Publishing a rating invites the fair question: where does the number come from? We owe readers a transparent answer, because a score without a method is just a preference dressed up as fact. This page describes the criteria we use, how we combine them, and the limits of what a rating can tell you.
The five criteria
We evaluate every platform against the same five criteria, each scored on a five-point scale.
- Usability. How quickly a typical manager or employee can complete routine tasks, and how much training the platform requires.
- Reporting. How readily the platform answers real questions without specialist intervention, and how flexible its views are.
- Mid-market fit. How well the product serves organizations in the size range where we most often work.
- Integration breadth. How cleanly the platform connects to the wider technology stack, and how much manual coordination it removes.
- Support experience. How helpful the vendor tends to be when clients need assistance or encounter problems.
How we combine the scores
Our published rating is the simple average of the five criteria, rounded to one decimal place. We do not apply hidden weights, because hidden weights would make our numbers impossible to interpret. If a particular criterion matters more to your organization, you can weight it yourself using the component scores we publish on each profile page.
What informs the scores
Our impressions come from several sources: our own experience supporting clients through evaluations and implementations, publicly available product information, and the recurring themes we hear from the practitioners we work with. We are careful to distinguish between what we have observed directly and what we have gathered indirectly, and we treat both as evidence rather than proof.
The limits of a rating
A single number cannot capture fit. Two organizations with identical requirements may reach opposite conclusions because their internal capacity, existing systems, and culture differ. A platform that scores well on our criteria can still be the wrong choice for you, and a platform that scores lower can be exactly right for a specific situation. Treat our ratings as one input among many.
How we stay honest
We do not accept payment, placement, or sponsorship for our field notes. We do not adjust a score at a vendor's request. When our view changes, we update the page and say so. And we invite correction: if something we published is out of date or mistaken, tell us through our contact page and we will look at it carefully.
Using the scores well
The strongest use of our ratings is as a structured starting point. Read the profiles, note where your priorities differ from our generic criteria, then run your own evaluation with live demonstrations of your actual workflows. Our comparison hub brings the scores together; the individual profile pages show the reasoning behind each one.
Ask a question or request an assessment if you would like to discuss a specific decision.