Marketplace Rating System (4-star)

[Gabriel Muller]

I always had the feeling that all apps on Atlassian Marketplace were bad, until the day that I paid close attention and realized that the top rating is 4 star.

My brain - and I'm pretty sure that this applies to most people - is used to the 5-star rating system, which is used in 99.99% of the internet (ok I invented this statistic, but Atlassian Marketplace is the only place that I have ever seen using a 4-star system), so an app rated 3 star, for example, is good for the Atlassian Marketplace standards, but my brain automatically thinks it is just 'average', or when I see a 2 I think it is bad, when in reality it is average, something like that.

Any ideas why Atlassian keeps this system? I don't see the benefit.

[Joey - DevSamurai]

Hi, I’m not sure why Atlassian uses a 4-star rating system either, but I assume they have their reasons.

Personally, if a platform uses a 5-star system, I usually rate 4 stars if a product meets my expectations and reserve 5 stars only for those that exceed my expectations, which is pretty rare.

In a 4-star system, when a product meets or even exceeds my expectations, I still end up rating it 4 stars. So, in a way, it simplifies the decision-making for me.

I think the 4-star system might help users focus more on meaningful feedback rather than obsessing over the difference between 4 and 5 stars, but that’s just my take!