A RepairScore of 76 means something specific. It's not a gut feeling, a brand ranking, or a marketing claim. It's a weighted composite of five independently measurable factors, each drawn from a different authoritative data source. This guide explains exactly how we calculate it, so you can trust the number and understand what's behind it.
The Five Scoring Factors
Every RepairScore is built from five data dimensions. Each factor reflects a different aspect of real-world repairability, from official regulatory data to community repair records. When a data source is unavailable for a specific product, its weight is redistributed proportionally across the remaining factors so the score stays meaningful.
| Factor | Weight | Data Source | What it measures |
|---|---|---|---|
| EU EPREL Score | 30% | European Product Registry for Energy Labelling (EU Commission) | Official EU repairability rating, availability of spare parts, repair manuals, and software support duration. Mandated by the EU Ecodesign regulation. |
| iFixit Teardown Score | 25% | iFixit.com teardown database | Physical repairability: how hard is it to open the device, replace key components, and access internal parts? iFixit scores devices 1–10; we scale this to 0–100. |
| Parts Availability Score | 20% | EU spare parts marketplace indexing (3rd party suppliers, OEM parts programs) | Can you actually buy the parts you need? Covers OEM programs, aftermarket availability, price accessibility, and cross-border EU availability. |
| Community Repair Score | 15% | Open Repair Data (openrepairdata.org) | How often does this product category/brand appear in successful community repairs? Aggregated from Restart Project events and Repair Cafés across Europe. |
| Age & Support Factor | 10% | Manufacturer support timelines, OS/firmware update commitments | How long will the manufacturer support this product? Longer software support and announced spare-parts availability windows score higher. |
How the Calculation Works
Each factor produces a sub-score from 0 to 100. The final RepairScore is the weighted average of those sub-scores. For example, the Google Pixel 9 Pro (RepairScore: 78) breaks down roughly as: EPREL 82 × 0.30 = 24.6 · iFixit 80 × 0.25 = 20.0 · Parts 76 × 0.20 = 15.2 · Community 72 × 0.15 = 10.8 · Age/Support 80 × 0.10 = 8.0 → Total: 78.6, rounded to 78.
When a data source is missing, for example, iFixit hasn't yet published a teardown for a new model, that factor's weight shifts to the remaining factors. A product with no iFixit data still gets a valid RepairScore based on the other four dimensions, with each receiving a proportionally larger share. We flag incomplete data on any product page that uses redistribution.
Score Tiers at a Glance
| Tier | Score Range | What it means | Example products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excellent | 80–100 | Designed for repair. DIY-friendly, affordable parts, long support. | Fairphone 5 (96), Framework Laptop 16 (95), Miele WCI860 (90) |
| Good | 60–79 | Repairable with some effort. Most common repairs are viable. | Google Pixel 9 (76), Nokia G42 (78), Bosch Serie 8 washing machine (82) |
| Fair | 40–59 | Possible but frustrating. Parts may be expensive or hard to find. | iPhone 15 Pro Max (55), Dell XPS 15 (55), Dyson V15 Detect (54) |
| Poor | 20–39 | Repair is technically possible but not practical for most users. | MacBook Air M2 (35), Dell XPS 13 Plus (32), iPad Pro 13 M4 (30) |
| Very Poor | 0–19 | Effectively a throw-away product. Manufacturer discourages or prevents repair. | Reserved for products with active anti-repair design (parts pairing locks, no manual access, OEM-only repair restrictions) |
Why Five Factors?
Repairability has multiple dimensions that don't always correlate. A phone can have great iFixit scores (easy to open) but terrible parts availability (manufacturer doesn't sell components). Conversely, some appliances have expensive official parts programs (high parts score) but aren't covered by EPREL yet because they predate the regulation.
Single-source rankings miss these nuances. EPREL scores exist for many appliances but not all electronics. iFixit covers consumer electronics well but rarely evaluates large appliances. Open Repair Data reflects what actually breaks and gets fixed in community settings, a ground truth that neither official ratings nor manufacturer claims can replicate.
By combining five independent sources, RepairScore is harder to game and more robust against gaps in any single dataset. A manufacturer can't improve their score just by getting a good EPREL rating if their parts ecosystem is poor.
What RepairScore Doesn't Measure
- Reliability, a product that never needs repair isn't necessarily well-designed for repair. We score repairability, not durability.
- Repairability after the fact, our scores reflect current conditions. A manufacturer could announce an end-of-life parts cutoff at any time, which would change our score on next update.
- Cost of repair, we measure availability of parts, not their price (though extreme price is factored into the parts availability sub-score at a coarse level).
- Environmental impact of production, RepairScore is about circularity, not full lifecycle analysis.
- Availability of third-party repair services, the presence of authorised repair centres is a separate metric we're working on adding in a future release.
Data Freshness and Update Cadence
RepairScore data is reviewed quarterly. When manufacturers launch official repair programs, change parts availability, or when new EU EPREL entries are published, affected products are re-scored. Scores can go up as well as down, Nokia's mid-range phones, for instance, received a score increase after HMD's 2023 iFixit partnership became active.
The EU Right to Repair Directive (national law by July 31, 2026) will meaningfully expand parts and documentation availability for covered categories, smartphones, tablets, computers, and major appliances. We expect scores across those categories to rise across the board as manufacturers comply with the new obligations.
Transparency and Feedback
We publish this methodology because transparency is fundamental to trust in a scoring system. If you believe a product's score doesn't reflect reality, perhaps because a parts program has changed, an iFixit teardown was published, or EPREL data has been updated, we want to know.
RepairScore is built on the belief that consumers deserve clear, honest, independent information about product longevity, not vague sustainability claims or greenwashing. The EU Right to Repair Directive exists because regulators agree. We're here to make that information accessible before, during, and after purchase.