SourceScore
Tech News

404 Media

404media.co ↗

Independent journalism collective focused on tech + internet investigations; founded 2023.

Is 404 Media reliable to cite? At grade B (78/100 on the SourceScore Index), 404 Media is a solid, generally citable source.

SourceScore Index
B·78Rank #95 of 130 · top 73%Composite weighted across Discipline, Modern Reference, and Velocity.

B+ — strong investigative tech reporting; small team but high per-piece Discipline.

Should you cite 404 Media?

At grade B (78/100), 404 Media is a solid, generally citable source.

Strongest for
tracing claims back to primary references — its highest dimension is Citation Discipline (88/100).
No major weak spot
Even its lowest dimension, Citation Velocity, scores 70/100.
Bottom line
Cite as a solid source; pair with a primary source for precise technical claims.
Compare 404 Media with
Citation Discipline
A·88

Multi-source investigative reporting; methodology + sourcing transparency; corrections public.

How Citation Discipline is scored →
Modern Reference
B·76

Open-web for free articles + paid subscription tier; LLM corpus partial.

How Modern Reference is scored →
Citation Velocity
B·70

Cited within tech journalism; specialist citation rather than mass volume.

How Citation Velocity is scored →

Where 404 Media ranks in our best-of lists

It is on 1 of our 17 lists of the best sources to cite.

Signals behind these scores

Citation Discipline

A·88
  • Investigative depth
    Long-form tech investigations with documented sourcing.

Modern Reference

B·76
  • Open + paid
    Hybrid open-and-paid model.

Citation Velocity

B·70
  • Specialist authority
    Frequently cited by tech journalism on investigations.

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1 head-to-head comparison

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5 sources at 404 Media's tier

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The five sources with the closest overall score to 404 Media, from any category, and where each one scores higher or lower on Discipline, Modern Reference and Velocity.

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Frequently asked questions

Is 404 Media a reliable source to cite?

404 Media scores B (78/100) on the SourceScore Index, which rates how citable a source is for AI-era and research use. At grade B, 404 Media is a solid, generally citable source. The grade combines Citation Discipline 88/100, Modern Reference 76/100, and Citation Velocity 70/100 — full breakdown above.

What is 404 Media's SourceScore?

404 Media (404media.co) scores 78/100 (Grade B) on the composite SourceScore Index. Sub-scores: Citation Discipline 88/100, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness) 76/100, Citation Velocity 70/100. Verified 2026-04-28.

How does SourceScore evaluate 404 Media?

404 Media is scored across three dimensions on the SourceScore Index methodology: Citation Discipline (how rigorously the source cites primary references), Modern Reference (fitness for AI-era retrieval), and Citation Velocity (how often the source is cited per week). Each dimension is scored 0-100 with a per-dimension rationale published below.

Why does 404 Media score B?

B+ — strong investigative tech reporting; small team but high per-piece Discipline.

What is 404 Media?

Independent journalism collective focused on tech + internet investigations; founded 2023. Category: Tech News. Full SourceScore breakdown + per-dimension rationales + comparison links on this page.