Round 1 Winners!
Proof of Usefulness Report

Open-Appsec

Analysis completed on 3/22/2026

+39.6
Proof of Usefulness Score
You're In Business

Open-Appsec addresses a valid cybersecurity need with its ML-based WAF, offering genuine utility and technical innovation. However, the submission is severely undermined by unverifiable and hyperbolic claims regarding audience reach ('everyone') and traction ('most people have used my product'). Additionally, the reported monthly revenue ('all time marketcap: 500000') is non-standard and lacks credibility. Due to the poor response quality and lack of verifiable traction, the project receives a low score reflective of minimal proven real-world impact.

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Score Breakdown

Real World Utility+20.0
Audience Reach Impact+1.0
Technical Innovation+11.25
Evidence Of Traction+0.5
Market Timing Relevance+8.0
Functional Completeness+0.5
Subtotal+41.25
Usefulness Multiplierx0.96
Final Score+40

Project Details

Project URL
Description
open-appsec is an open source initiative that builds on machine learning to provide pre-emptive web app & API threat protection against OWASP-Top-10 and zero-day attacks (https://openappsec.io) It can be deployed as add-on to Kubernetes Ingress (Kubernetes WAF), NGINX (NGINX WAF), Envoy (Envoy WAF) and API Gateways. open-oppsec simplifies maintenance as there is no threat signature upkeep and exception handling, like common in many WAF solutions.

Algorithm Insights

Market Position
Growing utility with room for optimization
User Engagement
Documented reach suggests active user community
Technical Stack
Modern tech stack aligned with sponsor technologies

Recommendations to Increase Usefulness Score

Document User Growth

Provide specific metrics on user acquisition and retention rates

Showcase Revenue Model

Detail sustainable monetization strategy and current revenue streams

Expand Evidence Base

Include testimonials, case studies, and third-party validation

Technical Roadmap

Share development milestones and feature completion timeline