Trust
How we research solar software
We read each company’s own website, page by page. We write down what we find, where we found it and when. And we write down what we could not find, too.
How we choose products
We list software that solar companies use to run their business. That means tools for design, proposals, sales, customer lists (CRM), monitoring and operations. A product gets in because buyers look for it, not because its company asked or paid. No company can pay to be listed.
We have researched 50 products in 9 groups so far. We hold 718 facts about them.
Where facts come from
- The company’s own website comes first. Prices and features come only from there.
- We open the page every time. We don’t write a fact from memory. If we did not load the page, the fact is not marked as checked.
- Other review sites are only quoted. If we mention a rating from G2 or Capterra, we name the site and the date. Those ratings never count in anything we work out.
- Praise on a company’s own site is marketing. We may quote it to show how a company talks about itself, and we label it that way.
- We don’t guess who owns a company. A shared address or logo is not proof.
What we check on each product
- What jobs it does, such as design, shade checks (how much shadow falls on the panels) or proposals.
- Which of those jobs it does deeply, and which only in a basic way.
- What it says it does not do. A clear “no” from the company is one of the most useful facts we have.
- The price, and how the price works: per user, per project or quote only.
- Which other apps it connects to.
- Who makes it, and where the company is based, when the company says so.
How we check prices
We read the price page and the plan details. We write down the currency, what each plan includes and the date. Prices can be different by country, so we say which country a price is for. Many companies show no price at all. When that happens, we say so plainly. Read the full price rules.
When we can’t find something
We keep two cases apart, because mixing them up leads to false facts:
- Not found. We searched the company’s website and the fact is not there. That does not prove the product can’t do it.
- Could not read. The page would not open for us. This tells you nothing about the product.
7 products have at least one page we could not read. Their reviews tell you so.
How we test our own method
A “no price” result means nothing unless we know our method finds prices when they exist. So we test the method on products whose prices we already know. We also check our work again later. When a second check proves an earlier finding wrong, we fix it and log it. Our corrections log starts with fixes to our own early research.
What our research can’t tell you
- How good a tool feels to use. A website can’t tell us that. Only checked reviews from real users can. We have 0 so far, so no product has a quality score yet. The evidence score on each review is a different thing. It shows how much we could confirm.
- The price you will be offered. Many companies change their price after a sales call.
- Today’s facts. Our facts are as of the date shown next to each one. Check the company’s site before you buy.