Frequently Asked Questions
How the scores work, how the site stays independent, and how to get a tool reviewed. Can't find your answer? Email [email protected].
About scored.tools
What is scored.tools?
scored.tools is an independent review and comparison site for AI tools. We score 529 tools across 12 categories on a 1–10 scale, using the same five published criteria for every tool, and no score is for sale. Every review includes pricing breakdowns, pros and cons, and a plain-language verdict.
Who runs scored.tools?
scored.tools was founded by Ariel Agor, who builds with AI tools rather than just cataloguing them. Every score comes from one published rubric applied the same way to every tool, which is a different signal than a directory listing or a crowd-sourced star average.
Are the rankings sponsored or pay-to-play?
No. Nobody can buy a score, a ranking position, or a better review. We do sell clearly labelled sponsored placements, and we are specific about what they are: they live at /sponsored/, are labelled above the headline, carry rel=sponsored links, never enter a ranking or a roundup, and every one is listed with the amount paid in a public ledger. Money buys attention, placement and a labelled page. It never buys a score, a ranking position, or a verdict.
How is scored.tools different from G2 or Capterra?
G2 and Capterra aggregate crowd-sourced ratings across thousands of users, which is useful but noisy and gameable. scored.tools is editorial: one published methodology, the same five criteria scored the same way for every tool, and the evidence behind each score shown on the tool's page. You're trading breadth of opinion for consistency of judgment.
Scores & Methodology
How does the 1–10 scoring work?
Every tool is scored out of 10 based on five criteria: quality of output, ease of use, pricing value, API and integration quality, and how well it solves the problem it claims to solve. A high score means the evidence shows the tool does its job well, not that someone paid for placement. Scored on the five-criteria rubric v1, 29 September 2026: each criterion is scored 0 to 10 from cited evidence, and the overall score is the mean of the criteria that apply. Every tool page lists its five scores with the evidence behind each one.
Do you test every tool hands-on?
No. With hundreds of tools on the roster, a score comes from evidence rather than a test drive: the tool's own site, pricing and documentation, plus independent sources such as published benchmarks. Each of the five criteria cites its source on the tool page, so you can check the reasoning. Where there is no evidence for a criterion, the page says so instead of guessing.
How current are the reviews?
Every tool page shows when its review was last updated, and new tools are added to the roster daily. AI tools change fast — if you spot something that's gone stale, email [email protected] and we'll take another look.
Tools & Coverage
What kinds of tools do you cover?
12 categories and counting: coding, automation, productivity, design, finance, databases, writing, video, music, SEO, voice, and link management. Coding and automation are the deepest categories, reflecting where AI tooling is moving fastest.
How do you decide which tools to review?
New candidates surface daily from launch platforms — Product Hunt, Hacker News launches, trending GitHub repositories — plus our own research and reader suggestions. Each candidate then gets a full review and score before it joins the roster.
Can I suggest a tool — or submit my own?
Yes, either way: email [email protected] with the tool name and URL. Vendors are welcome to submit their own products, with the obvious caveat: a submission gets you a review, not a score. The score comes out of the same methodology as everything else.
How do the side-by-side comparisons work?
The compare page puts tools next to each other on the dimensions that actually decide a purchase: scores, pricing tiers, features, pros and cons. It's built for the moment you've shortlisted two or three tools and need to pick one.
Affiliate Links & Independence
Do you use affiliate links?
Some links on this site are affiliate links. When you sign up for a tool through our link, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This is what keeps the site running and free for everyone, and it's disclosed here and on the About page.
Do affiliate commissions affect the scores?
Never. The score is settled by the methodology — output quality, ease of use, pricing value, integrations, and problem fit — before monetization enters the picture. Plenty of highly-scored tools on this site pay us nothing.
Advertising & Sponsorship
Can I pay to be reviewed, or to score higher?
You can pay to be reviewed sooner. You cannot pay to score higher. An Expedited Review costs $250 and moves you to the front of the queue; the score then comes out of the same five criteria as every other tool on the site and is published whatever it turns out to be. It is deliberately cheap, because nobody buys a verdict for $250. A paid review is marked as such on the tool page and listed in the public ledger with its score.
What can I actually buy?
Four things: a Data Citation at $150, which places one factual citation and one sponsored link in an existing article where the fact genuinely belongs; a Guest Post at $350, which is your draft edited and labelled by us; a Sponsored Editorial at $500, which we write; and an Expedited Review at $250. Prices are public and so is the list of who we refuse.
Are paid links followed?
No. Every paid link on this site carries rel=sponsored, always, and that is stated on the rate card before anyone pays. It is Google's own qualifier for paid links, which means we are not selling search rankings — we are selling placement, permanence and an audience. Some buyers want a followed link and go elsewhere, and that is the trade we chose.
How do I know a review was not quietly paid for?
Because every payment is published. The ledger lists every placement we have ever taken, the advertiser, what they bought, the amount, and the page it produced — and it is generated from the published pages themselves rather than typed by hand, so a paid page cannot exist without a ledger row. A test in our build fails if any paid page loses its label, its sponsored links, or its exclusion from rankings.
Who do you refuse?
CFD, spread-betting and binary-options brokers; prop firms; token sales; gambling; adult; pharma and supplements; essay mills; and payday lending. On finance specifically, we will link to non-promotional research and statistics pages but never to a broker signup, an account-opening path, or a broker comparison table. scored.tools is not FCA authorised and nothing here is a financial promotion. We can refuse anything, before or after payment, and refund it.
Using the Site
How do I find the right tool for my use case?
Start with the category pages to see everything in your problem space, ranked by score. Use search if you already have a name in mind, the compare page to settle a shortlist, and the blog for roundups and head-to-head reviews of specific niches.
Is there a newsletter?
Yes — weekly picks, new reviews, and deals. No spam. The signup form is at the bottom of every page.
How do I get in touch?
Email [email protected] for questions, corrections, tool suggestions, or anything else. A stale price, a tool we're missing, a score you disagree with — we read all of it.
Still deciding?
Browse the full roster ranked by score, or put your shortlist side-by-side and settle it.