In a world filled with marketing claims, sponsored reviews, and AI-generated content, independent and real product testing done by humans matters more than ever.
Today, we're launching an important update to our membership program, previously called Insider Access, now simply RTINGS.com Membership.
While much of RTINGS.com remains free, our full test results and in-depth product analysis are now available only to members. We'll continue to iterate on what that looks like over time as we refine the model across different product categories.
For a limited time, new members can get 30% off their first billing period, and existing members will automatically receive an equivalent credit on their next renewal.
We've had a soft paywall for a few years now, with a limited number of free pageviews on most product categories. We are now moving to a more membership-supported model to ensure RTINGS.com can remain independent, sustainable, and focused on helping you, the consumers, buy the best product for your needs.
Why We're Making This Change
RTINGS.com has historically relied heavily on organic search traffic from Google and affiliate links. That model is becoming less reliable. Fewer people click through from Google organic results than they used to. At the same time, AI actively scrapes and reuses our test results, often without attribution and without the context needed to interpret them correctly.
Meanwhile, performing lab-based and in-depth testing is expensive. We buy every product ourselves, like normal consumers (no paid or sponsored reviews), test them using standardized, repeatable methods, and publish the full results transparently.
A membership-supported model reduces our dependence on Google, limits unrestricted AI scraping of our test results, and gives us incentives that are more sustainable and aligned with consumers.
Why Independent Testing Matters More Than Ever
More than ever, consumers need a trusted source of product reviews for their buying decisions.
Customer reviews and forums like Reddit are increasingly astroturfed. Brands manipulate sentiment and blur the line between real user experience and marketing. At the same time, AI-generated summaries are now a major source of product information, but they frequently hallucinate details or present incorrect information with high confidence.
RTINGS.com exists specifically to avoid that. We buy and test products ourselves, using the same methodology, so people can see the test results and make up their own minds about how the products perform in real life, without being biased by brands.
Why Membership Aligns Incentives Better
Affiliate revenue isn't perfectly aligned with consumers. Without explicit safeguards, it naturally creates incentives to recommend higher-priced products or those with higher commissions. At RTINGS.com, we've done a great job building a strong wall between our editorial independence and monetization (for example, we don't shy away from recommending a DIY air purifier), but this incentive structure is not ideal.
Membership aligns incentives more cleanly. If the information isn't useful, accurate, and worth paying for, people won't subscribe. This is the incentive structure we want to help consumers directly to stay unbiased and continuously improve the quality of our test results.
A Note To Longtime Users
RTINGS.com started in 2011 with televisions and has grown into the worldwide leader in data-driven reviews. We now cover 28 product categories, including electronics, home appliances, refrigerators, running shoes, and mattresses. Throughout that time, we've never accepted paid or sponsored reviews, and we continue to buy every product we test ourselves.
A large part of that growth, and many of the improvements to our testing methodology, scoring systems, and site features, came directly from users' feedback over the years.
We understand that these changes will frustrate some longtime users. However, the alternative is relying more heavily on platforms and monetization models that don't align well with independent lab test data to help consumers.
Independent product testing matters more than ever. If you value real, comparable data rather than marketing claims, become a member to support our work and our mission to help you, the consumers, buy the best product for your needs.
Thank you for your support.