On this page
The RealValidator Team Editorial team

The Wiz Score is Stakewiz's composite 0-100 validator-quality score, the de facto comparison metric used by most stakers and by several stake-pool selection algorithms on Solana. It blends skip rate, vote credit performance (TVC-aware), commission rate, software version freshness, and decentralization signals into a single number, published live on validator profiles at stakewiz.com and via api.stakewiz.com/validators.

The score is operated by Stakewiz (a Sol Strategies product), not by the Solana Foundation. A high Wiz Score is not a Foundation-issued certification, and is distinct from SFDP eligibility — they use different thresholds and different methodologies. A validator can hold SFDP eligibility with a moderate Wiz Score, and vice versa.

Component breakdown

Per Stakewiz's published methodology (current at epoch 971), the Wiz Score blends the following inputs:

  • Skip rate vs. network average — penalty scales with the validator's skip rate relative to the cluster mean over a trailing window. A 0.05% skip rate against a 0.14% network median contributes positively; a 1%+ skip rate contributes a substantial penalty.
  • Vote success / vote-credit ratio (TVC-aware) — under Timely Vote Credits (SIMD-0123), this measures how quickly the validator's votes land, scaled by the 1-16 TVC credit weight per vote. Two validators with identical skip rates can score differently here.
  • Commission rate — lower commission contributes positively; the relationship is monotonic (lower is better) within the observed range of 0%-10% base commission. The component reads base commission specifically; Jito MEV commission is read but weighted separately.
  • Software version freshness — penalty for running outdated Agave or Jito client releases. The penalty grows as the lag from the current recommended version grows.
  • Decentralization signals — penalties for ASN concentration (ASN carrying high share of network stake), data center concentration, and geographic concentration. These act as negative contributors when the validator is over-concentrated; they do not boost scores for being in low-concentration locations.

Stakewiz adjusts the component weights over time as the network evolves; the current weighting emphasizes skip rate and vote success as the dominant inputs, with commission and version freshness as moderate contributors, and decentralization as penalty-only. Always link to the live Stakewiz profile rather than asserting a frozen formula.

How stakers and stake pools use it

The Wiz Score is the headline number on Stakewiz's discovery UI and is the primary sort key when stakers browse for delegation candidates. Several stake-pool selection algorithms consume it as an input — notably some legacy Marinade scoring inputs (before the move to SAM) and various LST aggregators. Individual stakers comparing validators most often cite Wiz Score as the first-pass filter before drilling into component metrics.

The score's primary use case is comparison, not absolute evaluation. A Wiz Score of 92 at epoch 971 is meaningful only in the context of the current network's score distribution; the median Wiz Score across active validators is approximately the mid-80s (per Stakewiz validator records, epoch 971), so scores above 90 represent the upper tier rather than the median.

Range observed in this wiki's directory

Across the 28 validators profiled in this wiki at epoch 971 (per Stakewiz):

  • The highest Wiz Score among selected validators is in the high 90s, achieved by low-skip-rate, near-perfect-vote-credit, low-commission, version-current operators with no decentralization penalty.
  • Several brand-name operators sit in the 70s-80s despite high stake, dragged down by skip rate, ASN concentration penalty, or commission. Helius's Wiz Score is 20.4 at epoch 971 — driven by skip rate and ASN-concentration penalties despite being #2 by stake. This is a real editorial story rather than measurement noise: a high-stake operator can post a low Wiz Score because the score does not reward stake size.
  • No validator in the directory is scored at exactly 100; the maximum is reserved for hypothetical perfect performance and is not awarded in practice.

What the Wiz Score does not measure

  • Operator custody discipline. The score has no view into how the operator manages the withdraw authority — the highest-privilege key in a validator setup. A cold-storage withdraw authority and a hot-wallet withdraw authority produce identical Wiz Scores.
  • MEV policy nuance. The score does not distinguish between MEV-enabled and MEV-disabled validators, nor between MEV-friendly and adversarial MEV configurations beyond what shows up in Jito MEV commission.
  • Operator brand or longevity. A six-month-old validator with strong metrics can outscore a five-year operator with weaker metrics. The score is performance-based, not reputation-based.
  • SFDP status. A validator can hold a high Wiz Score and be outside SFDP; the criteria are different.

Terminology traps

  • "Wiz Score" is not "Wiz Rate" or "Stakewiz Score." The canonical term is Wiz Score.
  • The score is not a Solana Foundation metric. Citing it as Foundation-endorsed is incorrect; it is a Stakewiz product.
  • A higher Wiz Score is not automatically a higher APY. Wiz Score does not consider Jito MEV income in its primary component blend, so a high-Wiz validator on Frankendancer (no Jito client) can have a lower realized APY than a slightly lower-Wiz validator running the Jito client.

Sources

Wiz Scores cited reference Stakewiz validator records at epoch 971, 2026-05-15. Scores update each epoch and Stakewiz revises component weights periodically; verify on a fresh snapshot when citing for current decisions.