Comparitech’s software reviewers evaluate products and services from the perspective of a consumer or small business owner who appreciates security, performance, ease of use, and value for money. We aim to write comprehensive, up-to-date, and accurate reviews. This involves following a set methodology to ensure software is evaluated, by category, in a like-for-like manner.

We rate and review the following categories of products and services:

  • VPNs
  • Antivirus
  • Password managers
  • Online backup
  • Identity theft protection
  • Network administration tools
  • Firewalls
  • Data recovery software
  • Usenet

Our reviews consist of both empirical test results, such as VPN speeds and antivirus efficacy, as well as subjective observations on aspects like app design and billing practices. We hire domain experts to write reviews that go deeper than marketing and jargon.

Comparitech’s testing methods are standardized for all reviewers for each category of product. Our expert staff have refined software tests based on our own experience, feedback from users, and suggestions from developers. We use industry-accepted benchmarks where applicable and design quantitative tests to produce comparative data.

See more detailed explanations of our testing methodology:

We score each product or service on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the best. Individual aspects of a product or service might also be rated, such as VPN speed.

Conflicts of interest

If a reviewer has a personal or financial conflict of interest with a company or product, we ask them to disclose this information to their editor. In that event, we will take steps to assign a different reviewer.

Advertising and affiliate policy

When a product or service is listed on our site, we typically link to it. Some of those links allow us to earn a referral fee if the reader clicks on it and goes on to make a purchase. This in turn allows us to fund the site and continue producing quality content.

Our reviewers are instructed to review products and services honestly and without bias. We only recommend products that we are happy to use ourselves. Reviewers are employed by Comparitech and receive the same compensation whether their review is positive or negative, and our commercial relationships never affect review scores or content. 

We maintain a firewall between reviewers and our commercial team. Affiliate links and accompanying text are added to reviews by a commercial team member after the review is completed, so as not to compromise the reviewer’s integrity. Reviewers are hired and paid solely by us, and to the best of our knowledge have no commercial relationships with any of the companies’ whose products we review.