How We Rate

1. Scoring from the rating distribution

For each product we collect the full distribution of customer star ratings (how many 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-star ratings it has). The score is the weighted average of that distribution, normalized to a 1–10 scale:

score = (1·n₁ + 2·n₂ + 3·n₃ + 4·n₄ + 5·n₅) / total ÷ 5 × 10

This means a product's score reflects what thousands of real buyers reported — not a single average star figure, and never an editor's opinion.

A worked example

Suppose a product has 50 one-star, 20 two-star, 30 three-star, 100 four-star, and 300 five-star ratings (500 total). The weighted average is (1·50 + 2·20 + 3·30 + 4·100 + 5·300) ÷ 500 = 4.16 stars, which normalizes to 8.3 / 10. A competitor that averages the same 4.16 stars but on far fewer ratings is treated as less certain — we require enough genuine ratings before a product is eligible at all, so a handful of glowing reviews can't outrank a product with a deep, consistent track record.

2. Curating the top picks

We gather more candidates than we publish, then select the best of them for each category — weighing overall quality, value, and how credible and positive the reviews are. Products without enough genuine reviews are excluded.

3. Pros, cons, and summaries

The pros, cons, and summary shown for each product are extracted from real customer review text, so they reflect recurring themes rather than manufacturer claims.

4. Freshness

Rankings are regenerated as we re-evaluate categories, so scores track the latest customer sentiment.

Limitations & transparency

Our scores reflect what customers reported, so they inherit the limits of that data: rating volumes vary between products, review text can be noisy, and sentiment can lag a product's most recent revision. We surface each product's rating count so you can weigh how much data a score rests on, and we exclude products without enough genuine reviews. If you spot a ranking that looks wrong, tell us and we'll re-check it.

What we don't do

• We don't accept payment to rank or score a product higher.
• We don't include sponsored or ad listings in our rankings.
• We don't hide our scoring — the formula above is the whole story.