Editorial policy & methodology

Last updated September 22, 2026

Our scoring formula

Every editor score published on this site is built from four weighted components:

• Independent lab protection results — 40%. We use the most recent published test cycle from AV-TEST and/or AV-Comparatives available at the time of writing. We link directly to the specific test round used on every product page.
• Performance impact — 20%. How much the software slows down everyday tasks, based on the same labs' performance testing where available.
• Feature value relative to price — 20%. Whether the feature set (firewall, VPN, backup, parental controls, etc.) justifies the plan's actual renewal price, not just its introductory offer.
• Usability and pricing transparency — 20%. Interface clarity, and how clearly the vendor discloses renewal pricing, cancellation terms, and plan differences.

Scores are our editorial judgment applied to those inputs — they are not an aggregation of user reviews, and we do not present them as star ratings or customer testimonials. Where we can't verify a current, published lab result for a product, we say so explicitly rather than estimating one.

What "independent" means here

No product or company pays for a placement, a higher score, or inclusion on this site. We do not run an affiliate program on ShieldScout, and links to vendor sites are provided for reference, not commission. If that ever changes, this page will disclose it clearly and any affected pages will carry a visible disclosure near the link, in line with FTC guidance on material connections.

What we don't publish

• No fabricated or incentivized customer reviews or star ratings.
• No fake "verified purchase" badges or testimonial quotes we can't attribute to a real, named source.
• No claims of hands-on malware testing we didn't actually perform — our protection data is sourced from AV-TEST and AV-Comparatives, always cited by name and test date.
• No invented expert bylines, credentials, or headshots.

Corrections and updates

Antivirus pricing and lab results change frequently — vendors run new promotions, labs publish new test cycles every few months. We review and update product pages when we become aware of a material change, and every page displays a "last updated" date. If you find outdated pricing, a broken source link, or a factual error, tell us and we'll correct it.

Sourcing standard

Every protection or performance statistic on this site links to the specific report it came from. Every price is checked against the vendor's own current pricing or terms page at the time of publication or last update, not copied from a third-party site. If a claim can't be sourced this way, it doesn't get published as fact.