The recommendation on every comparison page is computed by the same rule, so the badge never reflects a paid placement.
We compare the two products' total monthly cost at 5,000 orders per month, resolved from each plan's published pricing tiers. The product with the lower monthly cost at that volume is recommended. If the costs are equal, the product with the higher review score wins; if those are also equal, we fall back to the alphabetically first product. The result is deterministic and identical across every comparison — it is never hand-set.
Pricing and feature data is sourced from each vendor's public website, with the source linked on every feature row and a verification date shown on each page. Review scores are third-party (e.g. G2) and attributed to their source; we do not present them as our own ratings.