The rating scale
Ratings run 0 to 5, in half-steps. Roughly: 5 means best-in-class for its intended job with no significant drawback; 4.5 is excellent with minor trade-offs; 4.0 is good and recommendable to the right user; 3.0-3.5 is competent but compromise-heavy; below 3.0 means we could not recommend it over the alternatives we track. A 4.6 rather than a 4.2 reflects a real difference in how well the tool does its stated job, not a vibe.
Commercial relationship and the wall between it and the content
Editorial and commercial are separate. The affiliate relationships are recorded and disclosed, but a vendor's status as an affiliate partner carries no weight in a rating, a ranking or a verdict. No vendor can buy a placement, a score or a kinder verdict. If a piece of content is sponsored, it is labelled as sponsored where it appears.
What sponsorship means here
Sponsored means money or another consideration changed hands in exchange for the placement. It never changes the substance: a sponsored review still carries the same testing and the same scoring rubric as any other. There is no paid rating on this site.
Corrections and how to report them
We correct errors promptly and date every correction in the public change log. To report a wrong price, a dead link or a verdict you believe is out of date, use the contact page. Every report is checked against the vendor's own documentation before the page changes.