How we rank SMB software

The job

Every ranking starts with a job: run payday, send invoices, keep a file a CPA will open, keep a pipeline the team will update, open a business-named bank account. Products that do not do that job do not get a consolation prize for having AI in the screenshot.

What we score

• Fit for US freelancers, LLCs, and teams under ~50
• Whether a founder can finish setup without a systems integrator
• Pricing honesty — a public page beats a “contact sales” fog, and we say so when the fog is the product
• The skip-if: who should not buy it
• Switching cost and whether the product survives the next hire
• Hands-on use when we have it; public docs and practitioner reports when we do not — labeled as such

Pricing rules

Prices are copied from public vendor pages and date-stamped (September 20, 2026 on launch pages). Promotions are described as promotions. Quote-only vendors (ADP RUN, much of Rippling) are not given a fake national rate. If we cannot see it on an official page, we do not print it as fact.

What we refuse

• Selling a rank, a score, or the removal of a caveat
• Invented affiliate IDs or click tokens
• Tax, legal, or accounting advice — we are not your CPA
• AI-writing, video, or coding tool rankings that belong on Aiacent
• 40-product dump posts

Updates

Pages show an updated date in the byline. When a vendor changes list prices, we update the stamp and the figures. If you see a live vendor page that disagrees, email us — the vendor page wins until we publish a correction.