A small desk that reviews software for small businesses
Choosing a CRM, an email tool or a website builder is a decision most owners make once, in a hurry, from a page written by a vendor. We wanted the page a knowledgeable friend would have written instead.
What the site is
OSI Affiliate covers 5 categories of business software: CRM & Sales, Marketing & Automation, Website & Funnel Builders, Project Management & Productivity and Home Services. In each one we review and score the tools a solopreneur or a team under twenty is actually choosing between, and once the reviews are in we keep one short shortlist and write the comparisons that decide between the picks. There are 6 review pages on the site today. Pages identify their authoring desk and evidence; older scores remain labelled as provisional.
It is written for the owner replacing a specific tool, not for a procurement team. So each review says who the tool is for, who should skip it, and what the bill looks like a year in, in plain words and without a login or a demo call.
How it started
The site began as a set of shortlists: two to four picks per category, with the reasoning shown and the affiliate model stated on the page instead of buried in it. That premise has not changed. A useful guide shows the work behind its judgement: the sources checked, the plan required, the limits of the evidence and the practical questions still to test. Documentation research, public demos and account testing are identified separately.
The methodology page is the full method, including its limits.
How we work
- We compare the required job and plan. Feature names matter less than the workflow they enable and the bill a small team would receive.
- We state the evidence basis. Reading documentation and inspecting a vendor demo do not establish product-account testing. Hands-on claims require actual task records.
- We check recommendations against sources. Prices, limits, calculations, images and links must support the decision the article asks a reader to make.
- We identify affiliate links. A commercial relationship must not decide inclusion, position or the reason to skip a product.
Meet the desk
The publication’s authoring desk. We publish organizational authorship rather than presenting unfilled staff profiles as verified reviewers.
OSI Affiliate Reviews DeskEditorial team
Business-software reviews, comparisons and buying guides for small teams. We compare vendor documentation and pricing, explain the limits of our evidence, and identify affiliate links. Each guide states whether it includes account testing, public demos or documentation research.
19 articles
Get in touch
A tool we should review, a pricing line that has gone stale, a caveat you think is unfair, or a comparison you wanted and could not find: all of it is worth a message, and all of it is read by a person.