Editorial Policy

This page describes how ShopTech Tools produces its content. It exists so you can judge our recommendations against a stated method rather than taking them on trust.

How we evaluate software

Our unit of analysis is fit, not feature count. Almost every product we cover is competent; the question that matters is which kind of business each one suits and what it costs that business in trade-offs. For every product we work through:

• The problem it is shaped around. What workflow the product assumes, and what happens when your workflow differs from it.
• Public documentation and product material. Vendor documentation, help centres, pricing pages, changelogs and public roadmaps.
• Commercial structure. Seat minimums, usage caps, add-ons, renewal pricing and annual commitments — the costs that appear after the decision, not before.
• Switching cost. How hard it is to get your data out, and what you lose when you leave.
• Regional fit. Whether the product genuinely supports buyers in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia, or only lists them.

Where we have hands-on experience with a product, we say so explicitly in the piece. Where we do not, we write from documented capability and stated behaviour, and we do not dress that up as testing. If an article does not claim hands-on use, assume it is a research assessment.

How ratings work

Every product carries an editorial score out of 5. It is our own assessment of fit and value for the audiences this site serves — small businesses, agencies and teams. It is not an average of user reviews, and we do not publish aggregate rating structured data, because we do not collect user ratings.

A score is only meaningful next to the accompanying text. A 4.0 that suits your situation exactly is a better purchase than a 4.6 built for a different kind of business, and our writing is designed to make that distinction visible.

How we handle pricing

Software pricing changes frequently and varies by region, billing term and promotion. Publishing a specific figure that quietly goes stale is one of the fastest ways to mislead a reader, so:

• We describe how a vendor charges — per seat, per contact, per send, by transaction volume — because that structure is stable and is usually what determines your real cost.
• Specific figures we have not verified render as a visible “verify current pricing” marker rather than as a number.
• We always tell you to confirm on the vendor's own pricing page before you buy.

How content is updated

Every article shows a published date and, where it has been revised, a last-updated date. We prioritise updates where a change would alter a recommendation: pricing model changes, significant feature additions or removals, and products that are discontinued or rebranded.

When a revision changes the substance of a recommendation, we update the article rather than quietly editing around it, and the updated date reflects that.

How affiliate relationships work

ShopTech Tools is funded in part by affiliate commissions. Some links on this website are affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of these links, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Every page carrying such a link says so, and links are marked rel="nofollow sponsored" as search engines require.

Three commitments follow from that:

• Commissions do not affect scores or rankings. Products without an affiliate program are covered, recommended and rated on the same basis as those with one.
• We do not accept payment for coverage or for a positive review.
• We do not let a vendor approve an article before publication. Vendors are welcome to point out factual errors afterwards, like anyone else.

The affiliate disclosure lists the programs involved.

Corrections

We will get things wrong. When we do, we want to know, and we would rather hear it from a reader than leave it up.

To request a correction, email hello@shoptechsystems.online with the page URL, the specific statement you believe is inaccurate, and — where possible — a link to a source showing the correct information. We aim to review correction requests promptly, and we update the article and its last-updated date when a correction is made.

Use of AI tools

We use software, including AI tools, in parts of our research and drafting process. Every published piece is reviewed and edited by a person, and the editorial judgements — what to recommend, to whom, and with what caveats — are ours. We do not publish unreviewed machine-generated content.