Method
How we score
Every tool is scored fresh for your trade, team size and the features you tick. Nothing is paid for, nothing is special-cased. The same sums run for every tool, and the highest score is what we stamp.
The order of things
1. Team-size fit, the biggest weight. A tool built for sole traders loses points for a 20-strong firm, and the other way round. This alone can flip the ranking, and it should. Wrong-sized software is the most common mistake trades firms make.
2. Trade fit, gas engineers need certificates; electricians need EICR; builders need CIS. A tool that doesn't handle your trade's core compliance drops hard.
3. Your features, tick what matters and we trim to tools that support all of it. If nothing supports every one, we show the closest matches and say so.
4. Built in the UK is a tie-break only, it might nudge one tool above another when scores are otherwise equal, but it won't put a bad-fit UK tool above a perfect-fit overseas one.
The weighting, in full
These are the exact numbers the finder runs. Team-size fit dominates by design, it is the one thing that, got wrong, should knock a tool down the list.
| Factor | Weight |
|---|---|
| Team-size fit | 40% |
| Trade fit (compliance + relevance) | 30% |
| Feature match (your selected features) | 20% |
| UK-built (tie-break) | 10% |
How the feature filter works
Tick the features that matter and the card grid shows only tools that support all of them. If nothing supports every one, we don't pretend otherwise. We show the closest matches and say so. This is AND logic, not OR, because if you need gas certificates, a tool that doesn't do them isn't "close enough."
A worked example
Sole trader, gas work, no features ticked
Team-size fit: +40 (strong match for solo tools)
Trade fit: +30 (gas-first tools score high)
Feature match: +20 (all features available)
UK tie-break: +10 (UK-built gets the edge)
→ A gas-first, UK-built tool for sole traders tops the list.
Same gas engineer, now a 20+ person firm
Team-size fit: −40 (sole-trader tools lose hard)
Trade fit: +30 (still needs gas certs)
Feature match: +20
UK tie-break: +10
→ A 90-point swing on team size alone. A tool built for larger outfits takes the top spot.
What keeps it honest
No one pays to rank higher. We don't currently earn commission from any tool listed here. If that changes, those links will be labelled, and it will never change where a tool ranks.
Every tool gets the same treatment. We run the same scoring function for every tool in the database. No special weights, no hand-tuning, no "our mate's tool gets a boost."
Every tool starts equal. We run the same scoring function for every tool in the database. No special weights, no hand-tuning, no favourites.
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