Trust

Scoring rubric

One rubric applied to every product — so scores actually compare.

Every product on RE Skout is scored against the same four dimensions, weighted as shown. Each reviewer independently scores 0–5 on each dimension; the published score is the rounded weighted average across all reviews on a product.

Results

35% weight

Does it produce the outcome the buyer hired it for?

For a lender: did the deal close, on time, at the terms quoted? For a CRM: did it actually move a lead from inbound to signed? For a list source: did the leads convert? Results is weighted highest because it's the only dimension that can't be faked by polish.

Ease of use

25% weight

Time to first useful output, learning curve, day-to-day friction.

How long from sign-up to running a real workflow? How much technical lift is required to deploy correctly? Power-user tools (like GHL) can score well here even with a steep curve — provided the curve is honest and the rewards justify it.

Support

20% weight

Quality and responsiveness of human support, docs, and community.

Real reachable humans? Useful documentation? An active operator community that fills the gaps? Tools that punt every question to a chatbot lose points here. Tools with an accessible founder or a real success team gain them.

Value

20% weight

Outcome per dollar relative to alternatives in the same job.

Not the cheapest — the one where the spend-to-outcome math works. A $400/mo tool that closes deals is better value than a $40 tool that doesn't. We benchmark against alternatives in the same category so the comparison is honest.

What the scores mean

  • 5.0 — Exceptional. The reviewer would unconditionally recommend it for the use case.
  • 4.0–4.9— Strong. Recommended with specific caveats noted in the “biggest limitation” prompt.
  • 3.0–3.9 — Useful but not best-in-class for the job.
  • 2.0–2.9 — Significant problems; works in narrow cases only.
  • 1.0–1.9 — Avoid for this use case. The reviewer regrets the spend.

Why the rubric is public

We publish the rubric so providers know what they're being scored on, and so readers can audit the scores. If a 4.5 across the rubric doesn't match the reviews you read on that page, something's wrong — and you should tell us.