Methodology
How We Score Ecommerce Software
Every tool review on this site carries a score out of 5. This page explains exactly how that score is produced, so you can check our working rather than take it on trust.
The principle: scores come from published facts, not impressions
Most review sites ask you to trust a number without showing how it was reached. We do it the other way round. Every point in our scores comes from something you can verify yourself on the vendor's own website: their published prices, their stated free plan limits, and which platforms they support.
That means we do not currently score things like "how pleasant is the interface" or "how good is the output". Those are real questions, but a score for them depends on who is using the tool and for what, and we would rather leave a criterion out than publish a number we cannot show our working for. Where we have used a tool hands-on, we record what we saw under "What we checked in the product" on that review. Those notes are dated and listed separately. They do not change the score.
The five criteria and their weights
Each criterion is scored from 1 to 5. The weights below add up to 100 percent, and the overall rating is the weighted average, rounded to one decimal place.
Free plan usefulness
30% weight
Most readers are choosing their first or second paid tool. Whether they can do the job for free first decides how much risk they take on, so this carries the most weight.
| Score | What it means |
|---|---|
| 5 | A permanent free plan, and its limits are enough for a store doing up to 50 orders a month to complete the core job. |
| 4 | A permanent free plan, but a limit bites quickly or one core feature is gated behind a paid plan. |
| 3 | No permanent free plan, but a trial of 7 days or longer with full features. |
| 2 | A trial shorter than 7 days, or a trial that requires payment details up front. |
| 1 | No free plan and no trial. The only way to evaluate it is to pay, or to sit through a sales call. |
Entry price for a small seller
20% weight
This is the cheapest plan a store with a small catalogue would realistically need, not the cheapest plan on the page.
| Score | What it means |
|---|---|
| 5 | $10 per month or less. |
| 4 | $10.01 to $20 per month. |
| 3 | $20.01 to $40 per month. |
| 2 | $40.01 to $80 per month. |
| 1 | More than $80 per month, or custom quote only. |
Cost predictability as you grow
20% weight
A cheap starting price is not much use if the bill can jump unexpectedly. Flat pricing scores highest; credit systems score lowest.
| Score | What it means |
|---|---|
| 5 | A flat price that never increases with order volume, contacts, or usage. |
| 4 | Price scales with volume, but the rule is published and simple enough to calculate before you buy. |
| 3 | Price scales and needs a calculator or slider to work out, or a credit system applies on higher tiers. |
| 2 | Usage is metered in credits or units that are hard to predict from the pricing page. |
| 1 | No public way to estimate cost before contacting sales. |
Platform fit
20% weight
A tool that does not work on the platform you sell on is not a saving at any price. Standalone tools score highest because they do not depend on your platform at all.
| Score | What it means |
|---|---|
| 5 | Works standalone in a browser. No ecommerce platform or store connection required. |
| 4 | Native support for Shopify and at least one other major platform, or a documented API or CSV export. |
| 3 | Built for a single platform family, such as Etsy-only or Shopify-only. |
| 2 | Requires a specific platform, and requires a paid tier of that platform. |
| 1 | Restricted to enterprise platforms. |
Price transparency
10% weight
Published prices can be checked and compared. Quote-only pricing cannot, and usually means the tool is aimed at larger businesses.
| Score | What it means |
|---|---|
| 5 | Every plan and price is published, including a way to calculate the cost for your own volume. |
| 4 | All standard plans are published. Only enterprise tiers are quote-only. |
| 3 | The entry plan is published, but most tiers are quote-only. |
| 2 | Only 'contact sales' is offered. |
| 1 | No public pricing information at all. |
How the overall rating is calculated
Each criterion's score is multiplied by its weight, the results are added together, and the total is divided by 100. A tool scoring 5 on every criterion would rate 5.0. A tool with no free plan, a high entry price and quote-only pricing will land close to 2.
This means a low score is not a statement that a tool is bad. It means the tool is expensive or restrictive for a small seller. Some tools we rate 3.0 are excellent products that are simply aimed at larger businesses, and we say so in the review.
What we verify, and when
Each review lists the date its prices and plan limits were last checked against the vendor's own pages. Software pricing changes often, so treat a date older than a few months as a prompt to check the official pricing page yourself before you buy. Where a vendor prices in local currency or by usage tier, we say so rather than quoting a single figure that will not apply to you.
Affiliate links and independence
Some outbound links on this site are affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission if you subscribe. This does not change a score, for a simple structural reason: scores are calculated from published facts by the rules on this page, and those rules do not contain a commercial input. Where we think a cheaper tool is the better choice, we say so even when the more expensive one pays more. See our affiliate disclosure for details.
What our reviews are not
Our guides are not financial advice, legal advice, or guaranteed performance predictions. A tool can support better execution, but it cannot guarantee traffic, conversion, or sales. A high score means the tool is accessible and fairly priced for a small seller, not that it will make you money.