Our research process
Start from a buyer's question
Each article answers one real decision, such as “HubSpot or Pipedrive for a five-person sales team?” or “what will HubSpot cost us in year one?”. We use search data and reader questions to choose topics.
Collect primary sources
We read the vendor's pricing page, plan comparison table, price catalog or legal terms, and the help-centre articles that describe limits and setup. Third-party connectors are documented from their own makers' pages.
Record what we saw, and when
Every source is listed at the end of the article with the date we checked it. When a vendor prices by country, we state which currency we saw and avoid presenting it as universal.
Compare like with like
We compare the plan a working team will need for the job, not the cheapest tier, because vendors put features such as sequences and forecasting on different tiers.
Show the arithmetic
Cost tables use a stated formula: seats × list price per month × 12, plus any required one-time fee. Taxes, optional add-ons and temporary promotions are excluded unless we say otherwise.
Give a verdict, and its limits
We name a recommendation for each type of team and explain when a different choice would be better. A verdict is our judgement, built on the facts above.
What counts as evidence
| Claim | Supported by |
|---|---|
| Prices, plans, fees | Vendor pricing pages and price catalogs, dated |
| Plan limits and features | Vendor plan comparison tables and help documentation |
| Setup and migration steps | Vendor knowledge-base articles |
| Integrations | Marketplace listings and the connector maker's documentation |
| Which product suits which team | Editorial judgement based on the facts above |
We do not publish invented ratings, customer quotes, benchmark scores or claims of hands-on testing. When we test a product directly, the article will say so and describe what we did.
Keeping articles current
CRM vendors change packaging often. Each article shows when it was last updated, and each source shows when it was last checked. We recheck prices when vendors announce changes and as part of a regular review of our most-read pages. If you spot something out of date, please tell us through contact and corrections.
How our tools work
The CRM pricing calculator uses the same dated list prices as our pricing guides. The CRM scorecard contains no built-in vendor ratings: it weights and totals your own ratings, and flags failed essential requirements. The SaaS cost calculator computes only the assumptions you enter. All three run in your browser and send nothing to us.