How we test and rank — and how we make money

Every tool on RankingRight was bought, set up and used on a real small business before it got a score. This page is the whole method: the steps, the rubric weights, the people, and the rules we hold ourselves to. If a page on this site doesn't follow it, tell us.

The test, step by step

We buy it with our own money

Paid plan, real card, no vendor-supplied demo accounts. Free tiers are tested as free tiers.

We run the same job on every product

Payroll: a 3-person pay cycle plus a quarterly filing. Hosting: the same WordPress site, speed-tested from three US regions. Formation: an actual LLC filing. CRM: a 200-contact import and a 30-day pipeline. Payments: a $2,000 sample month of card and online sales.

We time what matters

Signup-to-done, support response by channel, and the invoice versus the pricing page — recorded, screenshotted, dated.

We score against the rubric, then add links

Scores are locked in the editor's sheet before any affiliate link is attached. A product with no program is scored exactly the same way.

We re-test every 60–90 days

Prices re-checked, scores revised, and every change listed in the page's changelog with a date.

The rubric — 100 points, shown as /10

Pricing transparencyDoes the pricing page match the invoice? Any hidden per-run, per-filing or renewal fees?

Core job, done wellThe one thing the tool exists for, measured on our test job.

Setup timeMinutes from signup to the job actually done, by a non-expert.

Support responseTime to a useful human answer, on the channel the base plan gives you.

Integrations & extrasWhat it connects to, and what's bundled versus upsold.

What is not in the score: popularity, number of reviews, brand size, or whether the company pays us. All four can be bought.

Who does the testing

Team RankingRightEditorial & testing team. I've formed companies in the US, UK and Pakistan and run four software products. Every tool here is something I'd set up for my own business — and the rubric is public so you can disagree with me.LinkedIn · all reviews

The rules we publish and keep

Affiliate links, disclosed above the foldWe earn a commission when you buy through some links. It's on every page before the first button, not in the footer.

No paid placements, everNobody can buy a rank, a badge or a "sponsored" slot. There is no advertising inventory on ranking pages.

Real names, real accountsEvery article has a named author with a public profile. No personas, no stock-photo experts.

Dated prices, dated scoresA price without a date is a guess. Ours carry the day we checked and the day we'll check again.

Corrections in the openErrors are fixed in the page's changelog with what was wrong. Email corrections@rankingright.com — it reaches the editor.

Company detailsRankingRight is published by Syntara Technologies, [address]. Contact: hello@rankingright.com.