Comparison Methodology
Last updated: 2026-07-29
Purpose
ApexMail publishes factual, evidence-based comparisons to help developers and procurement teams evaluate transactional email providers. Every claim in every comparison is traceable to a public source.
Disclosure Standards
Every comparison page discloses:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Date verified | When the comparison was last checked against live sources |
| Competitor plan compared | Exact plan name and tier referenced |
| ApexMail plan compared | Exact ApexMail plan used for feature-to-feature mapping |
| Monthly volume assumption | The email volume at which pricing is calculated |
| Billing period | Monthly or annual billing used for price comparison |
| Currency | Currency used (EUR for ApexMail; USD where competitor prices in USD) |
| Tax treatment | All prices exclude VAT unless stated |
| Feature definitions | How each compared feature is defined |
| Source policy | Only public, official documentation and pricing pages |
| Update frequency | Targeted review every 90 days; critical claims reviewed monthly |
| Correction process | Corrections accepted at security@apexmail.ee; verified within 5 business days |
Evidence Fields per Comparison Row
Every row in a comparison table is backed by:
| Evidence field | Required |
|---|---|
| Feature name | Yes |
| ApexMail implementation | Yes |
| Competitor implementation | Yes |
| Exact plan or tier | Yes |
| Official source URL | Yes |
| Source date | Yes |
| Verification date | Yes |
| Reviewer | Yes |
| Qualification (if any) | Required if claim is qualified |
| Screenshot or archived evidence | Retained internally |
Pricing Comparison Rules
- Pricing comparisons use equivalent monthly volumes on both sides.
- Annual discounts are applied consistently: ApexMail annual discount is applied when comparing annual billing.
- Where competitor pricing varies by volume tier, the tier closest to the stated volume assumption is selected.
- Currencies are displayed in their native denomination. Where conversion context is useful, the ECB reference rate at the verification date is noted.
Feature Comparison Rules
- Features are compared based on publicly documented availability at the stated plan tier.
- “Available on higher plans” is noted only when the feature is not available on the compared plan.
- “Available as add-on” includes the add-on price where published.
- Features listed as “planned” or “coming soon” are excluded unless a firm release date is published by the vendor.
- ApexMail features listed as “available” must be generally available in production at the time of verification.
Subjective Assessment Policy
- Subjective labels (“better,” “superior,” “basic,” “limited”) are replaced with measurable statements.
- Where a qualitative assessment is unavoidable, it is explicitly labeled as an ApexMail editorial assessment with the criteria stated.
- Competitor advantages are acknowledged explicitly and without qualification.
Correction and Dispute Process
- Vendors or readers may submit corrections to security@apexmail.ee.
- Corrections are verified against official sources within 5 business days.
- Verified corrections are published with a correction date.
- An errata section noting the correction appears at the bottom of the affected page.
Review Cadence
| Check type | Frequency |
|---|---|
| Pricing accuracy (all competitors) | Every 90 days |
| Feature claims (critical rows) | Every 30 days |
| Feature claims (all rows) | Every 90 days |
| Source URL validity | Every 90 days |
| Full re-verification | Every 180 days or on major vendor release |
Limitations
- Comparisons reflect publicly available information at the verification date. Vendors may change pricing and features without notice.
- Enterprise pricing (custom quotes, volume discounts) is not compared unless publicly listed.
- Comparisons do not constitute legal advice, purchasing recommendations, or contractual offers.
- Performance benchmarks (latency, throughput) are not compared unless independently measured by ApexMail under disclosed test conditions.