How we score

Honest Stack exists to give you a straight answer about which software to use. We review headless CMSs, website builders, and ecommerce platforms the same way every time, and we tell you who each tool is not for, not just who it is for.

How we score

Every tool gets a single score from 1 to 10. That score is our overall judgment, formed before we add any affiliate links, and it reflects eleven things we weigh on every review:

Value: pricing against what you actually get, including the free tier and where costs jump.
Developer experience: APIs, framework support, typing, and how quickly a developer can be productive.
Editor experience: how safe and pleasant the tool is for the non-technical people who manage content.
Flexibility: how far the tool bends to real projects without fighting you.
Ecosystem and support: docs, community, integrations, and how well the tool is maintained.
Performance: output speed and Core Web Vitals, edge and CDN delivery, and image handling, meaning how fast real pages load for visitors (which is also a Google ranking factor).
Content modeling: how well it structures reusable content like relationships, components, and repeatable types, not just flat pages.
Scalability: how it holds up as content, traffic, and team size grow, from one landing page to thousands of entries.
Data ownership and portability: clean export, self-hosting, open formats, and lock-in risk, because the honest site cares whether you can actually leave.
Security and reliability: access controls and roles, uptime, and compliance such as SOC 2 and GDPR for teams that need it.
AI readiness: built-in AI content tools and support for AI agents like MCP servers and typed APIs, which increasingly separates modern tools from legacy ones.How we keep reviews current

Software pricing and features change constantly, so every review shows the date we last verified its details. We recheck pricing, plans, and key features on a regular cadence and update the date when we do. If you spot something out of date, tell us.

Our independence

We make money from affiliate commissions on some links, and from advertising. We do not take payment for a higher score, a better ranking, or a place on a list. Scores are set on the merits and would be the same whether or not a tool paid us anything. When a tool we rate highly has no affiliate program, we still recommend it.

How to read a review

Start with the verdict and the score, then check the pros and cons and the 'who it is not for' section. Most bad software decisions come from picking a tool that is good in general but wrong for your specific case, so we always spell out the fit.