WrenchStack Fit Score™ Methodology

What the WrenchStack Fit Score™ measures

Every vendor in our directory carries a WrenchStack Fit Score™ on a 0–10 scale. The score is calculated from four weighted factors and is the primary input to where a vendor ranks on category pages, vertical landing pages, and buyer guides. The same formula applies to every vendor — regardless of affiliate relationship, sponsorship status, or commercial alignment.

The WrenchStack Fit Score™ formula

The final score is the weighted sum, rounded to one decimal place. Vendors scoring 9.0+ get a dark-green badge; 8.0–8.9 light green; 7.0–7.9 orange; 6.0–6.9 light orange; below 6 gray.

Our evaluation timeline

Each vendor evaluation follows a documented timeline so vendors and readers know what to expect.

1. Discovery (week 1) — vendor identified through editorial research, vendor self-submission, contractor request, or category sweep. Initial fit assessment against category definition.
2. Data collection (week 1–2) — pricing tiers verified directly from vendor pricing page with date stamp; feature list compiled from vendor documentation, product demos, and user-review aggregation (G2, Capterra, Reddit, BBB); integration directory cross-referenced.
3. Reputation analysis (week 2) — sentiment review across Reddit/BBB/Trustpilot/forum threads; FTC and class-action history check; documented complaint pattern identification.
4. Scoring (week 2–3) — WrenchStack Fit Score™ computed using published weights; reputation_flag attached if structural concerns warrant warning to readers.
5. Editorial draft (week 3) — long-form review written (1,200–2,500 words typical), structured pros/cons, FAQs, best-fit framing.
6. Publication (week 4) — review goes live with verified_date stamp. Vendor profile becomes part of the directory.
7. Quarterly refresh — pricing re-verified; ratings re-pulled; reputation_flag re-evaluated.

Our independence statement

We recommend vendors with no affiliate program when they're the best fit (Acuity Insurance, Erie Insurance, Google Local Services Ads). We flag vendors with FTC actions even when they have affiliate programs (HomeAdvisor, Angi). This is the editorial position the methodology requires.

What "verified" means here

Around the industry, "verified" has come to mean many things: a crawler read the vendor's marketing page, an AI summarized it, or the vendor filled in a form about themselves. None of those is what the word means on this site.

On WrenchStack, verified means a human checked the claim against a named primary source on a named date. For pricing, that source is the vendor's own pricing page; the date is recorded per vendor and shown on the page. For reputation flags, the source is a regulator, a live court record, or a named complaint registry, cited in the flag itself. Anything we could not verify that way is either labeled as unverified or not published at all. What is never treated as verification: automated crawling, AI inference, or the vendor's own say-so. You can watch the dates move on the verification log.

How often we update

Pricing is verified on a monthly review cycle. Each tool entry carries a verified date; tiers older than 90 days are flagged and re-verified before the page is published.

Features and integrations are re-checked twice yearly, plus on major product updates (we monitor vendor changelogs and release notes).

User ratings are pulled fresh from G2 and Capterra at each monthly review.

Methodology changelog

The WrenchStack Fit Score™ is versioned. Any material change to the formula, the weights, or the evaluation process bumps the version number and is logged here with a date — we don't silently change how scoring works.

• Version 1.0 2026-05-29

  Initial public methodology: the WrenchStack Fit Score™ (five weighted factors as of that date — vertical fit 40%, user ratings 30%, pricing transparency 10%, feature depth 10%, integration coverage 10%; feature depth was removed in v1.2), the documented evaluation timeline, the independence statement, and the per-vendor affiliate ledger.

Editorial corrections

If we publish something wrong about a tool — pricing, feature claim, weakness — we correct it within 48 hours of confirmation. Corrections are noted on the page with a dated stamp, never silently edited.

If you're a vendor and spot an error about your product, email hello@wrenchstack.com with the specific page URL and what's wrong. We fix and credit corrections fairly.

The data behind rankings

Pricing tier data comes from public vendor pricing pages. Feature lists come from vendor documentation, product demos, and aggregated user feedback on G2 and Capterra. Integration data comes from official vendor integration directories and Zapier marketplace listings.

Where vendors don't publish pricing publicly (typical for enterprise tools like ServiceTitan, BuildOps, and FieldEdge), we cite user-reported pricing ranges from public sources rather than custom-quoted figures.

How we make money

WrenchStack is reader-supported. When you click a "Visit [Tool]" button on a tool review, we sometimes earn an affiliate commission if you sign up for that tool — but only when the vendor has approved us into their affiliate program. We never get paid for placement, for ranking, or for inclusion in the directory. Vendors cannot buy a higher WrenchStack Score, a different spot in a "best of" list, or a softer tone in a review.

Affiliate status doesn't affect ranking. The WrenchStack Fit Score™ (vertical fit + user ratings + pricing transparency + features + integrations) is computed the same way for every vendor, whether we have an active affiliate relationship, a pending application, or no commercial relationship at all.

Per-tool affiliate ledger (126 software tools)

Full transparency. Below is the affiliate status of every software tool in the directory. Vendors in every other category — lead-gen, insurance, payroll, marketing agencies, AI tools, payments, financing, accounting, and business banking — follow the same independence rules, with vendor-specific affiliate disclosure on each review page.

• Active: 6 tools
• Pending: 120 tools
• None: 0 tools

What "Active", "Pending", and "None" mean

• Active — we have an approved affiliate relationship and use a tracked URL on this tool's review page. If you sign up via our link, we earn a commission. This does not affect what we write about the tool, including the cons section.
• Pending — we've applied to the affiliate program but tracking is not yet confirmed. The "Visit" button currently points to the vendor's public page directly, meaning we don't earn anything from clicks on this tool today.
• None — no affiliate program exists for this tool, or we've chosen not to participate. The "Visit" button points to the vendor's public page. We earn no commission from this tool.

What we will never do

• Accept payment for placement in a "best of" list
• Accept payment to raise a tool's WrenchStack Score
• Accept payment to omit or soften cons in a tool review
• Hide an affiliate relationship — every tool's status is on this page
• Recommend a tool we wouldn't recommend if no commission existed

Where pricing data comes from

Each pricing tier shows a verified date. We re-check pricing on the monthly cycle by visiting each vendor's public pricing page; for custom-quoted enterprise platforms, we cite user-reported ranges from public sources (Reddit threads, G2 reviews, vendor RFP responses shared publicly). Numbers older than 90 days get flagged with an amber freshness pill; older than 180 days get a red pill and are queued for re-verification before they show on ranked pages.

Vendor-supplied pricing claims that contradict published pages are ignored. If a vendor tells us their pricing has changed but the public page still shows the old number, we keep the public number until the public page changes.

Questions or corrections?

Email hello@wrenchstack.com. We respond to vendor pricing corrections within 48 hours, methodology questions within 5 business days. Substantive complaints about ranking or review accuracy get a public response on the affected page if the dispute can't be resolved privately.