The testing process
Shortlist from real demand
Products are chosen for testing because they show up in actual reader questions and category search demand — not because a vendor pitched us for coverage.
Set up a live account
We create a real account on the tool's standard or most-recommended plan — not a vendor-provided demo environment, which can behave differently from what a paying customer experiences.
Run it for at least two weeks
Minimum two weeks of real use in an actual workflow before scoring — long enough to hit the friction points a first-day impression misses (support response time, feature limits, billing surprises).
Score against the fixed rubric
Every product in a category is scored against the same weighted criteria below — see the table for the exact breakdown.
Publish the full verdict
Strengths, limitations, pricing, and who the product is and isn't right for, published together — not split across pages to inflate pageviews.
Re-test quarterly
Pricing and features change. We revisit every review at least quarterly and update the score in place, noting the revision date.
The scoring rubric
Every product is scored 0-100, shown as the ring on review and comparison pages. The score is a weighted average across four categories:
| Category | Weight | What we evaluate |
|---|---|---|
| Features & Capabilities | 35% | Does it do what it claims, compared to category alternatives? |
| Pricing & Value | 25% | Is the price justified by what you get, relative to competitors at the same tier? |
| Support & Reliability | 20% | Response time, uptime/stability during testing, quality of documentation |
| Ease of Use | 20% | Time to first value, clarity of onboarding, learning curve for common tasks |
How to read a score
What we don't do
- We don't accept payment for a specific score or ranking position.
- We don't score products we haven't personally tested.
- We don't let a product's affiliate commission rate influence its score — scores are finalized before commission structure is considered.
See our Editorial Policy and Affiliate Disclosure for how independence and monetization coexist on this site.