How we evaluate tools
Every tool on tools8020 gets a single rating: core, situational, or skip. Here's how we arrive at it.
What we score
- Does it do the job? First question. Tools that fail the actual job-to-be-done get a skip rating no matter how polished they look.
- Is the pricing honest? "Starts at $10/mo" usually means "$80/mo to be useful." We test the real-world cost, not the marketing page.
- Does it lock you in? Export formats, API access, data ownership. Tools that hold your data hostage get downgraded.
- Is the team likely to be around in 3 years? Funding, founding-team longevity, revenue model. We avoid recommending tools that smell like an acquihire.
What we don't do
- We don't write reviews for tools we haven't actually used.
- We don't take payment to change a rating.
- We don't list every tool in a category. Listing all of them is the same as listing none of them.
Affiliate links
Most tools we recommend have affiliate programs, and we use them. Our 80/20 rating is decided
before we check whether an affiliate program exists. A "core" rating without an affiliate program
is still core; a "skip" rating with a generous affiliate program is still skip. Affiliate links
are clearly labeled with rel="sponsored".
Freshness
Every tool page shows when we last verified its facts. We re-check top tools monthly. If you see a verification date more than 90 days old, the page will flag it.