How we review trade compliance software
This market's review layer is broken in a specific way: the "comparison" content that ranks is written by vendors about themselves, by AI content farms that have never opened the products, or by horizontal platforms that file sanctions screening under three different category names. Our methodology is designed against those failure modes.
The six scoring dimensions
- List coverage & data freshness — which sanctions/denied-party lists a tool covers, how fast list changes propagate, and how ownership rules (like the OFAC 50% rule) are handled.
- Match quality controls — fuzzy-matching tunability, false-positive management, and alert triage workflow.
- Workflow & audit trail — can you prove to a regulator what was screened, when, by whom, and what was done about hits?
- Integrations — ERP/OMS/CRM connectors and API quality.
- Pricing transparency — vendors that publish real numbers score higher on this dimension, on principle. Quote-only walls cost buyers weeks.
- Support & viability — ownership, funding, and roadmap risk (we track acquisitions closely; this market consolidates fast).
Our sourcing rules
- Every non-obvious fact carries a source link and a last-verified date (currently July 3, 2026 for vendor facts).
- Pricing is only stated when the vendor or a primary source published it. We never launder rumors into numbers.
- Regulatory facts cite primary sources: Federal Register, CBP, BIS, OFAC, the European Commission, court opinions.
- Facts we could not verify are omitted — not hedged, omitted.
- Claims based on vendor documentation are labeled as such, distinct from claims based on our own hands-on testing.
What we don't do
- No affiliate links, as of July 2026. If that ever changes, per-link disclosure — and ranking order stays untouchable.
- No pay-for-placement, no "sponsored #1," no award badges sold to vendors.
- No anonymous authorship. Reviews are signed by a named human you can look up.
- No pretending: where we haven't run a product hands-on, we say so in the review itself.
Frequently asked questions
Does TradeComplianceSoftware.org take money from vendors?
No. As of July 2026 we have zero affiliate relationships, zero sponsored placements, and zero paid rankings. If we ever add a commercial relationship, it will be disclosed on every page where it applies, and it will never touch ranking order.
How are rankings decided?
Six weighted dimensions: list coverage and data freshness (for screening tools), match-quality controls, workflow and audit trail, integrations, pricing transparency, and support/viability. We score from vendor documentation, published pricing, aggregated third-party reviews (G2/Capterra), primary-source regulatory facts, and hands-on testing where we have completed it — and we label which basis applies to every claim.
Do you test the software hands-on?
Where vendors offer trials or demos, yes — and reviews state exactly what we tested and when. Enterprise suites that require six-month implementations cannot be fully hands-on tested by any honest reviewer; for those we say plainly that our assessment rests on documentation, practitioner interviews, and implementation-partner evidence.
How do you handle corrections?
Email editor@tradecompliancesoftware.org. Verified factual errors are corrected within 72 hours and logged. Every vendor fact on this site carries a source link and a last-verified date, so you can check our work.
Questions about the approach? About the site and contact →