Every review on this site starts with hands-on time in the product. When we say a tool was tested, we mean someone created an account, did real tasks a small business would pay to get done, and kept notes with screenshots from start to finish.
What “tested” means here
We sign up the way you would. Most tools get tested through a public demo, a free tier, or a trial account created with our own test email addresses. If a signup demands a credit card or phone verification, a human assistant creates that account by hand. Our systems never hold payment details.
Inside each tool we run a set of tasks that match the work a small business hires software for: booking a client, sending an invoice, importing a customer list. We time what matters and write down where the tool fights back.
What we capture during a test
Each article is built from an evidence pack. That pack holds the live pricing page with the date we captured it, screenshots of key screens, our task notes, and the genuine limitations we hit. We look for at least three real friction points per tool; when there are fewer, we report fewer rather than inventing any.
Prices and plan names change often. Every article shows the date the pricing was captured, and that date is part of the claim.
Where AI fits in
AI tools help us sort research and produce first drafts. They never invent experience: a draft may only contain claims that trace back to the evidence pack, and our fact-check step verifies each one against the pack and the live vendor pages. A human editor approves every article before publication and is named on it.
How we stay current
Software changes fast, so articles age. We re-check vendor pricing pages on a regular crawl, and each article is queued for a full re-verification on a 90/180/360-day cycle after publication.
When we find something stale, the article goes back through the same testing and review pipeline as a new piece. The updated date on the page tells you when it was last verified.
Corrections
If we got something wrong, tell us at [email protected]. Our corrections policy explains how reports are handled.