How we review
What goes into a ReviewCost review, how the score is built, and — just as important — the limits of what our research can establish.
Last updated 12 September 2026
The short version
How a review gets made
Every product on the site goes through the same pipeline:
- Research. A live web search gathers the vendor’s current plans and prices, published feature and support documentation, and user feedback from independent review platforms.
- Cost modelling. Pricing plans are recorded individually so the real cost can be compared across a category rather than judged from a headline monthly figure. Plans with no published price — enterprise “contact us” tiers — are excluded rather than guessed at.
- Scoring. The product is scored on six weighted dimensions, described below, so that any two products in a category can be compared on the same basis.
- Publication. The review, the score and the supporting pricing data are published together. Screenshots are captured from the vendor’s live site.
The ReviewCost Score
Every product carries a score out of 10, built from six weighted components. The weights are fixed across the whole site — we do not tune them per product or per category.
| Component | Weight | What it reflects |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 25% | Real cost over time, including renewal and overage behaviour. |
| Features | 20% | Depth and completeness against what the category demands. |
| Ease of use | 15% | Setup burden and day-to-day friction, from documented user experience. |
| Support | 15% | Channels, published response commitments, and recurring user reports. |
| Deal strength | 15% | Quality of current pricing versus the category norm. |
| User feedback | 10% | Aggregate sentiment across independent review platforms. |
A score is a comparison aid, not a verdict on whether a product suits you. A tool that scores 8.1 overall may still be the wrong choice if the dimension you care about is the one it scores worst on — which is why we publish the breakdown and not just the total.
What our research can and cannot establish
Being useful means being clear about the boundary.
- We can establish current published pricing and plan structure, how a product’s cost compares with its category, what features are documented, and which problems recur across large volumes of user reviews.
- We cannot establish benchmark figures we measured ourselves, real uptime, support responsiveness we experienced first-hand, or how a product behaves under your specific workload. Where those matter most to you, treat our review as a starting point and trial the product yourself.
Independence
We take no payment for reviews, scores, or placement, and no vendor sees a review before it is published. The site is funded by affiliate commissions and advertising, explained in full in our affiliate disclosure. Commission rates vary between products and do not influence ranking order.
Corrections and updates
Pricing changes and pages age. We re-check products over time, but if you find something wrong — a stale price, a plan that no longer exists, a claim you think we cannot support — tell us at hello@reviewcost.com. We correct errors of fact promptly and will say on the page when something material has changed.