How we research

At a glance

• We start from the vendor's official pages and documentation.
• Every price shows its currency, unit, billing period and the date we checked it.
• If we have not verified a price, we show "Check official pricing" instead of a number.
• Our work is desk research. We do not claim hands-on testing unless an article says so.
• Affiliate links and advertising never change rankings or verdicts.
• Articles are approved by a person before they are published.
• Found a mistake? Suggest a correction.

Official sources first

Facts about a product come from the vendor's own website, pricing page and documentation. Each product page lists the official pages we used, with the date we looked at them.

Where an article cites an independent source, it is labelled as independent. Vendor claims are quoted and attributed, and kept separate from our own assessment.

How we show prices

Prices are copied as the vendor states them. Each one shows:

• the currency code, for example USD or GBP;
• the unit, such as per user, per seat, per request or per 1M tokens;
• the billing period, such as per month, per year or one-time, and whether annual billing is required;
• the date SIDAN checked the source, and the vendor's own effective date only when the page states one.

We do not convert currencies, and we do not turn an annual price into a monthly one. Only prices we have verified against an official page are shown. When we have not, the page says "Check official pricing" and links to the vendor. An unlisted price never means a product is free.

Free plan, free trial, usage-based and custom pricing

We keep these separate because they mean different things.

• Free plan: a plan the vendor offers without a time limit.
• Free trial: free access for a limited time.
• Usage-based: you pay for what you use, for example per request or per token. Rates are listed separately.
• Custom or enterprise: no public price. You need to contact the vendor.

How we write

Descriptions are written in our own words. We describe what a product does, who it suits and its documented limitations. We avoid unverifiable claims and do not publish star ratings or numeric scores.

Our pages are research-based: we read official material and compare it. We have not tested a product hands-on unless an article states this and documents the test.

What "verified" and "last verified" mean

Verified means a person checked the information against an official source. For a price, that includes the amount, currency, unit and billing period being visible on that source.

Last verified is the date of that check. It shows when we last looked, not when the vendor last changed anything. A recent date does not guarantee a price is still current, so please confirm with the vendor before you buy.

Keeping information current

We aim to re-check product records at least every 90 days. Records that have not been re-verified within that time are flagged in an internal quality report that our editors review. Published articles are also flagged when their sources have not been re-verified for a long time.

Vendors can change plans at any time, so some information may be out of date between checks.

Affiliate links and advertising

Some links on SIDAN Stack may be affiliate links. We only use an affiliate link where we have an approved programme, and we label it where it appears. If you buy through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Otherwise a link goes to the vendor's official site as a plain link. See the affiliate disclosure.

Advertising, where it is switched on, is labelled as sponsored and is not an editorial recommendation. Rankings and verdicts are never tied to commission status or advertising. Whether a product has an affiliate link does not affect how it is described or where it appears.

Editorial review

Articles move through research, drafting, fact-checking and editorial review. An administrator must approve an article before it can be published. Reviews need a last-verified date, and factual accuracy, source quality and affiliate transparency must be signed off. Nothing is published automatically.

Corrections

If you see something wrong or out of date, please tell us. Use the correction form and, if you can, include a link to the official source that supports the change. We review corrections against official sources before updating a page.

Contact

Questions about how we work? Visit the contact page or read more about SIDAN Stack.