Review Methodology: Our 3-Step Expert Process & Team
Welcome to Core Rated. We are an independent review site dedicated to cutting through the marketing hype and providing data-driven, actionable insights on the hosting, developer tools, and business software that matter most to your bottom line.
Our goal is simple: to help you make core business decisions with confidence, saving you time, money, and future headaches. If we can’t test it, we won’t review it.
The Team Behind the Reviews
Core Rated was founded by Amira Ezzeldin, a dedicated researcher and web entrepreneur. Our site is the result of two years of committed personal experience spent building, optimizing, and migrating self-managed websites across different hosting platforms.
Amira’s background is focused on front-end site performance and user experience (UX). Every review is grounded in in-depth personal testing and aggressive research to ensure we provide unbiased, practical knowledge that businesses truly need to succeed online.
The Need for Transparency
We founded Core Rated after experiencing firsthand the frustration of choosing hosting and software based on biased reviews. Many affiliate sites prioritize commissions over honesty. Our commitment is to break that cycle. By sharing our full, multi-step review methodology, we empower you to trust the data, not just the recommendation.
Core Rated’s Review Methodology: The 3-Step Testing Process
Our entire review methodology is built on the principle of transparency and deep, hands-on experience. We don’t just read marketing brochures; we sign up, pay for the service, and run production-level tests.
Step 1: Real-World Setup and Performance Benchmarks.
Every hosting service and major software product is tested on a live account. We don’t rely on clean, temporary demo setups. Our tests are focused on performance metrics that directly impact your business, such as Time to First Byte (TTFB) and load time under simulated stress. We run several performance tests using industry-leading external tools like GTmetrix and Google PageSpeed Insights across multiple geographic regions to ensure the data is truly representative of global user experience.
Step 2: Customer Support and Documentation Audit.
The core value of any product is its support when things go wrong. We anonymously engage the support team during peak and off-peak hours to assess response speed, technical depth, and overall helpfulness. Our review methodology also includes a deep dive into the product’s usability—checking the onboarding process, documentation clarity, and overall ease of use for a front-end focus.
Step 3: Value and Hidden Costs Assessment.
The final component of our review methodology involves assessing the true long-term cost. This includes looking past introductory pricing to find renewal fees, hidden limits, and any fine print. Our final score is weighted heavily on the total value provided for the price, ensuring you get the best return on your investment.
To provide a comprehensive rating, we maintain active, paid accounts for a minimum of one renewal cycle to track the true cost of ownership. This long-term monitoring ensures our final score accurately reflects the financial commitment. This is a vital part of our review methodology and prevents vendors from hiding expensive renewal fees. We use this data to compare apples-to-apples value across all competing products in the 2026 market.
Transparency Note: Our analysis and data collection are 100% human-driven. However, we utilize advanced AI tools to assist in organizing, structuring, and refining our extensive research into comprehensive, easy-to-read reviews for our readers.
Our Promise to You
Every recommendation made on Core Rated is rigorously tested and unbiased. We promise to maintain the highest levels of editorial integrity and financial transparency in all our work. Our commitment is to you, the reader, first and foremost.
Questions About Our Process?
We hold ourselves accountable to our readers. If you have any questions about our review process or methodology, please contact us directly.