How we score products
You've seen product scores all over the internet, but rarely do you get to see how they're actually built. This page walks through ours, step by step.
The short version
Every product is scored on the same three things: how safe it is, how well it works, and how easy it is to live with day to day. Each category gets its own criteria based on what families actually care about, with safety carrying the most weight. We gather the evidence, verify it, and turn it into a score from 0 to 10 you can trace back to its sources.
The three things we score
Every product gets the same three questions. How much each one counts toward the final score depends on the category, because safety matters more for a baby monitor than for a phone stand.Tap any pillar for details.
Safety
Is it safe for my family?
What the product is made of, the certifications behind it, any recalls, and what independent testing says about materials and contaminants.
Efficacy
Does it actually work?
Real-world performance backed by evidence and third-party testing, not the marketing on the box.
Usability
Is it easy to live with?
The day-to-day reality: setup, cleaning, noise, and how long it holds up under normal use.
Category-specific criteria
What matters for a water filter is completely different from what matters for an air fryer. That's why we don't use a one-size-fits-all checklist.
For each product category, we research what families actually care about, then build a tailored set of criteria organized by priority.
Deal-breakers. These can make or break a recommendation regardless of everything else.
Key factors that significantly influence the score and our recommendation.
Additional factors we evaluate. Often the tie-breaker between similar products.
For air fryers, safety and performance carry the most weight, so we focus on what matters most for daily family cooking.
- Material safety: coatings, chemicals, and food-contact materials
- Product safety: recalls, auto-shutoff, and build quality
- Cooking performance: crispiness, evenness, and consistency
- Ease of cleaning: dishwasher-safe parts and food release
- Practical fit: capacity and counter footprint
- Ease of use: controls, presets, and daily convenience
- Price and running cost, noise level, versatility, brand and warranty
Every category we cover gets its own tailored methodology built the same way.
How we calculate the final score
Each product is scored on the criteria that matter for its category, and those criteria are weighted by priority, so critical factors move the score more than nice-to-haves. Safety almost always carries the most weight.
The result is a single overall score from 0 to 10. We don't just hand you a number and walk away, because the breakdown across all three sits right on the product page.
If you're curious how we gather the evidence that feeds into these scores, here's our full process.
Common questions
Why don't all categories use the same criteria?
Because what matters for a water filter is completely different from what matters for an air fryer. A filter needs to remove contaminants, and crispiness is beside the point. Each category gets criteria tailored to what families actually need from that product.
Can I see how a specific product scored?
Yes. Every product page shows the breakdown behind the score: which criteria it did well on, where it fell short, and the evidence behind each of the three.
How do you decide which criteria matter most?
We research what families actually care about by analyzing reviews and consulting expert sources like Consumer Reports and EWG, and applying common sense. Safety almost always comes first.
Want to see this in action?
Search any product to see its full score breakdown and evidence.
Browse scored products