The Upvote Bot Report - Friday 29.09.2017 🚀

There are a growing number of upvote bots out there in Steem World. Which of them deserves your hard-earned SBD? The Upvote Bot Report will help you to decide! I'll bring you the best comparisons, explanations, tips, and gossip so that you can maximise your returns!

In this instalment:

• I compare yesterday's returns. Who is top of the bots?
• I look at micro upvotes - A nice surprise for minnows to use? And good value!
• I remind you of my top @minnowbooster tip for an extra dollar (so good you heard it twice!)
• I let you know of an upvote bot that has just powered-up heavily and could be worth a look!

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Reminders

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• At the end of the day, the key things to focus on are the quality of your posts and your engagement with the community. In the long run, these will determine your rewards on Steemit.
• The main purpose of upvote bots is to give your work visibility. Getting your beautifully crafted post launched onto the hot list or the trending list can help to get it seen by more people who may share your interests. The "value-for-money" is far from the main story.
• Please remember that the returns from auction-style upvote-bots (e.g. @booster and @bellyrub) are not guaranteed. They are dependent on the amount of bids made in the window, by individuals competing in the auction. Your post may receive less of an upvote than the SBD you have bid.

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Top of the Bots! - Thursday 28.09.2017

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This chart includes the primary return only; secondary returns (curation guilds and bonuses) were minimal yesterday. Each dot represents ten minutes of Thursday (Universal Time)
@randowhale in orange, @minnowbooster in red, @bellyrub in blue, @booster in silver.

#1 @randowhale

0.5 SBD or 0.5 steem for a random upvote. Usually instant upvotes but only available when the whale is awake! No guarantees but aims to ensure that the vote given is more than the funds transferred even after curation. Some rare, larger upvotes thrown into the mix!

A clear winner from a return perspective, averaging a huge 222% (i.e. a $1.11 upvote on average for a $0.50 bid). Even the lowest upvote percentage (2.11%) offered around a $0.97 upvote (for a 194% return). 55% of participants received this first level, 45% got more. One lucky recipient obtained a 25% upvote for nearly $10!

Here's the distribution of upvotes by level and time across the day. As you may know, @randowhale has been recovering voting power after a server crash two days ago and a very busy Wednesday of catching up on voting. Those upvote periods look short but there were a lot of votes dished out in a short period of time. Hopefully normal service will soon be restored! Get whale soon!

#2 @minnowbooster

Currently 5 SBD for an instant upvote. A 5 SBD transfer limit per day and a 15 SBD limit per week. At 100% voting power the bot aims to provide three times what you paid in, a double-up up at 66% voting power, a break-even upvote (before curation) at 33% voting power.

Currently the best option if you were looking to spend around 5 SBD for a more sizeable boost. An average return of 172% across Thursday (i.e. an $8.61 upvote on average for $5 bid).

Here's the distribution of upvotes by level and across the day.

EDIT: CAREFUL WITH THIS TIP: @minnowbooster is currently upvoting 4% for $5 so (a) the upvote is smaller and (b) the threshold is different!!! I think 62.8% but please be sure to check the voting percentage on steemd and recent upvotes made to others!
[Top tip - If you read my @minnowbooster analysis yesterday you'll know that the upvote can vary by more than a dollar depending on whether the vote power is above or below 60.2%.
I tested this yesterday at 60.23% and received the higher level upvote, even though the little goat suggested otherwise. Check your post value before and after the upvote to be sure!]

#3 @bellyrub

An auction-bot that powered up to a bigger belly a couple of weeks ago. Send 0.1 SBD (or is it 1 SBD?) or more to compete for a slice of the total upvote in each auction window. Windows last 2 hours and forty minutes. Roughly nine windows per day. Total upvote up for grabs in each window is currently $53 (this goes up and down! - check https://www.steemnow.com for the latest).

Third place for @bellyrub with an average return of 128% across Thursday (i.e. $1.28 upvote for $1 bid) although clearly there are large differences between auction windows.
[Note that this is before curation. As the upvote from auction-bots is delayed from the time of transfer it's difficult to capture the curation reward. If you assume a reduction by a quarter you're at 96% - so just below break-even on average. But remember that visibility for your post is what you're buying].

Typically the morning / midday auction windows are best for @bellyrub - night time USA. However on Thursday the sixth window was best at 171% return (i.e. $1.71 upvote for $1 bid). The seventh window was worst at 73% (well below break-even).

A slightly different visualisation for @bellyrub. Returns for different size bids. The crosses are the average return. The larger bids centre around the average, as you might expect. However the very small bids can be higher.

Even though each participant receives a proportional share of the upvote, the return can differ due to the 'thresholds' that I discussed yesterday. In particular very small bids (those at 0.10 SBD) were receiving a 250% return on Thursday. Note that previous posts by @bellyrub have stated the minimum transfer is 1 SBD but the home page says 0.1 SBD.

[Science bit: The lowest level of upvote is from 0.01% to 0.51% of "vote power x upvote percent". A $0.10 bid out of $50 total for the auction window, say, would mean a 0.20% upvote, easily enough to secure the lowest possible level of upvote - which has a value of approximately $0.25. So $0.25 / $0.10 = 250%. ]

So are these micro-upvotes worthwhile? It sure is a slow way to get rich! But it could be a nice surprise for someone if your own upvote is small (and they don't use @bellyrub!). A good option for minnows?

#4 @booster

The biggest and most popular of the auction-bots. Same rules as @bellyrub but a massive $83 up for grabs each window (this goes up and down! - check https://www.steemnow.com for the latest).

As @booster is the most popular auction bot it has correspondingly the lowest return on average of the four main bots shown here. An average return of 113% across Thursday (i.e. $1.13 upvote for $1 bid). Again, this is before curation. Again, there are clearly large differences between auction windows, with a maximum return of 132% and a minimum of 91%. Sometimes @booster beats @bellyrub, sometimes it's the other way around.

For me, the value of @booster is that it is really the only upvote bot with the size to handle a very large upvote to promote your most spectacular posts. However its value-for-money is typically lower. Effectively you're paying for this rare service - use it wisely!

The same visualisation as for @bellyrub above. Returns for different size bids. The crosses are the average return. The larger bids centre around the average, as you might expect. Again, the small bids can be higher, although the difference is less pronounced.
[The lowest bid I saw was SBD 0.20 - perhaps there's a minimum?]

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@buildawhale

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There are plenty more upvote bots out there and I'll be looking at them over time. One that caught my eye today was @buildawhale. It's another auction bot but with the nice additional touch that they curate and promote some of the posts that are passed their way. Friendly!

However it was on my radar today as it has just powered up this morning from a $5 upvote to a $30 upvote up for grabs each auction window! Typically when this happens it can take a little time for people to adjust and there can be opportunities for a high return.
[Note: the last window looks like 150%. So possibly a better bet in the morning Europe time. Always check on steemd.com if the return is important to you. Remember that it's only $30 total upvote so don't go crazy!]

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Final notes

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That's all for today's instalment. Keep an eye out for the next one (sometime next week, although I may bring headline newsflashes in between)! Thanks for reading!

I note that I have no affiliation with @randowhale or @booster or @bellyrub or @minnowbooster (or any other upvote-bot) and my analysis is entirely independent.

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Previous studies

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This report draws on the detailed studies I have carried out over the last two weeks. Links to some of these studies are included below. Alternatively you can visit my blog @miniature-tiger or the #upvotebots tag for all my upvote bot analyses.*

I looked at @bellyrub here. What time of day has the best auction window?
I compared @booster and @bellyrub here. Which gives the best returns?
I looked at @randowhale in this post. Is it top of the bots? What are your chances of receiving each upvote level?
I looked at @minnowbooster here. Some useful tips to maximise your returns.

This project was undertaken to aid my learning of SQL. These stats are based on the data in sql.steemsql.com, a fantastic tool run by @arcange. As always, many thanks for making this available!

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