How we score
Every tool gets four scores from 1 to 5, in quarter-point steps. The overall score on every page is their average, rounded to the nearest quarter point. The site computes it, so a review, a ranking and a comparison always show the same number.
The four scores
- Output quality
- How good the chats, images, video or voices are, going by samples, model details and user reports.
- Features & control
- Character builders, memory, editing tools, media types and how much you can steer.
- Price & value
- What you get for the entry price, the free tier, and what costs extra in tokens.
- Privacy & trust
- Training on your chats, data retention, age checks, refunds and billing complaints.
What the numbers mean
- 5: the best in its category.
- 4: good, with small limits.
- 3: average, with clear limits you should know about.
- 2: weak. Pick something else unless you need its one strength.
- 1: avoid.
Price and value is scored against the other tools in the same category. A $10 video plan is judged against other video plans, not against a chat app.
Where the facts come from
Prices, free tiers, content rules, privacy terms, refund rules and age checks come from each tool's own pricing page, terms, privacy policy and help center. Each review lists those pages and the date we last read them. User reports, such as billing complaints, come from public review sites and say so.
We do not claim hands-on tests we did not run. When a review says what a feature does, it says where that comes from.
Which source wins
When two pages disagree, we use the most specific one, in this order:
- The tool's own pricing or checkout page, for prices and plan limits.
- Its terms of service, privacy policy and content policy, for rules, refunds, training and retention.
- Its help center, for how a feature works.
- Public review sites and user reports, marked as third-party, for billing and support problems.
What "checked" means
The check date on a review is the day we last read its source pages. A best-of list, comparison or alternatives page shows the newest check of any tool on it. When a tool changes its price or rules, we update the facts, the score if the change affects it, and the date.
Corrections
Prices and rules change. If a fact on this site is out of date, email us with the page and the source. We check it against the tool's own page and update the review and its check date.