Every score on AI Agents Choice comes from the same six criteria, weighted the same way for every tool. We publish the method so you can check our reasoning, disagree with it, or reweight it for your own needs. No vendor pays for a score, and sponsored placements never change one.
Key Takeaways
- Scores run from 0 to 10, with one decimal place.
- Six criteria: Autonomy, Ease of Setup, Pricing Value, Integrations, Trust and Security, and User Sentiment.
- Each criterion score is backed by a documented fact, shown on the review page.
- Facts come from the vendor’s own pricing, documentation and security pages; sentiment comes from public review sites.
- Scores are rechecked when pricing or features change, and the check date is shown on every review.
The Six Criteria and Their Weights
| Criterion | Weight | What We Look At |
|---|---|---|
| Autonomy | 25% | How much of the job the agent finishes on its own, and whether it can act in other systems with guardrails |
| Pricing Value | 20% | Published prices, free plan or trial, and how predictable costs are as usage grows |
| Ease of Setup | 15% | Whether a team can get it working without engineers or a long onboarding project |
| Integrations | 15% | Documented connections and APIs that matter for the agent’s job |
| User Sentiment | 15% | Ratings and review themes on public review sites, weighted by review count |
| Trust and Security | 10% | Certifications such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA support, data-training policy, admin and audit controls |
How Each Criterion Is Scored
Autonomy
- 9 to 10: completes multi-step work end to end and takes actions in other systems, with guardrails.
- 6 to 8: completes defined tasks, with some steps left to a person.
- 3 to 5: mostly drafts or suggests for a person to act on.
- 0 to 2: a chatbot that answers but does not act.
Ease of Setup
- 9 to 10: self-serve and working within an hour, according to the vendor’s documentation.
- 6 to 8: self-serve, with configuration to do.
- 3 to 5: needs technical setup or sales-led onboarding.
- 0 to 2: long implementation projects.
Pricing Value
- 9 to 10: published prices, a free plan or trial, and predictable costs.
- 6 to 8: published prices, with usage charges that can climb.
- 3 to 5: partial pricing or a high entry cost.
- 0 to 2: quote only, with no published figures.
Integrations, Trust and Security, and User Sentiment
Integrations are scored on the number and depth of documented connections that matter for the agent’s job, not on long lists of minor apps. Trust and Security rewards published certifications, clear data-use terms and admin controls. User Sentiment converts public ratings to a 10-point scale, weights them by review count, and moves the score down when reviewers repeatedly report serious problems. A tool with no public ratings yet gets a neutral 5.0 for sentiment.
How the Overall Score Is Calculated
The overall score is the weighted average of the six criteria, rounded to one decimal place. For example, a tool scoring 8 on Autonomy, 7 on Ease of Setup, 6 on Pricing Value, 9 on Integrations, 8 on Trust and Security and 8 on User Sentiment gets 0.25 × 8 + 0.15 × 7 + 0.20 × 6 + 0.15 × 9 + 0.10 × 8 + 0.15 × 8 = 7.6.
What a Score Does Not Mean
A score compares tools on documented facts and public sentiment. It is not a lab benchmark, and unless a review says otherwise, we have not run the product ourselves. A lower-scoring tool can still be the right pick for your team, which is why every review also says who should use the tool and who should skip it. Read more in our editorial policy, or tell us if a fact has changed.