How we review tools

This page explains how the tool reviews and the rest of the site are put together, so you can decide how much to trust them.

Facts and opinions are kept apart

Each tool page has two layers. Facts are things anyone could check: hosting model, platforms, pricing, integrations. Editorial content is our judgement: who the tool suits, where it falls short, what to use instead. We never present an opinion as a fact, and the facts are stored separately so they can be re-checked on a schedule.

Every fact has a source and a date

A fact on this site says where it comes from (our own test, the vendor's documentation, the vendor's pricing page, or a public source) and when we last checked it. Prices are re-checked at least every 120 days and other facts at least every 180 days. When a check is overdue, the page loses its standing in our index gate (below) until someone checks it again.

Every review names limitations

A tool review has to name at least two concrete limitations: something the tool does not do, does badly or makes expensive. "Could be cheaper" does not count. If we cannot find real limitations, we have not used the tool enough to review it.

What we test ourselves

Today most of what you read here comes from vendor documentation, pricing pages, public sources and what vendors say about their own products, and every fact names which of these it comes from. A claim made by a vendor is attributed to the vendor, not repeated as our finding.

When a review draws on our own use of a tool, the page says so. We add those notes as we use the tools, and we do not present documentation as experience.

Relations are explained

The site is a graph: tools belong to categories, are used in niches, work with traffic sources and replace one another. We only draw an important connection when we can write down why it holds, and that reason is shown next to the link. Two tools are "alternatives" only when you would realistically choose between them for the same job.

Pages must earn their place in search

Before a page is offered to search engines, our software checks it: the required sections are written, there is enough original text, the facts are verified and current, the limitations are named, and the page is linked from elsewhere on the site. Pages that do not pass are still readable but ask search engines not to index them. Editors can override the result only with a written reason.

Money

Some links to tools earn us a commission. Nobody can pay for a review, a ranking or a relation, and a commission never removes a limitation. We do not monetize cloakers or anti-detect browsers at all. See the affiliate disclosure.

Corrections

If a fact is wrong or out of date, write to denis@cpasilkroad.com. We fix confirmed errors and update the date the fact was checked.