Methodology

The two evidence labels

Every article carries one label, shown under its headline.

Desk research

The figures and rules in the article were read from published sources: a vendor's pricing page, a standards document, a regulator's guidance or the legal text. Nothing was installed, run or measured. A desk-research article can tell you what a product costs and what its maker says it does. It cannot tell you how well it works, and it does not try to.

All 6 articles currently published carry this label.

Field-tested

A test was carried out, and the article publishes what it produced: command logs, screenshots, timings or data files. The versions and settings used are stated. The site's build process refuses this label on any article that does not list its published files. Articles currently carrying it: 0.

When we do test, we test only systems we own or deliberately vulnerable targets running locally. A result describes one configuration on one date and is reported that way.

Where figures come from

• Prices and plan limits are read from the vendor's own pricing page. Review sites, resellers and trackers are not used as price sources.
• Rules and deadlines are read from the standard, the legal text or the regulator's own guidance, and the clause is cited.
• Every figure carries a date. Tables say "as of" or "read on", and each source in the list shows when it was checked.
• If a figure could not be read, because a page would not load or shows prices only on request, it is left out and the article says so. We do not estimate it.
• If two official pages disagree, both are quoted and the difference is pointed out.
• Where an article counts a public dataset, the script, its output and the file's checksum are published with it so the numbers can be reproduced.

Each article links at least one primary source for every 500 words and lists all of its sources at the end. Links go to the specific page, not a homepage.

How comparisons and lists work

Any article that compares or ranks products has a box near the top stating:

• the criteria used
• what was checked and what was not
• where the data came from
• the date it applies to

Where products are ordered, the order follows a figure shown on the page, such as cost at a given size. Products that could not be compared are listed under "Not included, and why". Being left out is not a judgement on a product.

We do not give star ratings or scores out of ten for products we have not tested, and structured review markup is not added to list pages.

Payment and ranking

A company can pay a fee to have a product evaluated. The fee buys the evaluation and nothing else: not inclusion, not a position, not wording. Lists include products whose makers have paid nothing. A paid item is labelled next to the item, and its link is marked as sponsored. The full rules are on the vendor reviews and advertising page.

Checks every article must pass

Before an article can be published, automated checks block it if:

• a link in the text is not in the article's list of checked sources
• prices appear without an "as of" date
• it says something was tested when it carries the desk-research label
• a comparison lacks its method box
• the short answer, key points, sources or image description are missing

A person then reads the finished page before it goes live.

Keeping pages current

A figure whose date is more than 120 days old is queued for re-reading. When a page changes in substance, it shows an "Updated" date and a note saying what changed. Dates are never moved without a real change. Factual corrections are recorded in the corrections log.

What this method cannot do

Reading a pricing page does not reveal discounts, negotiated terms or what a product is like to live with. Vendor pages change without notice, so a figure can be out of date the day after it was read. Use the date beside it, and check the linked source before acting.