What 353 graded repositories reveal

Every repo RepoGrade scores feeds these aggregates: how quality tracks reach, age, and maintenance, and what separates the best repos from the rest.

Repositories
353
Java
Median score
69
out of 100
Median stars
12,832
GitHub stars
Median age
5.8 yr
152 measured
Ship releases
53%
150 measured
Are forks
7%
152 measured

How the corpus scores

Each dot is a repo, colored by grade. Corpus medians divide the four quadrants. Distributions below show the same data sliced by band and popularity tier.

Quality vs popularity

Hover a region to highlight it and see counts. Toggle the X axis between stars and contributors.

X axis
median 13kmed. 69HIDDEN GEMS74 · 24%EXEMPLARY101 · 33%NEEDS WORK52 · 17%VIRAL, MESSY76 · 25%02550751001101001k10k100kStars (log scale)Score

Score distribution

Repos per 10-point band, colored by grade

Score by popularity tier

Box = P25-P75, line = median, whisker = P10-P90. Colored by grade.

Group by
0204060708090100ABCDF< 10n=910-100n=11100-1kn=561k-10kn=2710k+n=200

GitHub stars · box = P25-P75, line = median, whisker = P10-P90

Scores climb steadily with popularity

Median score within each star tier. The grade mix hides this because most repos have few stars - but quality and reach rise together.

What top repos do that the rest don't

Average pass rate for A/B vs D/F repos, by dimension and by check. Filtered to Java. Based on 119 repos.

Quality gap, by dimension

Average check pass rate across all checks in each category, for top-graded vs. bottom-graded repos.

Documentation+62pp
A/B
87%
D/F
26%

4 checks averaged

Engineering+61pp
A/B
83%
D/F
22%

5 checks averaged

Project health+40pp
A/B
100%
D/F
60%

3 checks averaged

Pass rates side by side

Each row is one check. Filled = A/B pass rate, hollow = D/F. +Npp = percentage-point gap.

D/F passA/B pass0%25%50%75%100%Issue and PR templates+84ppLinting and formatting+73ppREADME+64ppContributing guide+64ppInstall and run instructions+61ppCI/CD+61ppLicense+57ppActivity+55ppReproducibility+52ppRepository metadata+39ppTests+34ppHousekeeping+26pp

All checks

CheckA / B pass rateD / F pass rateGap
Issue and PR templates
94%
10%
+84
Linting and formatting
87%
14%
+73
README
100%
36%
+64
Contributing guide
71%
7%
+64
Install and run instructions
77%
16%
+61
CI/CD
74%
13%
+61
License
100%
43%
+57
Activity
100%
45%
+55
Reproducibility
61%
9%
+52
Repository metadata
100%
61%
+39
Tests
100%
66%
+34
Housekeeping
100%
74%
+26

Does a better grade attract more attention?

Median traction signals per grade band. Toggle across stars, forks, watchers, open issues, and contributors.

Median traction by grade

Toggle across stars, forks, watchers, issues, contributors

Metric

How actively are repos maintained?

Release discipline and project posture signals - the upkeep story behind a grade.

Release discipline by grade

Share of repos shipping at least one tagged release, per grade band

Project posture

Fork quality penalty, archived repos, and release cadence

Quality: forks vs. original repos

Originals
65
Forks
56

Forks score 9 points lower on average (10 forks of 152 measured)

Archived (read-only)1%

1 of 152 measured

Ship releases53%

79 of 150 measured

Does age or size move the score?

Median score across how long a repo has existed and how large it is on disk.

Score by repo age

Median score across age cohorts

Score by repo size

Median score across size on disk

Most common topics, by quality

Topics repos tag themselves with - ranked by frequency, with the median score of all repos carrying each tag.

Top 5 topics
1java
37
75
2docker
6
70
3hacktoberfest
5
78
4minecraft
5
67
5spring-boot
5
75