A crowdsourced "Like"-driven directory of software alternatives; useful for discovery, but by its own FAQ the ranking formula is not fully disclosed.
What it's really for A crowd-driven 'alternatives to X' site sorted by popularity and likes; ad and affiliate funded.
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its community-ranked app alternatives, not everything the site does.
Medium Scoring Confidence Mostly sourced, but a detail or two still needs a primary source, so the grade could shift slightly.
- Operating since
- 2009 (17 years) · source
- What it costs you
- Free to read The reviews are free to read.
- How they make money
- Free site monetized by display advertising and affiliate links rather than by selling listings.
- What they do
- Lets a community suggest, "Like," and review alternatives to any app, then sorts them by popularity and an internal "Rank" score.
- What to watch for
- Rankings lean heavily on user "Likes" that vendors can solicit, and the company says it cannot be fully open about how its "Rank" algorithm weighs them.
- Composite score
- 2.60 / 5.00 → grade C+
How the grade was reached
Does the site take money from the very entities it ranks? Pay-for-placement, vendor-funded data, and affiliate commissions all pull this down. The less the ranking can be bought, the higher the score.
What is the ranking actually built on? Hands-on testing scores highest, then verified first-hand reviews, then opinion or popularity surveys and self-reported figures, then pay-to-rank, which scores lowest.
Is the methodology published, specific, and reproducible? Can a reader see how a given rank was reached, or is it a black box?
Are commercial relationships, sponsorships, and affiliate arrangements disclosed clearly and near the rankings themselves, rather than buried?
How hard is it to game? Controls against fake reviews, solicited reviews, and vendor gaming raise this; an open box anyone can stuff lowers it.
Evidence
- Founded in 2009 by Ola Johansson and Markus Olausson; owned by 27 Kilobyte AB. The site lists alternatives and sorts them by criteria including the number of registered users who have 'Liked' each one. Source: Wikipedia - AlternativeTo →
- AlternativeTo does not rank apps on likes alone; 'Rank' is its own algorithm of several parameters, likes being one of the most important, and the team says it 'can't be 100% open with exactly how they do it.' Organic likes are favored. Source: AlternativeTo FAQ →
- Listing is free and cannot be claimed by businesses; the platform supports user reviews/opinions but vendors can't reply to reviews. No sponsored-listing or pay-to-rank product is documented. Source: myPresences - AlternativeTo listing guide →