How we score products
Every product on RanksVs gets a score out of 10. No score is paid for. No score is permanent. Here is exactly how we get there.
The four things we look at
We score each product on four criteria that matter to trades business owners. Not to analysts, not to IT departments. To the person who has to use this software to schedule jobs, send invoices, and get paid.
Features that actually matter
Does it cover what a trades business needs day to day? We check 17 features across four categories: scheduling and dispatching, invoicing and payments, operations, and growth tools.
We do not just count features. A product with 200 features you will never touch does not score higher than one with 30 features you use every day. We weight features by how many shop owners actually need them. Scheduling and invoicing matter more than AI-powered analytics for a 3-truck operation.
Ease of use
Can your techs figure this out? This is the question that matters. We look at mobile app ratings (especially on Android, since most techs use Android), user reviews mentioning setup time, and how many clicks it takes to do common tasks.
Software your team refuses to use is worth $0 regardless of features. We know that. If a tech is 52 and texts with his index finger, the app better be dead simple or it will sit unused on his phone forever. We factor that in.
Value for what you pay
Not just the sticker price. The real cost. A $300/month tool that replaces three separate apps and saves you 10 hours a week of paperwork can be better value than a $50/month tool that only does scheduling. We look at what you actually get per dollar.
We also look at hidden costs: setup fees, implementation time, required add-ons, and contract lock-in. When a product says "$99/month" but the real year-one cost is $5,000 after setup, training, and add-ons, we call that out.
What real users say
We pull ratings from G2, Capterra, app stores, and trades forums. Recent reviews count more than old ones because software changes fast. A product with great reviews in 2023 might have gone downhill since then.
We read the actual reviews, not just the star count. Five stars from an owner with 3 trucks tells us something different than five stars from a software consultant. We look for patterns: if 40 people mention slow customer support, that goes in the score.
Where we get the data
Published user reviews
G2, Capterra, Software Advice, Google Play, Apple App Store. We weight recent reviews more heavily.
Pricing pages
Verified monthly. We screenshot pricing pages for our records so we can track changes over time.
Product documentation and free trials
Feature lists from official docs, plus hands-on testing where free trials are available.
Trades community feedback
HVAC-Talk, Contractor Talk, Reddit, Facebook groups for plumbing and electrical business owners. Real contractors talking about what works and what does not.
BBB complaints and support forums
We check Better Business Bureau complaints for patterns around billing, contracts, and cancellation issues. Those matter.
How scores are calculated
Each of the four criteria contributes to the final score. The weights are not equal because not everything matters equally to a trades business owner picking software:
| Criterion | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Features | 30% | Does it do what you need it to do? |
| Ease of use | 25% | Will your techs actually use it? |
| Value | 25% | Is it worth what you pay? |
| User satisfaction | 20% | What do real users say about it? |
Scores are updated when we get new information: pricing changes, major feature updates, shifts in user reviews, or new data from trades communities.
What does NOT affect scores
- Affiliate commissions. Whether a product pays us $0 or $500 per referral has zero impact on its score. We have given low scores to products with generous affiliate programs and high scores to products with no program at all.
- Vendor requests. Software companies cannot contact us to change their score. They can point us to new information we might have missed, and we will look at it. But the score is ours to decide.
- Advertising. We do not run ads from software companies on this site. No sponsored placements. No "featured" listings you can buy.
If you think a score is wrong, tell us. We are not perfect, and we will update scores when new information warrants it. Reach out at [email protected].