Our policy

How we rank

Short version: pay for speed, never for rank.

What money can buy

Vendors can pay $19 for priority review. That means a human looks at the listing within two business days and tells them what's missing. That's it.

What money can't buy

• Approval. Paid listings are rejected if they don't meet the bar.
• A better spot in the directory, search, or category pages.
• A place in Ask Scout's shortlist. Scout only sees product facts, never who paid.

How order is decided

Directory pages sort alphabetically, by newest, or by most recently verified. Search sorts by how well the words match. Scout picks based on what you told it you need.

Category leader and Rising badges

Category leader marks the best-known tools in a category: the names buyers expect to see, judged from public signals like review volume, independent round-ups and market share. Rising marks newer tools gaining traction fast and doing something clearly different. Both are editorial calls we re-check over time. Neither can be bought, and neither changes the order of a list. You can filter by them on any category page.

Founder's apps

SoftScout's founder also builds business software. Those products are listed like everything else, go through the same review, and get no ranking preference. They carry a small “Founder's app” tag so you always know.

Outbound links

When you click through to a vendor we count the click, so we can show vendors that SoftScout sends real visitors. We don't sell your data and you don't need an account.