The four criteria
Open a criterion to see what earns and loses points.
Measured at a stated team size or order size, always on the vendor's own page, always on the same day across a comparison. We quote annual billing where it exists and show the monthly figure alongside.
- Prices available only by sales call cap this criterion at 6.0.
- Introductory discounts are excluded. We price the renewal rate.
- Shipping, setup and per-employee fees count toward the total.
A feature counts when a public pricing page, documentation page or specification sheet confirms it on the tier being scored. Sales decks, webinars and vendor emails do not count.
- Features on a higher tier are recorded, then scored against that tier's price.
- Beta and waitlist features score zero until generally available.
Contract length, seat minimums, cancellation rules, return windows and what the entry tier withholds from a buyer who will predictably need it.
- Seat blocks and minimum purchases lose points, since they raise the real price.
- Month-to-month availability without a penalty rate gains points.
What access comes with the price we quote, not what can be bought on top of it. Published response targets gain points. Community forums alone do not count as support.
Try the weighting
Move the sliders to see how a product's total comes together.
The scale
| Band | What it means |
|---|---|
| 9.0 to 10 | Leads its field on this criterion with no meaningful caveat. |
| 8.0 to 8.9 | Strong, with a limit worth naming in the review. |
| 7.0 to 7.9 | Competitive, but a predictable need sits behind an upgrade. |
| 6.0 to 6.9 | Workable for a narrow buyer only. |
| Below 6.0 | We would not recommend it at the price published. |
The pricing rule
If a vendor will not publish a price, we cannot score it fairly against one that does. Products priced only by sales call are still listed and still reviewed, but they cap at 6.0 on the pricing criterion, which in practice keeps them out of a top spot. This is the single rule that most changes our rankings against other sites.
What gets excluded
- Products whose pricing model cannot be compared on the same basis as the field, such as a flat company rate in a per-seat category.
- Products that will not return a price for the team size we are scoring.
- Products discontinued, or announced for discontinuation within the next two quarters.
Exclusions are named in the article that excludes them, with the reason. An exclusion is never a judgement on quality.
Re-checks and corrections
Every price we quote is re-read on its source page once a month, and the stamp at the top of each article shows the last pass. When a price changes, we update the table, re-run the weights, and add a line to that article's change log. Where the change moves a position, the log says so.
Corrections are made on the page where the error appeared, with a dated note. To report one, write to admin@compareandrank.com. We do not quietly edit a score.
Independence
No vendor sees a ranking before publication. No vendor can buy a position, a verdict or a line of copy. Affiliate links, where they exist, are disclosed on the page and have no effect on scoring, since the score is computed from the table before any link is added. The funding detail is on the about page.