Methodology

What we publish

Every product page on Compatool covers the same five fields: a one-paragraph summary, what the tool is best at, who it isn't for, current pricing tiers, and a list of integrations a buyer typically asks about. Every comparison and alternatives page repeats those fields side by side and ends with a recommendation that names the buyer profile, not just the winner.

We avoid weighted scoring out of 10. A tool that's a 9/10 for a marketing team can be a 4/10 for a regulated enterprise — averaging that into a single number hides exactly the information a buyer needs.

Where pricing comes from

Pricing is taken from the vendor's published pricing page, not from third-party aggregators. Each price tier on a product page links back to the vendor URL it came from and the date we retrieved it. When a vendor moves to "talk to sales," we say so plainly rather than guess.

SaaS pricing changes. We re-check the pricing fields for any product that's actively listed on Compatool at least once a quarter, and immediately when a vendor announces a change publicly. The "Updated" date on the page reflects the most recent re-check, not the day the page was first written.

How we pick what to compare

A comparison page exists when the two tools genuinely overlap on at least one job-to-be-done, and at least one trade-off matters: pricing model, deployment, data residency, output format, or integration coverage. We don't run "any product vs. any product" to chase SEO traffic. If two tools serve different buyers, we say so on each product page and skip the comparison.

Alternatives pages list candidates that are credible drop-in replacements for a buyer's current job-to-be-done. We don't pad these lists with adjacent tools that share a tag but not a use case.

What we refuse to do

• No fabricated testimonials, counts, or ROI numbers. If we can't link to a primary source, the claim doesn't ship.
• No paid placement. Vendors cannot buy a higher position on a list, a more favorable comparison, or coverage of a product that wouldn't otherwise meet our inclusion criteria.
• No silent affiliate links. When we earn a commission on a sign-up, the link is marked. The recommendation is written before we know whether an affiliate program exists.
• No screenshots that don't reflect the current product. When a UI changes substantially, the screenshot is replaced or dated.

Corrections

If a published number is wrong — a pricing tier, an integration claim, a feature description — we'd rather hear about it. The fastest way to flag a correction is to open an issue on the public repository. Vendors who'd like to update an entry can use the same channel; we treat vendor input as one more source to verify, not as authoritative.