Scoring Methodology
The rubric behind every editorial rating shown on this site — what is scored, when, and why. Every review that displays a rating links to this page.
The scale
Ratings are given on a 0–10 scale. There is no curve and no guaranteed minimum score — a product is scored on its own merits, not relative to competitors.
When a rating is assigned
A numeric rating is only published once hands-on testing of the product is complete. Before that, a review shows a verdict and a “hands-on testing pending” status instead of a score — we don’t assign a number based solely on a vendor’s own claims.
What is scored
The overall rating reflects how the product performs against what it claims to do, how clear and fair its pricing is, how complete its feature set is relative to similar tools, the quality of its support and refund/guarantee terms, and how well it fits the specific audience the review defines in its “who this is for” section — not a single formula applied identically to every category of product.
Keeping ratings current
If a product changes meaningfully after a review is published, the rating is reassessed rather than left stale. Every review shows the date it was last updated.