How we rank software
Every ranking applies a published formula to data from vendors' own websites. Commissions are never part of it.
Most categories are global: the same products and prices apply wherever you are, so there is one ranking. Payroll and accounting depend on local tax rules, so we rank them country by country.
Global rankings (all 32 global categories)
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Features: the three key features listed on each ranking, confirmed on the vendor's site (10 each) | 30 |
| Free plan or free trial | 20 |
| Pricing transparency: published prices (partial 12, quote-only 5) | 25 |
| Entry price value: cheapest paid plan against the cheapest in the category | 25 |
Products whose prices we cannot confirm on the vendor's own site are listed as “not yet ranked” and join the ranking once a price is confirmed. Prices are only compared when they are billed the same way (monthly, yearly or once).
Payroll software (per country)
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Statutory coverage: share of the country's items confirmed (e.g. PAYE, social security, filings) | 35 |
| Local salary payouts (e.g. M-Pesa, WPS files, BACS) | 15 |
| Published pricing (partial 8, quote-only 5) | 15 |
| Value: cost for 10 staff against the cheapest | 10 |
| Free plan or trial | 10 |
| Local presence | 10 |
| Runs your own payroll (not an employer of record) | 10 |
Accounting software (per country)
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Local e-invoicing or tax filing (e.g. eTIMS, MTD, MyInvois, GST e-invoicing) | 30 |
| Priced in local currency | 20 |
| Free plan | 20 |
| Published price | 30 |
Comparisons, “best free” and “best for” pages
- Head-to-head comparisons put two products' plans, prices and features side by side. We call one cheaper only when both are billed the same way, and say so when they cost the same.
- “Best free” pages list only products with a free plan you can keep using (not just a trial), in ranking order.
- “Best for” pages filter a ranking for one kind of buyer: they keep the products that confirm the features that buyer needs, then order them by score or by price, and say which products were left out.
Data
Prices and features come from vendors' official pages and are dated on every page. An automated check re-reads a batch of vendor pricing pages every day; changes are logged in our software price tracker, and anything unclear is held for review. Foreign-currency prices are converted at the latest rate and labelled. Unconfirmed facts are labelled and score zero. Pages are drafted with AI from this data and checked automatically before publishing; we do not test every product hands-on.