Evidence labels
Every review carries one label for the kind of evidence behind it.
| Label | What it means | Scored? |
|---|---|---|
| Documentation review | We read the vendor’s pricing and product pages and recorded what they say, with links and dates. We didn’t use the product. | No |
| Hands-on review | A trial or paid account, set up on our own test domains, following the protocol below. What we tested and what we didn’t is listed in the review. | Yes, once the protocol is complete |
All current reviews are documentation reviews. That’s deliberate: a score based on marketing pages would look more precise than it is.
What we record for every tool
For each plan: the monthly price, the annual price per month, whether it’s per user, and the limits the vendor states (contacts, emails a month, mailboxes). For each of these 8 features, one value:
- Unlimited mailboxes. Whether you can connect as many sending mailboxes as you like without paying per mailbox.
- Warm-up included. Whether mailbox warm-up is part of the plan rather than a separate purchase.
- LinkedIn steps. Whether sequences can include LinkedIn actions alongside email.
- Lead database. Whether the vendor sells or includes B2B contact data.
- API. Whether the vendor documents an API, and on which plans.
- Agency / client workspaces. Whether you can run separate workspaces for clients.
- Free trial. Whether you can try it before paying.
- Free plan. Whether a plan stays free with no time limit.
Each value is one of: Yes, No, Paid add-on, Some plans or Not verified. Every value except “Not verified” has a source URL on the vendor’s own site and the date we checked it.
“Not verified” is never “no”
When a vendor’s page doesn’t say, contradicts itself, loads prices we can’t read, or blocks automated checks, we publish “Not verified”. We don’t fill gaps from third-party blogs, review sites or AI answers: when we compared them for this edition, their figures for the same plan often disagreed with each other.
When a vendor’s page contradicts itself, we use the more consistent figure and say so in the review’s pricing note.
How facts stay fresh
Each review shows when its prices were checked. The site won’t build if any fact is more than 120 days old, so stale prices can’t quietly stay up. The target is a recheck every month; the date on the page is the date of the last real check, not the last time the page was touched.
The hands-on protocol (planned)
Hands-on reviews will follow the playbook’s own setup, so results reflect how a founder would actually use the tool:
- Two secondary test domains, at least 30 days old, with SPF, DKIM and DMARC passing.
- Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 mailboxes, warmed for 3–4 weeks before any test send.
- The same plain-text test campaign through each tool, at 15–25 emails per mailbox a day.
- Placement checked on seed mailboxes at Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo, with the known limits of seed testing stated.
- Setup time, the reply inbox, unsubscribe handling, exports and cancellation all recorded.
The scoring grid will be published here, with weights, before the first score appears.
Ranking rules
Until tools are scored, nothing is ranked. Tables and shortlists are alphabetical. Shortlists include a tool only when its documentation confirms the need, and list “Not verified” tools separately.
Payment and placement
No vendor pays for placement, coverage or wording. There are no affiliate links and no sponsored reviews. If a vendor offers free access for a hands-on test, we’ll say so in that review, and it won’t change the method. More on independence.
Corrections
Anyone, vendors included, can report an error through the corrections page. We check the vendor’s own page, fix the review and add a dated note to its check log.
Method versions
- v1.0, 24 October 2026: first published. Documentation reviews only.