Editorial Standards

Our Editorial Methodology

How products are researched, tested, reviewed and updated — and how we maintain editorial independence while working with affiliate partners.

1. Research

Every review begins with a scoping brief covering the category, the buyer, the jobs-to-be-done, and the competing tools. We map the vendor's public documentation, changelog, security posture and pricing before writing anything.

2. Hands-on testing

We pay for the subscriptions and run the tool through real editorial and business workflows — never a canned demo. Testing runs 40+ hours across weeks so we see failure modes, not just first-touch polish.

3. Evidence classification

Every claim in a review is tagged Verified, Vendor-Reported, Estimated or Community-Reported using the TTML Evidence Standard. Readers can see where our confidence comes from on every page.

4. Scoring

The TML Score is a weighted, category-aware model. We do not adjust scores in exchange for affiliate deals, and we publish the framework so it stays auditable.

5. Editorial independence

Affiliate partnerships fund the lab but never determine the verdict. Commercial links are disclosed with rel="sponsored", and any tool can score poorly regardless of whether we earn a commission.

6. Updates

Reviews are reviewed on a rolling cadence. Material product changes, pricing shifts and new competitor launches trigger an update — not the calendar.

7. Corrections

If we get something wrong we fix it in the article, note the change, and — where it affects the verdict — re-score. Email corrections@thetoolmoneylab.com.

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