Editorial Policy

What counts as a source

A rating source is a published product review from a party with no stake in the sale: professional review publications, independent YouTube reviewers, and aggregated buyer reports. Every source we use is named and linked on the product page, next to the score we took from it.

What never counts: a manufacturer's rating of its own product, retailer star ratings presented as editorial reviews, sponsored coverage, and social-media pins or forum threads. When we find one of these in our data, we remove it and recompute the affected score.

How rankings are produced

Every displayed score is the numerical average of its cited sources, normalized to a 5-point scale. Rankings follow the scores. No editor adjusts the order, no brand can buy a position, and affiliate relationships have zero influence on where a product ranks — the math is checkable on every product page. The full process is on the methodology page.

How AI is used

Verdict runs on an AI research pipeline designed and operated by the site's founder. The pipeline collects published reviews, extracts and normalizes scores, and drafts the summaries you read here from that source material. We do not test products ourselves and never claim to. Automated checks re-verify links, prices, and content daily; a human sets the rules, audits the output, and takes responsibility for what is published.

Corrections

If we misstate a fact, misquote a source, show a wrong price, or rank on bad data, we want to know. Report it through the contact form. Verified errors are corrected on the live page, and the page's “updated” date reflects the change. Errors that affect a score trigger a recompute of the score and the category ranking, not just a text edit.

Independence

Verdict accepts no sponsorships, no free review units, and no payment for placement. Revenue comes from affiliate commissions, explained on the how we make money page. Ownership: about.