Methodology

Facts and opinions are stored separately

Prices, plan limits and model versions are facts. Each one is stored once, with the vendor page it came from, the date it was checked and who checked it. Pages read from that record, so a price cannot differ between two pages.

Verdicts and recommendations are opinions. They carry an author and a date, and they cite the facts they rely on.

How a price gets onto the site

1. We open the vendor's own pricing page. Third party lists are not accepted as a source.
2. We record the figure, the plan limits, the page address and the date, and save a copy of the page.
3. The figure appears on the site with a stamp showing the check date. The stamp links to the source.

A check older than 30 days is flagged as overdue on the page and goes into our update queue. If we cannot confirm a figure, the cell says the price is not verified.

When a page says a tool was tested

Only when we ran it ourselves and kept the inputs and outputs. The page then names the plan used and the date. Every other page states that it was not hands-on tested and is based on vendor documentation.

A numeric score is shown only for tools we tested. We do not publish ratings for tools we have not used.

News

Product news is checked against the vendor's announcement and approved by a person before it is published. When a story changes a price or a plan, the affected pricing and comparison pages are updated.

Corrections

If a figure on this site is wrong, tell us. We fix it and the page shows the new check date.