Network effects come in several flavors, and most strong businesses combine more than one. A two-sided marketplace (Uber) has cross-side effects. A social network (Meta) has direct effects. A search engine (Google) has data effects. A protocol (Bitcoin, Ethereum, TCP/IP) has standard effects. The scorecard below tries to capture every flavor — high marks across multiple categories indicate a stronger overall moat than one extreme score in a single category.

The total score is a weighted average across the ten dimensions, scaled to 0–100. Each dimension has an example list to anchor your scoring. Don't overthink it — a 7 versus an 8 will not change the verdict. What matters is the pattern: are several dimensions in the 7–10 range, or are most below 5? The first signals a real network. The second usually signals a normal business.

Two networks can have the same total score but completely different shapes. Bitcoin is dominated by protocol, standards, and viral effects but has near-zero density. Uber is the opposite — huge in two-sided marketplace and local density, weak in protocol. Visa is dominated by switching costs and two-sided dynamics. Use the comparison dropdown to overlay a benchmark and see where this business is similar, and where it diverges.

Three classical laws describe how network value grows with user count. Sarnoff (broadcast: TV, radio) grows linearly. Metcalfe (peer-to-peer: phone, Facebook, Bitcoin) grows with the square of users. Reed (group-forming: Discord, Slack, DAOs) grows exponentially as 2ⁿ. Toggle between them below to see how dramatically the framing matters. The numbers are relative value indices, not dollar valuations — these laws describe theoretical ceilings, not empirical market caps.

The number of possible unique pair connections in a network of n users is n × (n − 1) ÷ 2. At 10 users that’s 45 lines. At 50 users it’s 1,225 lines — visibly unreadable. At a million users, almost 500 billion. The visualization caps at 50 users because anything more would render as a solid disc. The counter and table keep going so you can see what “500 billion connections” really means.

The grey dashed line is a linear business: value tracks user count one-for-one. The navy dashed line is Metcalfe’s Law (n²) — the theoretical ceiling for a peer-to-peer network. The pink curve is the scored company, and includes a critical mass gate: below the amber band, the network is too sparse for value to compound; once it crosses, the curve ignites toward Metcalfe. Higher network-effect scores ignite earlier and at lower scale. The shaded pink area between the linear baseline and the scored company is the network effect surplus — value created beyond what a comparable linear business would produce. Note: values are relative units, not dollars.