How we test
What we score on
Every guide is built on the same four questions, because they are the ones that decide whether a tool works for a given team.
- Depth: does it do the job at clause level, or only summarise?
- Control: can you encode your own positions and standards, or are you accepting the vendor's defaults?
- Where the work happens: in the tools people already use, or in a platform the business has to adopt first.
- Who can actually use it: a qualified lawyer only, or a commercial team without legal training.
How we source prices
We publish a real figure wherever one exists, because a guide that says "contact sales" for every tool has told you nothing. Where a vendor publishes a rate card we quote it. Where they do not, we quote reported figures from marketplace and procurement data and label them as reported, with the range rather than a single number.
Reported figures are directional. Treat them as a way to tell a $200 a month decision from a $200,000 a year one, not as a quote.
What we do not score on
Integration counts, security badges and model names. Nobody chooses a contract tool because it lists forty integrations, and every vendor claims the same three certifications. Where security genuinely differs we say so in the tool's entry rather than awarding points for it.
We also do not score on feature totals. A tool that does one job properly beats a tool that does nine badly, and a feature count hides that.
Ranking
Guides are ordered by fit for the buyer named in the title, not by an overall quality score. A tool ranked fifth is often the right answer for someone, which is why every entry carries a "best for" line. Where two tools suit the same buyer, the one with the clearer path to getting started ranks higher.
Updates
Each guide shows the date it was last checked. We re-verify prices and product claims on a monthly cycle, and correct in place. We do not re-date a page we have not actually rechecked.