presence (3): linked public channels
- Launch footprint (3): Product Hunt, Hacker News, Reddit trail
vibe: 15 points
Does the page feel made by a person who cares, or does it read as the default AI-generated template that makes visitors bounce?
- Generic AI-template tells (5): deterministic fingerprints: stock indigo/purple gradients, site-builder badges, emoji feature bullets, the “Get Started / Learn More” button pair, Inter-only typography
- Visual distinctiveness (4): a vision model scores an above-the-fold screenshot against a fixed rubric (penalizes sameness, not simplicity)
- Copy sounds human (3): LLM-evaluated cliché density against a fixed rubric (“Supercharge”, “Effortlessly”, “Seamlessly”…)
- Craft details (3): favicon, mobile viewport, a branded 404 page
Re-scoring
A visitor can request a fresh score once every 7 days from the public scorecard. Vibometer does not re-score sites automatically. Public history compares visitor-requested, coverage-eligible readings from the current methodology and model calibration. Internal audit and retry runs never appear in public history or rankings.