How we test and rank
Every verdict on this site follows the same method. Here it is in full, so you can judge whether to trust it.
Price the stack
Platform + email + fees + the site you still need.
Two scenarios
Solo 1-to-1 coach. Group-program coach.
Name the trade-off
Where the losing tool wins. Always.
Date everything
Re-checked when prices move. Shown on the page.
What we score
| Factor | Weight | How we measure it |
|---|---|---|
| True monthly cost | 35% | Yearly-billed price + transaction fees at $2,000/mo sales + cost of any tool you still need (email, site, scheduling). |
| Fit for the two coach scenarios | 25% | Does it do the job for a 1-to-1 coach with 20–50 clients? For a group coach with 200–500 students? Scored separately. |
| Limits that bite | 15% | Product caps, contact caps, seat limits, storage, and what happens when you hit them. |
| Time to set up and run | 15% | How many tools it replaces, how much Zapier duct tape it needs, how good the support is. |
| Lock-in | 10% | Can you export students, contacts and content? What breaks when you leave? |
What we deliberately ignore
- Feature counts. A tool with 200 features you won't use is not better than one with 20 you will.
- Review-site star ratings. They are gamed, and they are rarely written by coaches.
- Who pays the highest commission. See the next section.
Where the information comes from
Prices and limits come from each company's own pricing page and help documentation, checked on the date shown on every guide. Pricing-page screenshots are captured by us from each vendor's live site, dated and credited to the vendor. Our comparison tables and cost charts are our own work.
Judgements about fit come from the author's six years of working inside and alongside SaaS companies on how products are priced, sold and used, and from conversations with clients and coaches about what they actually run week to week, plus public reviews and the vendors' own help docs. Stories in our guides come from those real conversations. We change names and identifying details, and some stories combine several similar cases. Where we have not used a tool at length, we say so in the guide.
About the stories. The coach stories in our guides come from what coaches tell us about their tools and their bills. Names and identifying details are changed, and some stories combine more than one coach. The prices and limits inside them are always the verified figures for the date shown on the guide.
Affiliate links and independence
Some links are affiliate links and may earn us a commission at no cost to you. Three rules keep that from touching the verdicts:
- No paid placements, sponsored posts or "featured" slots. None.
- Rankings are decided before affiliate programs are checked, not after.
- We recommend tools with no affiliate program when they are the right answer, and we mark affiliate links with rel="sponsored" so search engines know too.
Corrections and updates
When a price or feature changes, we update the guide, change the "Updated" date, and log it on the Updates page with what changed. If we got something wrong, tell us through the contact page. Corrections are made within a week and noted on the page.
Who is responsible
Editor and author. Digital and product strategist, 175+ brands, SaaS clients including Tactiq, Restoke.ai and WeMoney. About →