We have updated our brand evaluation methodology for the second time so you can get a more comprehensive view of the reviewed software providers. Our most recent Expert Score is based on the Traffic Score (traffic data from Similarweb), Feature Score (feature availability and depth), and Review Score (user feedback across the most popular review platforms), backed by a manual check by our team.
Can you trust your favorite YouTuber, Instagram influencer, or reviewer? I’m not so sure, especially considering the rapid development of affiliate marketing. Chances are, many of the so-called unbiased reviews are actually affiliated (read: paid) and therefore cannot be trusted by definition. Even if it’s just a one-month free subscription, it’s still a paid review.
This is why we at Phonexa base our reviews & ratings on three principles:
- We do not take money or any other form of reward for making reviews & ratings
- We do not use AI data without manual review
- We use traffic data from Similarweb, feature availability, and manual reviews
We believe our updated multi-layer research methodology is the best in the market, allowing us to provide real value to our users and – most importantly – guide them towards the best-fitting software provider, even if it’s not Phonexa. This arguably makes the biggest difference: if you’re not our client, we will recommend at least a few better-fitting options for you to choose from.
Our Research & Evaluation Process
Step 1: Similarweb Data Collection & Analysis
As practice shows, traffic patterns from Similarweb over the last 24 months are strongly correlated with how capable the software provider appears to be at solving real-world problems. It’s quite natural because, generally, websites with steadily growing traffic are meeting market demand and keeping customers around, whereas a decline in traffic usually indicates problems.
At the same time, it’s not always the case that the most popular solution is the highest-ranked one, as we also evaluate its toolkit and conduct manual research before issuing our final expert score.
Here are some of the most important traffic metrics we take into account:
| Target market traffic share | We verify whether the platform has real presence in its target geographic region, such as the US traffic share for US software providers and the UK traffic share for UK software providers. |
| Year-over-year growth | When a platform keeps growing year after year, it’s likely healthy, and customers are signing up and sticking around. Year-over-year growth is a clear indicator of the reliability and sustainability of the software solution. |
| Bounce rate, average visit duration, and pages per visit | When users stick around for longer, it usually means they found what they were looking for. Lower bounce rates suggest a platform delivers on its promises. Likewise, more page views typically signal that visitors find the platform valuable enough to explore thoroughly. One or two pages? They probably didn’t find what they needed. |
| Traffic distribution | We measure organic, direct, paid, referral, and social media traffic to understand which traffic sources dominate with the software provider in question.
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The result of Similarweb data collection and analysis is a Traffic Score, on a scale from 0 to 5, which accounts for every metric in the table above and feeds into our Expert Score, the final evaluation score for the reviewed software platform.
Step 2: Feature Research
In addition to collecting and analyzing Similarweb traffic patterns, which is mostly automated, we manually review the platform’s features and create a feature-by-feature comparison table that helps you quickly check whether a provider has the features you need.
Here’s an example of a feature evaluation table for email validation platforms:
When selecting features for review, we focus on the most important features for the category. For example, an email validation platform will have a different feature set than, say, a call tracking platform. This approach allows us to objectively compare software platforms across the full core feature set with depth and specificity.
For accurate scoring, we put all features into three categories:
- ✅ Feature is explicitly documented on the company’s own domain/subdomain.
- 🟡 Feature is implied or partially covered, but not explicitly named as such.
- ❌ No on-domain documentation found confirming this feature.
The end result of our feature research is a Feature Score, on a scale of 0 to 5, which accounts for the availability of all essential features for the software category under review and whether each feature is native to the platform and available to the full extent.
Step 3 – User Feedback Review & Manual Evaluation
We check ratings on popular review platforms such as G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, Product Hunt, Trustpilot, and more, while accounting for the fact that some review sites may share the same review pool and therefore may duplicate each other.
For example, G2 is also the parent company of Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice, which means reviews on these websites may be duplicated and should be read and reviewed manually rather than relying solely on AI research. In practice, we know that the G2 review pool remains separate from the Capterra/GetApp/Software Advice pool, giving us two major review pools to consider in addition to review platforms like, for example, TrustRadius.
The end result of user feedback evaluation is an aggregated Review Score on a scale of 0 to 5 that reflects the overall user experience with the platform. Note that most recent reviews may carry more weight because the current experience with the platform more accurately reflects what it provides now, in its current version, than its history.
Last but not least, there’s manual evaluation, during which we focus on the following practical aspects:
- Product-promise alignment: We verify whether what the platform claims to do on its website is true. Some platforms make big promises, but don’t deliver on them.
- Transparency standards: We evaluate how clearly the platform presents pricing, features, and limitations. Companies that are upfront and straightforward about their policies receive higher scores than platforms that don’t mention important nuances users may want to know about.
- User experience quality: We check whether the interface is easy to use and useful for real-world use cases, not just for demos or sales presentations.
Our research team has firsthand experience with many of the platforms we review across subscription plan tiers, which makes our reviews and ratings expertise-based, unique, and worth paying attention to.
Finally, once we collect and analyze the data, we assign an Expert Score based on the platform’s traffic patterns, the number of features provided, user feedback across popular review platforms, and our manual review. Note that manual review is important, as it may change or completely override the Expert Score in cases of product-promise misalignment or other issues.
If any of the evaluated parameters change significantly, we update our rankings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I trust software reviews by Phonexa?
Absolutely. Rest assured, our reviews are unbiased, unpaid, unpromoted, and based solely on Similarweb data, feature availability, and a manual review of the software provider in question.
How many people are involved in making software reviews and ratings?
Most reviews and ratings are a joint effort of our SEO, marketing, and content writing teams, with each member contributing in their strongest areas of knowledge. Our reviews never rely on the opinion of a single team member.
Are your software reviews up-to-date?
Yes, we try to keep our software reviews & ratings up to date by updating traffic statistics and re-evaluating software platforms within our team’s technical capabilities. When significant changes affect user experience, we try to update as quickly as possible.
Likewise, we’re always looking for new ways to evaluate software providers more comprehensively, minimizing bias and human error. No less importantly, we don’t blindly rely on AI to avoid its biases and mistakes.
Get in touch! We are available 24/7.
