The rules the rankings run on.

Ownership

AIEmailAssistants.com is owned by Inbox Zero Inc., maker of Inbox Zero. Inbox Zero is included in this directory. Rankings follow our published testing rubric; submissions and sponsorships do not affect editorial scores.

We do not describe this site as independent of Inbox Zero, and we place this disclosure near ranking content and in the footer of every page. Inbox Zero is tested with the same inbox, the same rubric, and the same reviewer as every other tool, and its limitations are published alongside its score.

How rankings are produced

• Ranked positions come only from the published testing methodology — never from revenue, referral clicks, or vendor relationships.
• Tools without a completed hands-on test are shown as “Not yet tested” and hold no ranked position.
• Unverified values are labeled “Placeholder” until verified; we never present invented numbers or claims as factual.
• Outbound clicks to vendors are never a scoring input.

What sponsorship can and cannot buy

Paid placements, when they exist, appear only in a clearly labeled sponsored slot that is visually separate from the editorial ranking. A vendor may purchase that slot. A vendor may never purchase a score, an award, a review, a ranked position, or a change to editorial copy.

Submissions and moderation

Vendors can submit or update a listing. Every submission goes to a moderation queue; nothing auto-publishes, and no submitted claim is presented as verified until we have tested it or confirmed it against documentation. Submitting does not guarantee inclusion or timing, and it never affects ranking.

Corrections

Vendors and readers may flag factual errors — pricing, provider support, permissions, features. We verify against documentation or retesting and correct promptly, with a last-verified date. Corrections fix facts; they never change scores outside the published rubric.

Freshness

Changeable facts carry a last-verified date. When an entry goes stale, it loses its score until re-verified rather than continuing to rank on old evidence.