# Designesy — /benchmarks Canonical page: https://www.designesy.org/benchmarks --- designesy.org**/benchmarks** 3 tools researched 2026-08-01 self-score 100.0 A [the methodology](/methodology) ## Benchmarks Three tools, three questions. hallmark stops slop as a design is generated, slop-eval scores slop after the fact, and designesy verifies a site against a versioned contract. Where they overlap, and what each one catches alone. ## The three tools designesy from its registry; the others as researched on 2026-08-01 | Attribute | designesy | hallmark | slop-eval | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Question it answers | Does this conform to the contracted design system? | Does this look AI-generated? | How much slop does this design contain? | | Kind | Contract conformance verification | Anti-slop gate at generation time | Anti-slop evaluation skill | | Delivery | URL API and MCP tools an agent can call | Agent skill (a prompt-encoded rule set) | Agent skill (a deterministic scoring script) | | Checks | 45 in 14 categories | 57 binary gates and 6 pre-emit axes | 108 tells in 6 families and 2 positive axes | | License | See designesy.org | MIT | Apache-2.0 | | GitHub stars, 2026-08-01 | n/a | 20.5k | 40 (parent repository) | A full pipeline can use all three: hallmark while a design is generated, slop-eval to score what exists, designesy to verify the result against the contract. Of the three, only designesy scores a URL through an API, which is what CI, leaderboards and automated pipelines call. ## Where they overlap 8 designesy checks with an equivalent in either tool | Check | What it asks | hallmark | slop-eval | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | `v06, v22` | Contrast (WCAG AA and APCA) | gates 40, 41 | X5 (critical) | | `v03` | Focus-visible rings | gate 26 | X14 | | `v05` | prefers-reduced-motion | gate 27 | none | | `v11` | No transition: all | gate 10 | none | | `v28` | Reading width 45 to 75ch | gate 25 | none | | `v26` | At most 3 font families | gate 37 | none | | `v02` | No horizontal scroll | gate 34 | none | | `v24` | Touch targets 44px and up (WCAG 2.5.5) | gate 26, in part | none | ## What designesy checks that they do not 20 checks with no hallmark or slop-eval equivalent - `v01` Token values match the live :root foundation (contract to live conformance) - `v08, v09, v10` Poise and Takt verification: the interaction-feel contract - `v12` will-change kept to transform and opacity - `v13` Press scales 0.96 and 0.985, above the 0.95 floor - `v14` Cadence typography rules match the contract - `v15` Font smoothing: antialiased and grayscale - `v16` A rem-based scale with a 16px root - `v17` Line-height by role (headings 1.08, body 1.55) - `v18` text-wrap: balance and pretty both present - `v19` tabular-nums in 8 places or more - `v20` ::selection styled in the brand accent - `v21` Core Web Vitals (LCP 2.5s or less, INP 200ms or less, CLS 0.1 or less), measured by the full audit in a browser; the static score marks it manual - `v23` Duration tokens, --duration-quick to --duration-slow - `x01, x02, x03` font-synthesis, text-underline-position and skip-ink - `v27` Input font size of 16px or more (no iOS zoom) - `v29` Token layers, primitive to semantic to component (DSAF A1.1) - `v34` AI-disclosure readiness (EU AI Act Article 50, which applies from 2 August 2026) - `v35` Forced-colors readiness - `v36` Unicode security: UTS #39 confusables in token names and CSS - `v37` DESIGN.md spec layer (DESIGN.md format lint) ## What they check that designesy does not the gaps: how a design looks, which the contract leaves to them - AI-slop look: purple gradients, centred heroes, fake chrome hallmark 1 to 7, 42, 43, 45, 47; slop-eval C1 to C15, T1 to T10, K1 to K27, L1 to L21 - Structural variety across pages hallmark 8, 20, 21, 32, 57; slop-eval L15, L19, L21, axis 7 - Signature and uniqueness, a positive rubric slop-eval axis 7 (a 7-element formula, weighted 3 times) - Cohesion, a positive rubric slop-eval axis 8 (4 checks) - Invented metrics and fake copy hallmark 46; slop-eval W3 - AI fingerprints in navigation and footer hallmark 42, 43; slop-eval L14, L20, K12 - Re-drawn UI chrome: fake browser bars, phone frames hallmark 47; slop-eval K7, K16 - Token improvisation: inline hex that bypasses the token block hallmark 48; slop-eval C9, C10 - Hover boop, hover lift and hover scale hallmark 11; slop-eval M2, M4 - Dead controls and fake interactivity slop-eval M8 (critical) - Pre-emit self-critique on 6 axes scored 1 to 5 hallmark ## On designesy.org itself weekly run of 2026-10-12 | Tool | Result | What it found | | --- | --- | --- | | designesy | A 100.0 | 38 pass, 3 warn, 0 fail, 0 skipped. 3 manual checks (v02, v04, v21) need a browser, so they sit outside the score. | | hallmark | Not run | A skill with no URL API. Expected to flag near-pure black and white, zero-chroma neutrals and the navigation structure. | | slop-eval | Not run | A skill with no URL API. Expected to flag the cool charcoal dark theme, the mono house voice (minor), and to pass the focus states. | ## The wider field newer entrants worth tracking, as of 2026-08-01 | Tool | Approach | What sets it apart | | --- | --- | --- | | Impeccable | 46 AI-slop tells, in the slop-eval lineage | The largest tell catalogue, community-sourced | | design-slop-cop | 14 anti-slop patterns, rule-based | Light and fast, with a focused set | | anti-slop-design | Design-quality guardrails | Lints before output instead of scoring after | | Atlassian ADS MCP | A design-system MCP server (v0.21.1) | Benchmarked against design.md: fewer tokens, lower variance | mcpservers.org indexed 81 design-related MCP servers on 2026-08-01. The designesy MCP server has 17 tools; see the [MCP docs](/docs/mcp). ## Sources ## Next - [The methodology Every designesy check, its weight and how it is decided. /methodology](/methodology) - [The leaderboard The same engine on 30 sites, re-scored weekly. /leaderboard](/leaderboard) - [The contract The versioned design contract every check reads. /contracts/design-system](/contracts/design-system)