Independence
Before You Buy AI does not accept payment for placement, ratings, or rankings. Vendors cannot purchase a review, influence a rating, or preview content prior to publication. Editorial decisions are made independently of any commercial relationships.
Research methodology
Every review begins with structured research covering the vendor's product, pricing, docs, change history, and customer signal. We evaluate products against a consistent rubric so results are comparable across categories.
- Capability — core features and depth relative to the category.
- Usability — onboarding, interface quality, and daily workflow fit.
- Reliability — performance, uptime patterns, and support responsiveness.
- Pricing — plan structure, hidden costs, and value at each tier.
- Long-term fit — roadmap credibility, portability, and switching risk.
Testing process
Editors work hands-on with each product using representative tasks for that category. When possible we test on paid plans to reflect real-world use, and we document the environment so results can be re-verified over time.
How products are evaluated
Ratings are on a 5-point scale, weighted by our rubric. Final scores are cross-checked by a second editor before publication. Where a category has meaningful trade-offs (e.g. price vs capability), we call them out explicitly rather than averaging them away.
Review update policy
Every review is revisited on a fixed schedule — typically every quarter or after any major product release. We flag the last review date on each page so readers can see whether the content reflects the current product.
Corrections policy
If we get something wrong, we correct it. Corrections are noted at the bottom of the affected review with the date and a short description of the change. Substantive corrections trigger a re-evaluation of the affected rating.
Affiliate disclosure
Some outbound links on Before You Buy AI may be affiliate links. Affiliate relationships have no influence on which products we cover, how we rate them, or where they appear in a ranking. See our full affiliate disclosure for details.
Transparency policy
We name our editors, document our methodology, disclose commercial relationships, and publish updates and corrections openly. Readers are welcome to challenge any rating — contact us and we'll take a second look.