How we review software

We read each vendor's pricing page and docs, and record the date we checked them. We extract plans and prices into a table so the information is presented in a consistent format. When we can find a price only on a third-party page, we mark it as lower confidence. That distinction stays attached to the price rather than treating it as equivalent in confidence to a price found on the vendor's own page. Recording the check date shows when we consulted the pricing page and docs used for the review.

We collect Reddit discussions as part of the published material for reviews. When we use a user's words, we quote them verbatim and provide a link to the discussion. A quote is published only when it matches the source word for word; if the wording does not match, we do not publish it as a quote. This rule applies to every quotation, including excerpts selected to illustrate a point. The link accompanies the quotation so readers can return to the discussion it came from. Reddit quotations remain users' words, rather than wording written by ProgramCode.

AI models draft review pages from the sources we collect. The drafting rules prohibit inventing numbers and prohibit claims of hands-on tests. A draft must therefore stay within the figures in its published material and cannot describe a test as something we conducted. These rules govern what the model may state while producing a page; they do not make a generated statement a source. The review process is grounded in the vendor pricing pages and docs we read, plus the Reddit discussions we collect for that review.

We score software on five criteria: features, ease of use, value for money, support and user sentiment. Each score is out of 10. These criteria organize the assessment; the score is not a substitute for the published material used to describe the product. We publish a separate pricing page or alternatives page only where people search for one. The page format follows that search demand, while the review score is based on the five named criteria. A separate page is not part of the process where people do not search for one.

Vendors cannot pay for placement or scores. Affiliate links are labeled, and affiliate status never changes a ranking. Readers can report errors, and we correct them. These rules describe the role of payment, affiliate links and reader reports in our process: payment does not buy a position or score, affiliate status does not alter the ranking, and reported errors are corrected. We do not present an affiliate link as a reason for a product's position. Reader reports provide a way to flag errors for correction.