A simplified, delegator-focused scoring system for evaluating indexer performance on The Graph Network

The Indexer Score Dashboard provides a transparent and simple way to evaluate indexers based on what matters most: query fee generation and fair reward sharing. We've removed complexity to focus on the metrics that directly impact delegators' returns.

Unlike complex multi-factor scoring systems, our approach is straightforward:

• Single Performance Metric: Query Fee Ratio (QFR) - how efficiently an indexer generates query fees relative to their allocated stake
• Clear Reward Requirement: Delegator rewards percentage - how much indexers share with their delegators
• Transparent Thresholds: Easy-to-understand tier requirements
• Automatic Penalties: Built-in protections against underserving indexers

The scoring system is designed to protect delegators by enforcing fair reward distribution:

Key Protection: Any indexer sharing less than 10% of rewards with delegators is automatically classified as Poor, regardless of their technical performance. This ensures delegators avoid indexers who keep more than 90% of rewards for themselves.

The dashboard helps delegators by:

• 🎯 Highlighting generous indexers - Top tier requires ≥30% reward sharing
• 🚫 Filtering out unfair indexers - Automatic Poor rating for <10% sharing
• 📊 Transparent metrics - All data visible including exact reward percentages
• 🏆 Easy comparison - Sorted by tier and reward generosity

We care about the health of The Graph Network by evaluating indexers who actually serve the network through meaningful query fee generation.

QFR Formula:

QFR = Query Fees Earned / Total Allocated Stake

Why QFR Matters:

• Measures real network contribution through query serving
• Reflects indexer's subgraph curation quality
• Indicates actual demand for indexer's services
• Shows revenue generation capability

Network Health Benefits:

• Rewards indexers who serve active subgraphs
• Encourages proper subgraph selection
• Supports indexers providing value to dApp developers
• Promotes sustainable network economics

To maintain network decentralization and quality of service, we apply a significant penalty to indexers serving too few subgraphs.

Threshold: Indexers must serve at least 10 subgraphs

Penalty Formula:

Penalty = 3.0 × (10 - number_of_subgraphs) / 10

Penalty Examples:

Why This Matters:

• Encourages network diversity
• Prevents over-concentration on few subgraphs
• Supports broader ecosystem health
• Incentivizes proper resource allocation

QFR = Query Fees Earned / Allocated Stake

Normalized QFR = 1 + 9 × (min(QFR, 0.3) / 0.3)

• QFR capped at 0.3 (30%) for fairness
• Scale: 1 (worst) to 10 (best)

Final Score = 11 - Normalized QFR

If (subgraphs < 10):
    Final Score = min(10.0, Final Score + Penalty)

If (Delegator Rewards < 10%):
    Tier = Poor 🔴
Else If (Final Score ≤ 9.92 AND Delegator Rewards ≥ 30%):
    Tier = Excellent 🟢
Else If (Final Score ≤ 9.97):
    Tier = Fair 🟡
Else:
    Tier = Poor 🔴

FINAL_SCORE = 11 - (1 + 9 × (min(QFR, 0.3) / 0.3)) + PENALTY

Where:
    QFR = Query Fees Earned / Allocated Stake
    PENALTY = 3.0 × (10 - subgraphs) / 10  (if subgraphs < 10, else 0)
    
TIER = {
    Poor 🔴:      if Delegator Rewards < 10% OR Final Score > 9.97
    Excellent 🟢: if Delegator Rewards ≥ 30% AND Final Score ≤ 9.92
    Fair 🟡:      otherwise
}

Indexer: dataservices.eth

• Query Fees: 222,106 GRT
• Allocated Stake: 87,323,802 GRT
• Subgraphs: 930
• Delegator Rewards: 81.14%

Calculation:

QFR = 222,106 / 87,323,802 = 0.00254 (0.254%)
Normalized QFR = 1 + 9 × (0.00254 / 0.3) = 1.08
Final Score = 11 - 1.08 = 9.92
Penalty = 0 (serves 930 subgraphs)
Delegator Rewards = 81.14% ≥ 30% ✅

Result: Excellent 🟢

Why Excellent:

• ✅ Generates meaningful query fees
• ✅ Shares 81.14% with delegators (exceptional!)
• ✅ Serves many subgraphs (930)
• ✅ Final score 9.92 ≤ threshold

Indexer: streamingfastindexer.eth

• Query Fees: 4,691,469 GRT
• Allocated Stake: 18,434,122 GRT
• Subgraphs: 750
• Delegator Rewards: 22.09%

Calculation:

QFR = 4,691,469 / 18,434,122 = 0.2545 (25.45%)
Normalized QFR = 1 + 9 × (0.2545 / 0.3) = 8.63
Final Score = 11 - 8.63 = 2.37
Penalty = 0 (serves 750 subgraphs)
Delegator Rewards = 22.09% < 30% ⚠️

Result: Fair 🟡

Why Fair (not Excellent):

• ✅ Excellent query fee generation (top performer!)
• ❌ Delegator rewards 22.09% < 30% threshold
• ✅ Serves many subgraphs (750)

Indexer: Example Indexer

• Query Fees: 1,000 GRT
• Allocated Stake: 5,000,000 GRT
• Subgraphs: 3
• Delegator Rewards: 35%

Calculation:

QFR = 1,000 / 5,000,000 = 0.0002 (0.02%)
Normalized QFR = 1 + 9 × (0.0002 / 0.3) = 1.01
Final Score = 11 - 1.01 = 9.99
Penalty = 3.0 × (10 - 3) / 10 = 2.10
Final Score with Penalty = min(10.0, 9.99 + 2.10) = 10.0

Result: Poor 🔴

Why Poor:

• ❌ Very low query fee generation
• ❌ Serves only 3 subgraphs (underserving)
• ✅ Good delegator rewards (35%) but not enough to overcome poor performance

Indexer: pinax2.eth

• Query Fees: 2,856,044 GRT
• Allocated Stake: 15,999,999 GRT
• Subgraphs: 600
• Delegator Rewards: 0.00%

Calculation:

QFR = 2,856,044 / 15,999,999 = 0.1785 (17.85%)
Normalized QFR = 1 + 9 × (0.1785 / 0.3) = 6.36
Final Score = 11 - 6.36 = 4.64
Penalty = 0 (serves 600 subgraphs)
Delegator Rewards = 0.00% < 10% 🔴

Result: Poor 🔴 (Automatic)

Why Poor:

• ✅ Excellent query fee generation (17.85%!)
• ✅ Serves many subgraphs (600)
• 🔴 AUTOMATIC POOR: Shares 0% with delegators
• Critical Failure: Keeps 100% of rewards for themselves

1. Simplicity First: One primary metric (QFR) plus reward fairness
2. Delegator Protection: Automatic Poor rating for <10% reward sharing
3. Excellence Requires Fairness: Need ≥30% reward sharing for top tier
4. Network Health: Rewards real query fee generation
5. Diversity Incentive: Penalty for serving too few subgraphs
6. Transparent Scoring: Clear formulas, no black boxes

• Live Dashboard: https://indexerscore.com
• Documentation: View docs.html in the reports folder
• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/pdiomede/indexerscore
• Forum Discussion: The Graph Forum Thread

Key thresholds can be configured via .env.costs file:

# Delegator rewards threshold for Excellent tier
DELEGATOR_REWARDS_THRESHOLD=30.0

# Underserving subgraphs threshold
UNDERSERVING_SUBGRAPHS_COUNT=10

# Indexer size thresholds (GRT)
SMALL_INDEXER=1000000
MEDIUM_INDEXER=20000000
LARGE_INDEXER=50000000

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run the metrics fetch
python fetch_indexers_metrics.py

# Output files generated:
# - reports/index.html (dashboard)
# - reports/docs.html (documentation)
# - reports/indexers_output.csv (raw data)

Total Indexers: 82 with allocations
Performance Distribution:

• 🟢 Excellent: 20 indexers (24.4%)
• 🟡 Fair: 11 indexers (13.4%)
• 🔴 Poor: 51 indexers (62.2%)

Updated every 6 hours

This is an open-source project aimed at improving transparency in The Graph Network. Contributions, suggestions, and feedback are welcome!

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details

Paolo Diomede (@pdiomede)
Made with ❤️ for The Graph ecosystem 👨‍🚀

Version: 2.0.0
Last Updated: October 30, 2025