Methodology
How we review — judge our judgment
Every recommendation on CRM Duel follows the same process: paid accounts, a fixed six-category rubric, and one clear answer. Here it is in full, so you can decide whether to trust us before you trust our picks.
Platforms under test on live, paid accounts right now
Rubric categories, same weights for every review
Paid placements, sponsored reviews, or vendor previews — ever
1. We pay for real accounts
Reviews are written from live, paid subscriptions — not demo environments or vendor screenshots. We build actual funnels, import contact lists, send SMS and email campaigns, connect calendars, and run automations for weeks before scoring.
2. Every tool faces the same rubric
We score six categories, weighted for small teams and agencies: ease of setup, feature depth, automation power, value for money, support quality, and fit for client work (white-labeling, sub-accounts, permissions). The overall rating you see is the weighted average, and the same number is used consistently across reviews, comparisons, and roundups.
3. Every comparison ends with a clear answer
"It depends" is a cop-out. Each comparison names the tool we'd choose for the most common situation — and then explicitly lists the scenarios where the other one serves you better. If you fit one of those scenarios, buy the other tool. That's the point.
4. How money works here
Some links are affiliate links (disclosed on every page and in our affiliate disclosure). Commissions never touch scores: several tools we review pay us nothing, and our #1 pick would remain #1 with the affiliate program removed. Vendors never preview or approve content.
5. Reviews get re-tested
Platforms ship features constantly. We re-verify ratings and feature tables when vendors ship major changes, and each table shows the date it was last verified. Spotted something stale? Tell us — corrections ship fast.
What a scored review looks like
Example: our current #1 pick's live scores. Every platform gets exactly this breakdown — the bars you see here are the same ones on the review pages.
See it in context on the GoHighLevel review.
What we deliberately don't do
- No sponsored reviews or paid placements. Vendors can't buy a spot on any list, and they never see content before it publishes.
- No spec-sheet scoring. If we haven't personally used a feature on a paid account, it doesn't get scored — "the website says it exists" isn't testing.
- No score inflation. A 3.9 on this site means real, documented weaknesses. We'd rather be useful than polite.
This methodology feeds everything on the site: the individual reviews, the side-by-side comparisons, and the use-case roundups. Who's actually doing the testing? That's on the about page.