Pinterest Viral Score Explained: How to Spot Winning Pins in Seconds
What is PinBee's Pinterest viral score, how is it calculated and how do you use it to find pins that are winning right now? A simple guide.
PinBee Team4 min read
When you search Pinterest, every pin looks equally important. A pin with 80,000 saves sits next to one with 3, and nothing on the screen tells you which is which. Even when you can see the raw numbers, they can mislead you: a pin with huge save counts may simply be very old.
That is the problem PinBee's viral score solves. It turns save counts and age into one number from 0 to 100 that tells you how fast a pin is collecting saves. You can scan a page and spot the pins with real momentum in seconds. This guide explains how it works and how to use it.
What is the viral score?
The viral score is a number from 0 to 100 shown on every pin card in PinBee. It measures a pin's save speed: how many saves it has collected per day since it was published.
PinBee also groups scores into four levels so you can read them at a glance:
| Score | Level | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| 75 to 100 | Viral | 100+ saves a day |
| 50 to 74 | Hot | 20+ saves a day |
| 25 to 49 | Warm | 4+ saves a day |
| 0 to 24 | Cool | Fewer than 4 saves a day |
Hover the badge to see the exact speed, for example "21/day" or "2.5/week". The viral score is part of PinBee's free plan.
Why save speed beats total saves
Total saves reward age. A mediocre pin from 2019 has had years to collect saves, so it can outrank a breakout pin from last week. If you are deciding what to create now, that is exactly backwards.
Dividing saves by age fixes this:
- A pin with 50,000 saves over 6 years gets about 23 saves a day: Hot, but not viral.
- A pin with 5,000 saves in 30 days gets about 167 saves a day: Viral.
The newer pin has a tenth of the saves but far more momentum. That is the one worth studying.
How the score is calculated
In plain words:
- PinBee takes the pin's saves and its age in days (minimum one day, so a pin posted an hour ago cannot score 100 from a handful of saves).
- It divides saves by days to get saves per day.
- It converts that speed to a 0 to 100 score on a logarithmic scale, where about 500 saves a day counts as a perfect 100.
The log scale matters because save speeds vary enormously. On a straight scale, nearly every pin would sit at the bottom. The log scale spreads out the range you actually see while browsing, so the difference between 1 and 10 saves a day is as visible as the difference between 50 and 500.
Because the score depends only on the pin's own saves and age, it does not change when you scroll or change searches. A 60 means the same thing in every niche.
Viral score vs the "top %" badge
PinBee shows a second number on cards: a badge such as "top 2%". That one is relative. It tells you where the pin's saves rank among the results you have loaded.
Use them together:
- Top % answers: is this pin a big winner in this search?
- Viral score answers: is it winning fast, right now?
A pin that is both "top 2%" and Viral is a proven, current idea.
How to use the viral score in your research
1. Scan first, read second
Do not open every pin. Scroll the search and let your eye jump to Viral and Hot badges. Open only those and study what they have in common.
2. Sort the page
Sort by saves (free) to see the biggest pins, then look at their viral scores to separate old giants from current winners. PinBee Pro can sort by every metric and add range filters.
3. Filter by time period
With PinBee Pro's time-period filter (last 7, 30 or 90 days, or year), you compare only recent pins. Combined with the viral score, it is the fastest way to find what works this month. Our guide to finding the best-performing pins in any niche walks through this workflow.
4. Look for patterns
One viral pin can be luck. Five Hot or Viral pins with the same angle, format or style is a pattern you can use. Note it, then create your own better version.
5. Watch small accounts
When a pin from a small account scores Viral, the idea probably drove the result rather than the account's reach. That makes it an idea you can realistically win with too. Check accounts with PinBee Pro's account analysis, covered in our Pinterest competitor analysis guide.
Common mistakes
- Ignoring niche size. A Warm pin in a tiny niche can still be the best idea available. Read scores alongside the "top %" badge.
- Trusting very new pins too much. A pin a few days old with a burst of saves can cool down. Recheck it a week later.
- Copying the winner. Learn what works, then make something original. Copying designs breaks creators' rights and Pinterest's rules.
- Using one keyword. Check related searches too. Our Pinterest keyword research guide shows how.
If you want to understand the metrics underneath, read saves vs reactions vs shares: which metric matters.
The bottom line
The viral score measures momentum, not history. It turns saves and age into one number, so you can scan a search and spot the pins winning right now instead of the ones that won years ago.
Install PinBee free and you will see a viral score on every pin in your next search.
