How we compare
This page explains exactly how the ranking works, because a comparison site that will not show its method is asking for trust it has not earned.
Where the data comes from
Every price is read from the provider's own website and carries the date it was read, shown on each result. Where a provider does not publish a price, we say so rather than estimating. Where a figure is an annual rate, we show it as an annual rate rather than dividing by twelve and calling it monthly.
Right now we hold 119 providers and 367 plans, of which 314 have a verified published price.
How results are ordered
Each plan is scored out of 100 against what you told us. The weights are fixed and published:
- 45 points for how much of what you asked for the plan actually includes, weighted so that a registered office counts for more than a voicemail service.
- 22 points for price against your budget.
- 18 points for how close the provider's address is to where you asked. If you told us you do not mind where the address is, this stops mattering.
- 8 points for review scores, discounted when there are few reviews.
- 7 points for how complete and verifiable our data on that plan is. A provider that publishes its prices ranks above one that hides them, all else equal.
A plan that misses something you marked as a must have is not deleted. It is demoted and shown underneath as a close match with the gap named, because a near miss is more use to you than an empty page.
The badges
Best match is simply the top score. Cheapest compares plans on a monthly basis, so an annual-only address at £39 a year is treated as £3.25 a month for that badge only; the row itself always shows the price the way the provider sells it. Best reviewed needs a sourced third-party rating, and Most included counts the features you asked for that the plan includes. Each badge goes to one row.
What does not affect the ranking
Commission. Some providers may pay us if you click through and buy. Any such arrangement plays no part in the score, the sort order or the badges. We rank providers who pay us nothing exactly the same way, and several of the providers we most often recommend run no programme at all.
If we ever sell placement, it will sit outside the ranked list and be labelled as a paid placement on the row itself.
The second price
Under the advertised price we show what the plan would cost you once the things you said you needed are added on. Post forwarding is the usual culprit. This routinely reverses the order of a shortlist, and it is the number we think you should compare.
What we get wrong
Prices change and we are not always the first to know. Some providers contradict themselves across their own pages, in which case we record the more conservative figure and flag it. Some big operators put their pricing behind bot protection, so we list them without a price rather than guess. If you spot something wrong, tell us and we will fix it.