Every product on synthbid is scored on the same five criteria, on a 10-point scale. This page explains what each criterion covers, how much it counts, and where the evidence comes from.
The five criteria
| Criterion | Weight | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Core features | 30% | Whether the product does the main job it is sold for, and how completely. |
| Ease of use | 20% | Setup, daily use, and how clearly the product explains what it is doing. |
| Privacy & data | 20% | What the product collects, what its policies say about that data, and what independent audits or reports show. |
| Value | 20% | What the plans cost against what they include, with renewal prices, limits and refund terms counted. |
| Support | 10% | How you can reach the company and what its help documentation covers. |
How the total is calculated
Each sub-score is a number from 0 to 10 with one decimal. The total is the weighted average of the five, rounded to one decimal. For example, sub-scores of 8.0 for core features, 7.0 for ease of use, 9.0 for privacy and data, 7.0 for value and 6.0 for support give a total of 7.6.
The sub-scores are always shown next to the total, and the review explains each one in the text.
Where the evidence comes from
- The product’s own documentation, pricing page and terms, read in full.
- Published privacy policies and, where they exist, independent audit or assessment reports.
- Hands-on use, where a review includes it, with a note on what I used and when.
- Reports from other testers and researchers, linked in the text and listed in the Sources section at the end of each article.
What I check in each category
Security & Privacy: opt-out coverage, what the service asks of you, reporting, and price with the fine print.
VPN: logging policy and audits, ownership and jurisdiction, apps and protocols, and price with renewals.
Prices
Prices come from the product’s own pricing page. Every price table says on what date I checked it. Prices change often, so check the company’s page before you buy.
What does not change a score
Whether a company has an affiliate program, how much it pays, and whether the company has contacted me. Companies do not see a review before it is published.
Updates
I re-check a review when a product changes in a way that matters. The Updated date on each article shows when I last did that, and when a score changes the review says why.