Headline finding · measured 2026-08-11
70% of rated MSPs sit at 4.8★ or higher. Half have fewer than 10 reviews.
When almost everyone is excellent, the star rating stops carrying information.
of rated MSPs are at 4.8★ or above
Of 9,380 in-scope firms with a Google rating on file: median review count 10, p25 = 3, p75 = 27, p95 = 119. The top 5% average 521 reviews. as of 2026-08-11.
base 9,380
What we found
Of the 9,380 MSPs with a Google rating on file, 70% are at 4.8 stars or better. The rating is not distributed; it is bunched at the top.
The review counts underneath those ratings are thin. The median rated MSP has 10 reviews. A quarter have three or fewer. The 95th percentile is 119, and the top 5% average 521 — so the visible volume in this market is concentrated in a few hundred firms.
Why the star rating fails here
A 5.0 built on four reviews and a 4.8 built on four hundred are the same number on a search results page and completely different pieces of evidence. Because most MSPs sit in the thin-volume band, the ranking a buyer sees is dominated by sampling noise.
This is why MSP Signal weights ratings by volume rather than taking them at face value. A Bayesian-weighted score pulls low-volume ratings toward the market mean until enough evidence accumulates to move them — which is the correct way to read a 5.0 with three reviews.
The read for MSPs
Going from 6 reviews to 30 changes how your rating is read far more than going from 4.8 to 4.9 does. Volume is the lever.
It is also the lever you control: a systematic post-ticket review request is the single highest-return reputation activity available to a firm sitting at the median.
What this number can't tell you
- ·Rating stats are of the 9,380 rated firms, not all 21,555 in scope. Never read these as 'of MSPs' — read them as 'of rated MSPs'.
- ·Firms with no Google presence are excluded entirely, and they are unlikely to be a random sample.
What to do about it
- ▸Ask for a review at ticket close, not at contract renewal. Volume compounds.
- ▸Read a competitor's 5.0 with its review count attached before treating it as a threat.
Where does your firm sit on this?
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Claim your MSP ▸More findings
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