Editorial Policy

Who writes and scores

The Audit Trail editorial desk produces all scorecards, reviews, and research on this site. No vendor, investor, or third party directs our scoring decisions.

Sources we use

Scores are assessed from sources the vendor controls: product pages, pricing pages, documentation, and marketplace listings on the vendor’s own domain. If a capability is not confirmed on those pages, it scores as absent.

For the user sentiment criterion, we read independent review platforms such as G2, where the scores and volume of reviews are visible to any reader. We use those platforms only for sentiment data, not to confirm product capabilities.

Every claim is linked to its source with the date we read it.

Score status

All scores currently carry a Provisional status. Version 0.9 of the rubric covers public documentation only. Version 1.0 will add hands-on testing criteria. We will publish the hands-on methodology before running those tests.

The rubric is published in full at /rubric/, with the rationale for each criterion’s weight.

How pages are dated and updated

Each page carries a “Last updated” date. That date changes when the score or any substantive factual detail on the page changes. When a score changes, the previous score and the reason for the change are recorded in the rubric changelog.

Corrections

If a score or factual detail is wrong, email hello@theauditrail.com with the URL, the correct information, and a source. We check it and update the record if confirmed. The previous value remains visible in the changelog.

Independence

Some vendors pay us to be included on The Audit Trail. That payment never affects the rankings or the review itself: it never changes a score, a rank or a verdict, and it never removes a con. We do not hold financial interests in any platform we rate. The details are on how we make money.