Editorial independence & disclosures

Proofground’s value depends entirely on being trustworthy. These are the rules that keep it that way.

Vendors cannot pay for placement or scores

No vendor can buy a better grade, a higher ranking, or removal of a result. Providers can pay us to test their demo on a schedule and to run off-schedule re-tests — but those re-tests publish whatever they find, and a score only ever changes through a documented human re-review of the recorded call.

Ownership disclosure

Some vendors we grade are built by Proofground’s founder. Wherever that is the case, we say so directly on the vendor’s page and in any comparison, and that vendor is tested under exactly the same method, judges, and rules as every other — with the same evidence and the same right to dispute.

Evidence and disputes

Every grade links to the recorded call behind it. Any vendor can verify their identity and dispute a result for free; we re-review the call with them and correct the record if we got it wrong, always noting when a score was adjusted.