# RANSAC Scoring Done Right

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.27385 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.27385/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 9 of its 23 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 12 Jun 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [SuperPoint: Self-Supervised Interest Point Detection and Description](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.07629/) (2017)
- [LightGlue: Local Feature Matching at Light Speed](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.13643/) (2023)
- [Image Matching across Wide Baselines: From Paper to Practice](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.01587/) (2020)
- [MAGSAC++, a fast, reliable and accurate robust estimator](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.05909/) (2019)
- [MAGSAC: marginalizing sample consensus](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.07469/) (2018)
- [Progressive NAPSAC: sampling from gradually growing neighborhoods](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.02295/) (2019)
- [A Large Scale Homography Benchmark](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.09997/) (2023)
- [RANSAC Scoring Functions: Analysis and Reality Check](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.19850/) (2025)
- [Fixing the RANSAC Stopping Criterion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.07829/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [BlobBoards: Robust Markers for Accurate Pose](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.28830/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The most widely used RANSAC variants score candidate models by counting inliers or summing per-point scores that saturate beyond a residual threshold. Every such score requires a user-supplied parameter that is a function of the inlier scale, which must itself be estimated from contaminated data. We remove this dependence by reversing the usual order of inference: rather than estimating the scale and then scoring against it, we marginalize the inlier scale analytically in closed form under a conjugate Inverse-Gamma prior for a fixed inlier partition, then optimize over partitions. A single closed-form expression spans the non-informative Jeffreys limit and informative empirical-Bayes priors, so the same score adapts across data-rich and data-scarce regimes without any change to the algorithm. The proposed RANSAC score is the first in which the inlier scale is genuinely absent from the formula. The score admits O(N log N ) computation via sort-and-sweep. On a benchmark of nearly 70 000 image pairs spanning different two-view estimation problems and both engineered and learned feature pipelines, the proposed score exceeds the state of the art (RANSAC, MSAC, GaU, MAGSAC): it stays nearly flat under threshold miscalibration where baselines degrade, reaches near-optimal accuracy from as few as two validation pairs where baselines need ont he order of 100 times more,. and tightens its prior regularization as validation data grows scarce.
