Last updated: 04 July 2026
GeniusFirms is a directory and review platform for software and AI tools, operated by Socialbent. A review platform is only worth as much as the trust behind it, so this page explains in plain language how our ratings are calculated, how rankings are ordered, how we check that reviews are genuine, and how we detect and remove fake reviews. It also explains the one rule that sits above all of this: paying us does not buy a better rating or ranking.
A product’s overall rating is the straight average of the ratings given by reviewers — the real scores, on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, submitted by users who reviewed that product. We do not weight, boost, or adjust the average in a vendor’s favour. Only reviews that remain after our fake-review checks (Section 5) count toward the displayed rating.
We display the number of reviews behind each rating so you can judge how much weight to give it — an average based on many reviews is more reliable than one based on only a few. Ratings can change over time as new reviews are added or as reviews are removed during our fake-review checks.
Some pages present products in an ordered list — for example category rankings or “best of” comparisons. Ranking order is determined independently of any payment.
Order is based on a combination of two things: a product’s average star rating and the number of reviews behind it. This means a product needs both a strong rating and a meaningful number of genuine reviews to rank highly — a single five-star review does not outrank a product with a strong average across many reviews. We may refine how we balance these factors over time to keep rankings useful and fair, and we apply the same approach to every product.
Where a listing is sponsored or promoted, it is clearly labelled as such and is presented separately from, or distinctly marked within, our independent rankings. A sponsored label never means a product earned its position by paying — it means the placement itself is an advertisement. See our Advertising & Affiliate Disclosure for more.
We want ratings to reflect real experiences, so we take steps to confirm that reviews come from genuine users rather than competitors, vendors, or paid posters.
Where a review is flagged as suspicious by our checks or reported to us, we may ask that reviewer to provide documentary evidence that they actually used or purchased the product — for example an invoice, a receipt, an order or subscription confirmation, or email or other communication records. This is requested on a case-by-case basis when something looks off; it is not a routine step for every review. If a reviewer cannot provide reasonable evidence on request, we may decline to publish or may remove the review.
Any evidence a reviewer provides is used only to confirm that the review is authentic. It is reviewed by authorised team members (or service providers acting on our instructions), is not published with the review, and is handled and retained as described in our Privacy Policy.
We treat fake-review removal as an ongoing exercise rather than a one-time check.
When reviews are removed, affected ratings are recalculated automatically, so the displayed score continues to reflect only genuine reviews.
On a product’s page, reviews are shown with the most recent first by default, so you can quickly see the latest experiences. You can also sort and filter the reviews yourself — for example by rating or date — to find what is most useful to you. How reviews are displayed, sorted, or filtered is for your convenience only; it does not change a product’s star rating or its position in our rankings, which are calculated as described in Sections 2 and 3.
Vendors can claim their profile and publicly respond to reviews about them; responses are clearly attributed to the vendor. If a vendor believes a specific review is fake or breaches our rules, they can report it for investigation through our standard process, and we assess such reports against the same criteria described above. The process for reporting unlawful or defamatory content is set out in our Terms & Conditions.
To remove any doubt: purchasing a plan, sponsorship, or advertising with GeniusFirms gives a vendor features such as an enhanced profile and tools to engage with reviews. It does not change their star rating, move them up the rankings, suppress genuine negative reviews, or alter our editorial assessment. Ratings and rankings are driven by genuine user reviews and the criteria on this page, applied the same way to paying and non-paying vendors alike. Full detail is in our Advertising & Affiliate Disclosure.
We refine our rating, verification, and fake-review methods over time to keep them effective, and we will update this page when our approach changes materially. If you have questions about how a rating or ranking was determined, or want to report a review, contact us at [email protected] or via our contact page.