How we grade AI tools

Every listing gets a letter grade, a verification confidence score, and — where earned — a Verified badge. Here is exactly how each is calculated, so you can judge how much weight to give it.

The letter grade (A+ – E)

The grade is a plain-language summary of a tool's public standing. It is derived from the strongest signal we have:

If the tool has public third-party reviews (G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, App Store), the grade comes from its best average rating, scaled to 100 (a 5-star rating → 100).
If it has no public rating, the grade comes from our verification confidence score instead.

A+ ≥ 95 · A ≥ 82 · B ≥ 70

C ≥ 58 · D ≥ 45 · E < 45

The confidence score (0–100)

Our verification pipeline checks each tool and adds up evidence into a 0–100 score:

Live & official — the site is reachable, and we found a pricing page, privacy policy, terms, and company info.
Independent reputation — third-party ratings and review counts across review platforms, Product Hunt, GitHub and app stores.
Adversarial checks — we subtract for reported security incidents, legal issues, billing complaints, or signs of fake reviews.

A high score means "well-established and clean signals," not "we endorse this product."

The Verified badge

✓ Third-Party Verified means we found an independent footprint for the tool — real third-party ratings, or a confirmed official site with pricing, terms and company details. It is not a security audit or a certification; it means the tool is real and independently visible.

What the grade is not

Not a paid ranking. Grades and placement are never sold. Sponsored placements are always labeled "Sponsored," and a sponsor's grade is calculated the same way as everyone else's.
Not a review by us. Ratings shown are aggregated from public third-party sources, as of the "last checked" date on each listing.
Not permanent. We re-check liveness and refresh signals on a schedule; grades change as the evidence does.

Corrections

If you own a tool and a grade or rating looks wrong, claim your listing to update it, or email thomas@aurionx.ai.