The most transparent lab testing on the web, now partly behind a paywall and wrapped in affiliate links.
What it's really for An independent electronics testing lab; reviewing is the whole job, though buy links and a paywall now sit around it.
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its lab-tested scores for TVs, headphones, and monitors, not everything the site does.
High Scoring Confidence Checked against primary sources. We are confident in the facts and the grade here.
RTINGS' largest income source is affiliate commissions from the retailers it links to (Amazon, Best Buy, Shop-Links), and RTINGS itself concedes this model "naturally creates incentives to recommend higher-priced products or those with higher commissions" — meaning the parties whose products it links/ranks are effectively who pays it most.
Source →- Operating since
- 2011 (15 years) · source
- What it costs you
- Partly paywalled Some content is free, but the full reviews or detailed ratings sit behind a paid subscription.
- How they make money
- It earns affiliate commissions when readers click through to retailers like Amazon and Best Buy, plus a $45/year paid membership and resale of the used products it tests; it runs no display ads.
- What they do
- It publishes original, data-driven scores and reviews of consumer electronics (TVs, headphones, monitors, soundbars, appliances) based on standardized in-house lab tests of units it buys itself.
- What to watch for
- Since March 2026 the full test results and detailed measurements sit behind a $45/year paywall, so a casual visitor now only sees top-line scores; also, the "buy" links it surrounds those scores with are affiliate links that pay RTINGS, which by its own admission can tilt recommendations toward higher-priced or higher-commission products.
- Composite score
- 4.30 / 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
- Founded in 2011 by Cédric Demers, initially as a site that compiled reviews from other websites; it buys products itself rather than accepting manufacturer samples specifically to avoid bias and to test budget models not given to reviewers for free. Revenue comes from affiliate commissions plus subscriber fees, and as of March 2026 full test results moved behind a paywall, citing declining Google traffic and uncredited AI scraping. Source: Wikipedia: RTINGS.com →
- RTINGS' dominant revenue source is affiliate links to retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, and Shop-Links; it also sells a $45/year membership and resells tested units as used, and notably runs no display ads. The site purchases and tests products in its own offices rather than taking manufacturer samples. Source: Niche Pursuits: How RTINGS attracts 8M+ visitors and profits without ads →
- RTINGS publishes versioned 'Test Benches' with public changelogs for each product category (TV, headphones, air purifier, refrigerator, VPN, etc.), documenting methodology changes and scoring-weight revisions so tests are reproducible and verifiable. Source: RTINGS Versioned Test Benches →
- RTINGS states it is 'Supported by you via membership, and when you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission,' and acknowledges affiliate revenue 'naturally creates incentives to recommend higher-priced products or those with higher commissions,' which it cites as a reason to shift toward membership. Source: RTINGS: Revamping Our Membership Program →