How we cost

The data behind every figure

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Where every figure comes from

• Each price is read from the vendor's own pricing page, with the date we checked it. What each plan includes comes from the vendor's pricing page and its help pages.
• Every figure links to its source. Anything not yet confirmed on the vendor's own pages is marked as such and shown with lower confidence.
• Prices in US dollars are converted to pounds at a stated rate and rounded down, so a vendor never looks dearer than its own page.

How a price is worked out

• A price per seat is charged for every seat. A price that grows with your contact list or sending follows the vendor's published price points; beyond the largest published size, the plan is a quote, never a guess.
• Extra seats and contacts are added where the vendor publishes their price.
• One-off fees, such as onboarding, are shown with every result and counted in the first-year cost: twelve months plus one-off fees.
• For each vendor we choose the cheapest plan that covers what you need, and the cheapest mix of that vendor's own products.

How the options are ranked

• Options that cover everything you need come first, then fully priced options, then the lowest first-year cost.
• Combinations of two or three tools are searched in full, so the cheapest combination is never missed. A tool brought in to fill a gap is priced only for that gap.
• Where part of an option has no published price (on request, charged by use, or not listed), or part of a need is only partly covered, we say so on the option itself.

How we compare two tools

• Head to Head puts one tool against one other, in the order you chose. Swapping them mirrors every figure, and each side keeps a fixed, neutral colour for its place, never the vendor's own colours.
• First we check the two do the same job. If they do not, a scheduler against a CRM say, we say so plainly, suggest like-for-like pairings and point you to Cost it up, rather than show a score that would mislead.
• Each round is one thing a business needs. A round goes to the tool that offers it when the other does not. When both offer it the round is level, and each side names the plan that includes it, so you can see where one includes it on a cheaper plan. Rounds outside an area both tools work in, and rounds neither offers, are set aside and never counted.
• Facts and our judgement are kept apart. Every fact comes from the vendor's own pages, with its source and the date we checked it, and a fact not yet confirmed is marked. Where we have judged a pairing, each verdict is labelled as ours, with our reason and the date both sides were verified; every other pairing says it has not been judged.
• For email and automation tools we also compare feature by feature, with its own score, so it never swamps the main one. What each tool would cost your team for what both provide sits beside the contest and is never scored, because it depends on your team and list size.
• Who funds us, and any referral arrangement, never changes a round, the order or a colour. A vendor can correct any fact or verdict about it from its company email.

What confidence means

• High: checked on the vendor's own pages in pounds, or our own figures.
• Medium: from the vendor's own pages, but converted from another currency, indicative, or with part of the cover still to confirm.
• Low: an estimate, a secondary source, or data due for a re-check.

If we have not checked a feature you need

When you tick a feature we have not yet checked for a tool, we show that tool apart and never assume it has the feature. You can ask us to check by leaving your email address. We email you a link to confirm the request, so nobody can ask in your name; we check the tool against the vendor's own pages, a person confirms what we find, and we email you the answer with a link to your costing.

We use your address only to confirm and answer that request. We never use it for marketing, and never share it with anyone, including the vendors and Profit On Purpose. A request you do not confirm is deleted after 24 hours, and an answered one 30 days after we answer.

If you make an account

The tools work without an account. If you sign in, we email you a six-digit code each time; there is no password, and your first sign-in makes the account. We hold your email address, when you made the account and last signed in, the comparisons you save or view while signed in, with any notes, and what you ask us to check. Your notes and your own calls on rounds are yours: only you see them, unless you share a comparison, when they show on the shared page labelled as yours, never as ours; you can stop sharing at any time. We use your address only to sign you in and for emails you ask for, never for marketing, and never share it with anyone, including the vendors and Profit On Purpose.

A saved comparison keeps the figures from when you saved it. When a new release of our data changes them, your account and the comparison show what it cost then and now, until you mark it as seen. If you ask, we email you when that happens, at most once a day, and every email has a link to stop them.

On your account page you can download everything we hold for you, or delete your account and everything in it at once. The only cookie is the one that keeps you signed in.

If you are a vendor and we have something wrong

Every vendor's part of a breakdown has a “Correct your listing” link, or you can correct your listing here. Write from your company email: we confirm it is you, check the change against your own pages and update the listing. Discussion of tools is coming to the community, for members.

Who pays for ScopeYourStack

ScopeYourStack is funded by Profit On Purpose (POP), which appears here as one option among many. Rankings use only what each option covers and what it costs; POP's place is never boosted.