Buyer Confidence Score
How much can you find out before you buy, and how much risk are you taking on? The Buyer Confidence Score answers that with a number from 0 to 10.
What it is, and what it is not
The score is not a measure of how good the software is. We research products from their official pages, pricing, help documentation and customer reviews. We do not run them in a business, so we cannot honestly score how well they work day to day.
What we can score is how much a buyer can check before committing: whether prices are public, whether the company's own pages agree, whether you can try it free, whether you can leave easily, and what customers report. A product with hidden prices, contradictory pages and a hard-to-cancel contract is a riskier purchase, even if the software itself is good.
The score sits next to our verdict, not in place of it. The verdict (Top Pick, Recommended, Conditional or Skip) says who the product fits. The score says how much you can verify before buying. They usually point the same way. When they don't, the review explains why.
What customers say
Do the people who use it rate it well, and are there serious complaints?
We average the star ratings on the Apple App Store, Google Play, G2 and Capterra, using only the sites we can read that have at least 25 reviews. Each site counts in proportion to its number of reviews, so a field crew app with a few dozen ratings does not outweigh hundreds of reviews of the whole product, or the reverse. A listing that rates a whole product family, rather than the product itself, is left out. 4.5 or higher earns 2 points. 4.0 to 4.4 earns 1.5. 3.5 to 3.9 earns 1. Lower earns 0. If there are too few reviews to judge, the product gets 0.5.
We look for reports of billing disputes, lost data, or trouble cancelling in the reviews we read. None found earns 1 point. One or two separate customers earns 0.5. Three or more separate customers earns 0. If we could read fewer than five reviews, finding no complaints does not show there are none, so the product gets 0.5 and the review says there is not enough customer information to judge.
Prices you can see
Can you find out what it costs without talking to sales?
Every plan has a public price: 2 points. Some plans do: 1 point. Quote only: 0. A custom or enterprise plan offered by request, above plans that all show a price, does not count against this; the review mentions it.
Does the vendor's information agree?
Do the company's own pages tell the same story?
We count places where the company's own pages disagree in a way that would change which plan you pick or what you pay. None: 1.5 points. One: 1. Two: 0.5. Three or more: 0.
Can you try it first?
Can you use it before paying?
A free plan, or a free trial that needs no card: 1.5 points. A free trial that needs a card: 1. A demo only: 0.5. No way to try it: 0.
Can you leave easily?
If it does not work out, how hard is it to stop paying?
Month-to-month billing is available: 1 point. You can cancel online without calling anyone: 0.5.
Can you find answers?
Can you look things up yourself?
A public help center that explains plans, limits and features: 0.5 points.
| Score | Meaning | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| 8.5 to 10 | High confidence | You can check nearly everything before you pay. |
| 6.5 to 8.4 | Good confidence | A few specific things to confirm first. The review lists them. |
| 4.5 to 6.4 | Moderate confidence | Confirm several things in writing before you commit. |
| Below 4.5 | Low confidence | Expect to rely on what a salesperson tells you. |
A lower score is not a verdict on the software. It can mean the company publishes little about prices and terms, or that there is not enough customer information yet to judge. Each review's score notes say which.
The rules we hold ourselves to
- Every point is shown. Each review lists all six checks, the points given, and the reason.
- Money never changes a score. Affiliate links and sponsorships have no effect on any check. A sponsor cannot see or change a score before it is published.
- Scores are dated. The review shows the date the score was checked, and we recalculate it every time we recheck the review.
- Mistakes get fixed. If you think a score is wrong, email us with the source. If we were wrong, we change it and note the correction.