How we rank

Every guide on Singapore Best compares real Singapore businesses on criteria we publish here. We check the evidence ourselves and log where each fact came from and when.

What we score

Criterion	Weight	Where we check it
Registered and trading	2x	Singapore's ACRA business register (public data): still live, and years since incorporation
Licences and credentials	2x	The issuing body's public register, where the category needs a licence
Pricing and scope	2x	The business's own website: are prices and what is included published?
Customer reviews	2x	Public review profiles, checked by hand and dated; volume counts as much as the average

Addresses are confirmed against OpenStreetMap and the business's own website.

Each business gets a score from 0 to 5 on each criterion. The ranking is the weighted total, worked out the same way for every business on the page.

How each score is worked out

Registered and trading. We look the business up on ACRA's public register.

• 5: live for 10 years or more
• 4: live for 5 to 9 years
• 3: live for 2 to 4 years
• 2: live for under 2 years, or registered outside Singapore
• 1: we could not match the business to a live ACRA record. It may trade under a different registered name, and the guide says so

If a business has restructured, for example from a sole proprietorship into a company, we count from its earliest registration under the same name and cite both records. A business that ACRA shows as struck off or ceased is removed once a second check confirms it is the same business.

Licences and credentials. Where the law requires a licence, we look for it on the regulator's own register: 5 if it is current. If we cannot find a required licence, the business is not listed until it is confirmed. Where no licence is required, every business starts at 3, and gets 4 for one accreditation or 5 for two or more that we could verify on the issuer's own public page. A badge on the business's own website does not count until we have seen it on the issuer's page.

Pricing and scope. We read the business's own website, including every pricing or packages page it links to.

• 5: fixed prices for its main services, with what each price includes
• 4: prices with what is included, but mostly as starting prices or ranges
• 3: a few starting prices, ranges or example figures, without a breakdown of what is included
• 2: no prices, but a detailed list of what a package includes
• 1: no prices and no package details, quote on request
• 0: no working website

When a website will not load for us. Some websites block automated visitors, and we do not try to get around that. We read the Internet Archive's most recent public copy instead and show its date beside the fact. If there is no copy from the last 12 months, or the website is behind a password, we do not rank the business this time. The guide names it under "Not ranked this time" with the reason, and that is not a verdict on the business.

Customer reviews. Scored from the rating and the number of reviews on the business's public review profile, checked and dated, with volume counting as much as the average.

Ties, and our own businesses. When two businesses have the same score, the one with more verified reviews comes first once reviews are counted, and otherwise they are listed alphabetically. A business owned by our publisher is always placed after the businesses it ties with. Where a judgement about one of our publisher's own businesses could go either way, we take the lower score.

When a check is not finished. We only count a criterion in a guide once every business in that guide has been checked on it. Until then the guide lists it as being re-checked and leaves it out of every score, so no business is ranked on figures we have not verified.

Featured partners

Some businesses pay for a featured slot. Their card sits above the ranked list and is labelled Sponsored. Their place in the ranked list is decided by the same scores as everyone else's, and our software does not let anyone set a rank by hand.

Guides we are still re-reviewing

We are re-checking older guides against these criteria. Until a guide has been re-reviewed, it says so in its "How we ranked these" box, and any business that paid for placement is still labelled Sponsored.

Spotted something wrong?

Tell us on our contact page. We correct factual errors and note the correction on the page.