At a glance
- Every review is written by the person who logged in and used the product.
- Every review shows a keep-or-skip verdict, who should skip it, and the total cost.
- Vendors cannot pay for, preview or approve a review.
- We fix mistakes in the open and note what changed.
Why we exist
Many digital products are sold on a sales page and a countdown timer. The base price is low, and the real cost sits in the upsells. The Tested Stack exists to show what a product does when someone actually uses it, and what it costs if you buy everything offered.
Who is responsible
Edward Ramirez, our founder, is responsible for everything published on this site. Every review names the person who tested and wrote it, with a link to their profile and background.
Before a review goes live, it is checked by Edward Ramirez, who checks every price, claim and screenshot against the test notes.
How we choose products
- We track new digital products in our new releases calendar.
- We pick products readers are likely to buy, and products readers ask us about through our contact page.
- We do not pick products by commission rate, and we review products we expect to fail as well as ones we expect to pass.
- A product appearing in new releases is not a recommendation.
How we test
We log in and use the product on a real task, record the results with our own screenshots, add up every upsell, and publish a keep-or-skip call. If we could not get in or could not make it work, the review says so. The full method is on How we test.
What every review includes
- A verdict first: Keep or Skip, with the reason in plain words.
- Who should skip it, even when the verdict is Keep.
- The total cost: the base price and every upsell we were shown, added up.
- What we did: the task we used it for, and how long we used it.
- Our own evidence: screenshots from our login, never from the sales page.
- What worked and what did not, including limits the sales page leaves out.
- Alternatives where a cheaper or better option does the same job.
- Dates: when it was published and when it was last checked.
Sourcing and fact-checking
- Prices and upsells come from the live checkout at the time we test, not from promotional emails.
- Claims we did not test ourselves are attributed to their source, for example "the sales page says".
- Facts about refund terms, fees and policies are checked against the seller's own pages.
- Before publishing, every price, claim and screenshot is checked against our test notes.
Independence from vendors
- Vendors cannot pay for a review, a verdict, a better position or a place in new releases.
- Vendors do not see, edit or approve a review before it is published.
- We do not accept gifts, bonuses or payments in exchange for coverage.
- If a vendor gave us access to a product, the review says so. Our disclosure explains our access policy.
- If a vendor pressures us to change a review, we may say so in the review.
Affiliate links
We earn commissions through some links in our reviews, and say so directly above every one. The verdict is decided before any affiliate link is added, and a commission never changes it. The details are on our disclosure page.
How we use AI
- Testing, screenshots and verdicts are done by a person, on a real login.
- AI tools may help with outlines, grammar and editing. A person writes the findings and checks every fact and price before publishing.
- We do not publish AI-generated reviews, testimonials, screenshots or test results.
- When we review an AI product, we test what it produces on our own tasks, not on the vendor's demo prompts.
How we write
- Plain English and short sentences. The verdict comes first.
- Neutral words. No superlatives about any product, ours included.
- No income claims, and no vendor earnings claims repeated as fact.
- We write for the buyer, not for the vendor or for search engines.
Guides and skills
Guides, such as how upsells work, follow the same sourcing and correction rules as reviews. Our own Claude skills are labelled as our product wherever we mention them, and we do not review our own skills against competitors as if we were neutral.
Updates and re-testing
- Products change after release. When a vendor changes a price, an upsell or the product itself, we re-check the review and update it.
- Each review shows when it was published and when it was last updated.
- If a change is big enough to affect the verdict, we re-test before changing it, and say so in the review.
Corrections
If you find a mistake in a review, a price or any page, contact us and pick "Correction" as the topic.
- We check the report against our test notes and screenshots.
- If we got it wrong, we fix it and update the date.
- If the fix changes a verdict, a price or a fact you might have relied on, we add a correction note at the end of the page saying what changed and when.
- We do not quietly delete reviews to hide mistakes. If a review is withdrawn, we say why.
Contact
Questions about this policy, tips about a product, or concerns about a review go through our contact page.