The rule
Each app starts at 3.4 and gains:
- 1.6 for a free plan anyone can keep using — or 0.5 when there is only a free trial;
- 1.6 for open-source code;
- 0.15 for each platform it runs on (web, Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android and the rest), up to 0.6;
- 0.1 for each fact its maker publishes that the research has read from the maker's own pages, up to 0.8;
- 0.3 when its plans and prices are published;
- 0.2 when the research read it in the last 90 days;
- up to 0.8 for its place in the research's own order of that list — the first gets 0.8, the last nothing.
The score is shown to one decimal. Apps with the same score keep the research's order.
The carrier finders
Lists of mobile carriers are not scored. They hold every carrier the research has for that list — worldwide, the virtual carriers, the network operators, or one country's — in alphabetical order.
Places makers buy
Makers can buy a numbered place, #1 to #5, on a list of software. A bought place stands at its number; every other app keeps the order above around it. Makers can also buy one of five numbered places beside a competitor: bought places come first on that app's alternatives page, in the order of their numbers, above the rest. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. What is for sale, and at what price, is on the advertise page; how Freedom251 is paid for is on the disclosure page.
Where the facts come from
The research centre reads each maker's own pages — its home page, its pricing page, its documentation — and records what it found with the page and the day. A maker who sees something wrong can sign in, claim the app's page for free and send a correction.