How we verify and rank
Lode reports facts transparently, and never lets size, feature count or money decide who is shown first.
How facts are verified
- Research. Facts are gathered from official sources: vendor docs, pricing pages, marketplace listings and changelogs. Every fact links to its source, with a screenshot for pricing and documentation.
- Independent check. A separate verification step re-checks each fact against its cited source. Anything that doesn't match blocks publishing.
- Testing. Selected integrations are tested hands-on against demo accounts and marked "Hands-on tested".
- Freshness. Sources are re-checked weekly. Facts not re-verified within 90 days are flagged on the page.
Labels
| Lode-verified | Confirmed by Lode from an official source or testing. |
|---|---|
| Sourced, under review | Taken from an official source and linked, but the record has an open question and has not passed review yet. |
| Vendor-reported | Supplied by the vendor through the vendor fact file, shown with its date. |
| Not reported | Not yet available. Never counted against an app. |
| No regional restriction stated | The source does not list countries or any limit. Shown instead of "All regions", which we use only when a source says so. |
We also measure how often we are wrong: each month a random sample of published facts is re-checked against its source, and the result is published on the accuracy page.
Where our testing disagrees with a vendor's claim, both are shown.
Vendor status
| Listed | Lode researched the integration from public sources. The vendor has not been involved. |
|---|---|
| Claimed by vendor | The vendor proved it owns the domain and can submit corrections with sources. |
| Verified vendor | The vendor publishes a fact file on its own domain and Lode monitors it. Free for the first 100 vendors. |
Status describes how much the vendor has contributed. It is earned, not bought, and it is never a ranking factor.
Ranking policy
No universal number one
Ecosystem pages group apps by job and by who they suit, not one ranked list. The best app depends on your business size, region and what you need to sync.
Fit, not features
When we rank for a specific buyer profile, must-haves (region, required data, plan) filter apps in or out. Remaining apps are scored on:
| Factor | Weight |
|---|---|
| Sync fit (only the data you need counts; extra breadth earns nothing) | 30% |
| Price at your size and in your currency | 25% |
| Limitations that affect your needs | 20% |
| Setup effort | 15% |
| How recently the facts were verified | 10% |
Scores within 5% of each other are treated as ties, and tied apps rotate.
Never ranking factors
- Company size, headcount or funding
- Number of connected customers (shown as context only)
- Review counts
- Whether a vendor has supplied a fact file
- Sponsorship, affiliate commission or paid profiles. Paid placements are separate and always labelled
Room for newer tools
Every ecosystem page has a "Newer to" section for apps first listed in the last 18 months that meet the same verification bar. New apps get a full page as soon as their facts are verified, with no minimum age, size or review count.
Money
Lode is free for buyers and AI agents. It earns from vendor subscriptions (monitoring and reporting), independent testing fees, advisor referrals, and labelled referral links and vendor-funded deal codes. Where Lode may earn a commission on a link, the page says so. None of these change the order of results, and a list of paying vendors is published.
Policy version 1.0. Changes to weights are dated here.