How we score products
First, the part most sites hide
Every product on this site has already passed our selection. We look at far more products than we publish, and the ones that do not make it simply never get a page here. So our scores start at 4.0 — not because everything is excellent, but because you are looking at a shortlist. The score tells you where a product sits among the ones we would recommend, not where it sits among everything for sale.
We are telling you this because a 1-to-5 scale where nothing scores below 4 is misleading unless you know the selection happened first. Now you know.
What the score actually measures
We score what the seller discloses — not whether the product works. We have not taken these supplements, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What we can do, and what you can check yourself in about five minutes, is read the seller's own sales page and record what it does and does not tell you.
That is what moves a product up or down within our shortlist: how much a seller is willing to put in writing before you pay. A company that publishes its full ingredient list with doses, names the facility, identifies itself and gives you a year to change your mind has made itself accountable. A company that discloses none of that may still sell a fine product — but you are being asked to take more on faith, and the score says so.
The table on every review is not adjusted. If a seller does not name its manufacturer, that row says "not identified" even on a product scoring 4.7. The score is a ranking; the table is the raw finding. Read the table.
The eight things we check
Every review on this site is scored on the same eight criteria, each worth the weight below out of a total of 12. We copy the sentence from the seller's page that supports each answer, and you can see those quotes on every review.
| What we check | Weight | Possible answers, best to worst |
|---|---|---|
| Refund window How many days is the money-back guarantee stated on the page? | 2 | |
| Ingredient transparency Does the page publish the full ingredient list, and does it give the dose of each ingredient? | 2 | |
| Evidence cited Does the page cite published research, and is it about the finished formula or about individual ingredients? | 1.5 | |
| Company transparency Does the page identify the company that MAKES the product — its name, a physical address and a support contact? Ignore payment processors and retailers such as ClickBank, and ignore generic legal boilerplate; those do not identify the manufacturer. | 1.5 | |
| Marketing pressure Does the page use countdown timers, stock scarcity warnings, or unverifiable authority figures to pressure the reader? | 1.5 | |
| Third-party testing Does the page state that the product is tested by an independent third-party lab? | 1.5 | |
| Manufacturing disclosure Does the page state where the product is manufactured, e.g. an FDA-registered or GMP-certified facility? | 1 | |
| Pricing clarity Is the price of a single purchase clear, and is the buyer enrolled in a recurring charge? | 1 |
How the number is calculated
Each answer is worth 0 to 5. We multiply it by the criterion's weight, add everything up and divide by 12. That gives a raw disclosure figure, which we then place on our published 4.0–5.0 scale. Nobody types a score in by hand, and no score is adjusted after the fact — change an answer and the number moves on its own.
A note on what a low mark means. We reserve 0 and 1 for things that are actually bad for you: an automatic recurring charge you did not ask for, a countdown timer that resets when you reload, a "proprietary blend" that hides how much of anything you are getting. Silence scores lower than disclosure, but not as low as those — most sellers in this category simply never mention independent lab testing, and we are not going to pretend that is the same as a hidden subscription.
What we never do
- We never write a claim we cannot quote. If we say a seller states something, the sentence is on the page and we show it to you. If we cannot find it, the answer becomes "not disclosed" — even when that lowers the score.
- We never say a product is untested or unsafe. We say the page does not mention testing. Those are different statements and only one of them is ours to make.
- We never change a score for a commission. We earn the same commission on a product scored 4.8 and one scored 4.1, and we earn nothing at all on the products we decline to publish. See the affiliate disclosure.
When we get it wrong
Sellers update their pages, and a page that discloses nothing today may publish everything next month. If you believe a score is out of date or that we misread something, tell us and point to the sentence — we re-check the page and, if the facts changed, the score changes with them. Every review shows the date we last checked.
This page describes our own editorial method. It is not medical advice. Statements about these products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Always consult your physician before starting any supplement.