How we test
Every verdict on this site comes from the same four-step process. If a page can’t meet it, the page doesn’t publish.
A real account, not a demo
Every product is tested in a live account we pay for or trial on the public plan, loaded with realistic broker data — leads, deals in flight, settled clients, a trail book. Vendor-guided demos never substitute for hands-on time.
At least a working week inside it
The tool runs the workflows a broker actually runs: capturing an enquiry, responding, booking, moving a deal through stages, chasing documents, post-settlement follow-up. Shortcuts show up on day four, not in the first hour.
Scored against fixed, weighted criteria
Each category has a published criteria sheet with weights. Every product in a category is scored against the same sheet — the sheet is public, so you can disagree with our weighting and re-rank for yourself.
Signed, dated, re-tested
A named reviewer signs every verdict with the date it was last tested. When software changes materially, the review is re-tested or pulled — stale verdicts are a trust liability we do not carry.
The conflict we carry, stated plainly
The team behind this site also builds Finance OS, a product that competes in some categories we review. Every page ranking one of those categories carries a visible disclosure, rankings are scored before any Finance OS comparison is written, and our own product is held to the same published criteria. Read the full independence policy and the scored criteria.