Methodology

Where our information comes from

For each tool we pull together and cross-reference several primary sources: the vendor's own documentation and pricing pages, customer reviews on platforms like G2, Capterra, and Reddit, and live pricing captured directly from the tool's site. When sources disagree, we say so rather than papering over it.

Research-based vs hands-on

Every review is labeled. A research-based review synthesizes the sources above without hands-on testing, useful and honest, but not the same as using the tool daily. As our team tests tools directly, we upgrade reviews and update scores. We never present research as first-hand experience.

How scoring works

Two different numbers appear on this site and they measure different things.

The Spec Score is arithmetic, not an opinion. We read facts from the vendor's own pages: the monthly cost for a team of three, which channels are supported, whether SOC 2 is stated, how many languages the AI handles. Each fact is scored against every other tool of the same type, and the criteria and their weights are shown on the scorecard itself. Open any row and you see the fact, the page we read it from, and the date we checked it.

Community ratings come from real users. They are submitted on the tool page, moderated, and published separately. A tool can have a high Spec Score and a poor community rating, or the reverse, and that gap is worth paying attention to.

Neither number is a hands-on test. Where we have tested a tool, the review says so.

What the Spec Score does not tell you

The Spec Score measures what a vendor publishes and what its product does on paper. It cannot tell you whether the software is pleasant to use, whether support answers quickly, or whether the AI is any good at the job. Read the review for that.

• Tools are only ever compared with others of the same type. A helpdesk is not scored against a voice platform.
• Where a vendor does not publish a fact, that fact scores at the midpoint and the confidence drops. It never counts as a no. Where a vendor publishes less than 65% of the facts, we show no score at all.
• Scores move when vendors change their pages. Every fact carries the date we checked it, and prices are rechecked quarterly.
• We are adding the Spec Score one category at a time, because every fact behind it is read off a vendor's own pages by hand. Categories we have not reached yet show no Spec Score rather than a rushed one.

Editorial independence

• No vendor can pay for a review, a higher score, or a better position.
• Affiliate links may earn us a commission but never influence our assessments (disclosure).
• Published factual claims are cross-checked against source data; disputed claims are flagged before publication.

Corrections

Tools change fast. If something is out of date or wrong, tell us and we'll fix it.