How We Review Software
BeltStack provides independent software reviews and comparisons for trade businesses and contractors. This page explains how we evaluate products, score features, and keep our recommendations unbiased.
How we score products
Consistent criteria across all our reviews.
- Pricing — We compare published pricing, base and per-person fees, add-ons, and hidden costs so you can budget accurately.
- Features — We evaluate payroll automation, tax handling, contractor support, integrations, and HR tools that matter to small businesses and trade teams.
- Ease of use — Setup, day-to-day use, and clarity of the interface. We favor tools that get you running without lengthy implementation.
- Support — Availability of help (phone, chat, email), quality of documentation, and whether support is included or gated by plan.
- Contractor fit — For payroll and trade-focused content, we weigh 1099 support, job-costing integration, multi-state compliance, and workflows that match how contractors actually work.
Editorial independence
Our recommendations are our own.
We test and research software independently. Our ratings and “best for” recommendations are based on our evaluation criteria, not on partnerships or paid placement. Vendors do not pay for inclusion in our roundups or for favorable scores. When we recommend a product, it’s because we believe it fits the use case we describe.
Affiliate disclosure
How we may earn from links.
We may earn a commission when you purchase or sign up through links on our site. This does not change how we score or recommend software. We do not allow affiliate relationships to influence which products we cover or how we rank them. Our goal is to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Update cadence and freshness
Keeping our reviews current.
We review and update our content on a regular cadence. Pricing, features, and product names are checked so you get current information. Major product or pricing changes may prompt an earlier update. We date our roundups and key pages so you can see when they were last refreshed.