A methodology gold standard for two decades: exhaustive first-hand benchmarking with published test setups and no pay-for-placement, ad- and affiliate-funded, that stopped publishing new reviews in August 2024.
What it's really for A hardware site (now closed) known for exhaustive lab benchmarking, funded by ads and affiliate.
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its deeply benchmarked hardware reviews, not everything the site does.
High Scoring Confidence Checked against primary sources. We are confident in the facts and the grade here.
Advertisers and affiliate-partner retailers paid it most (Future-era digital revenue runs roughly 60% advertising / 40% affiliate), and by its editorial practice ad/affiliate spend bought ad inventory and commissions, not review scores or rankings.
Source →- Operating since
- 1997 (29 years) · source
- What it costs you
- Free to read The reviews are free to read.
- How they make money
- Made money through digital display advertising and affiliate commissions on hardware purchases, under publisher Future plc.
- What they do
- Published in-depth, hands-on reviews of computer and mobile hardware with exhaustive lab benchmarking, archived in its public "Bench" comparison database.
- What to watch for
- The site no longer publishes new reviews (it ceased publication on August 30, 2024), so its rankings and Bench data are frozen and increasingly dated; older results also mix test configurations, so readers must check the listed setups before comparing.
- Composite score
- 4.40 / 5.00 → grade A
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
- AnandTech was founded in April 1997 by then-14-year-old Anand Lal Shimpi; it was acquired by Purch on December 17, 2014, Purch was acquired by Future plc in 2018, and the publication shut down on August 30, 2024. It was known for 'exhaustive benchmarking' and in-depth hardware reviews. Source: Wikipedia: AnandTech →
- AnandTech's 'Bench' is the centralized database holding all the benchmark data it gathered for CPUs, GPUs, SSDs, laptops and smartphones; each result lists the hardware and test setup used, so readers can see exactly how a number was produced (a reproducible, first-hand testing methodology). Source: AnandTech Bench database →
- Under Future plc, roughly 60% of digital revenue came from advertising with affiliate/eCommerce making up the remainder; Future built the 'Hawk' affiliate platform, driving strong eCommerce revenue growth, defining the ad- and affiliate-based business model the site operated under. Source: AdExchanger: Future plc after Purch acquisition →