Our comparisons are built to be checkable. Here is exactly what goes into them, where the numbers come from, and how we keep them honest.
Every comparison runs both tools through one fixed set of data points — quality score, adoption and user-sentiment sub-scores, monthly visits, pricing and free tier, platforms, API and integrations, open-source and self-hostable status, inputs and outputs, top strength and complaint, and company facts. A row only appears when the data supports it, so no two comparisons are padded with the same filler.
Facts are gathered from each vendor's own site, public app-store and review-site listings, third-party traffic estimates, and published company information — then normalized into the fields you see. Ratings show their source and review count. Pricing is read from the vendor's pricing page and left marked unverifiedwhen we can't confirm a number.
The headline Quality Score (0–100) is our own editorial measure, weighted across adoption (reach and popularity), user sentiment (satisfaction), and trust and value signals. It is a first-party assessment, not a user-vote average — that is why our comparison pages describe it as a SearchTools review rather than an aggregate star rating.
A grey dash (—) means not verified, never a confirmed "no". We show what we haven't confirmed as openly as what we have. Newer data points are hidden entirely unless both tools have the value, so a comparison never implies knowledge we don't have.
A daily check flags any comparison whose underlying data has drifted, and we re-verify and regenerate on a rolling basis. Each page shows a "Last updated" date, and that date only moves when the data actually changed — not as a cosmetic refresh.
Think a data point is wrong or out of date? Every tool page has a dispute link that routes straight to us. We'd rather fix a number than defend it.