Useful consumer-review hub for solar, but it earns its money selling leads to the same installers it lists, and critics call it a lead-gen site first.
What it's really for A crowd-review site for solar installers, monetized by selling them consumer leads.
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its consumer-review rankings of solar installers, not everything the site does.
High Scoring Confidence Checked against primary sources. We are confident in the facts and the grade here.
Solar installers pay it most, via per-lead fees; SolarReviews says these payments do not buy higher ranking or suppress bad reviews, though it both ranks installers and sells them leads.
Source →- Operating since
- 2012 (14 years) · source
- What it costs you
- Free to read The reviews are free to read.
- How they make money
- It makes money on lead generation, charging solar installers roughly $18-$98 per consumer quote request.
- What they do
- It aggregates consumer-submitted reviews and recency-weighted star rankings of U.S. solar installers and equipment, plus a free solar cost calculator and educational content.
- What to watch for
- Rankings rest on self-reported consumer reviews rather than hands-on testing, and by its own disclosure it cannot fully eliminate fake positive or negative reviews.
- Composite score
- 2.00 / 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
- SolarReviews states its revenue comes from solar companies paying a fee per quote request, usually between $18 and $98 depending on location, and claims it does not let companies pay for higher ranking or to hide bad reviews. Source: SolarReviews FAQs →
- Co-founder Andrew Sendy remains a major shareholder in Solar Wholesalers, a large residential installer in South Australia, while SolarReviews both ranks installers and sells them leads. Source: SolarReviews - What authority and expertise does SolarReviews have? →
- A Tesla Motors Club analysis argues SolarReviews functions primarily as a lead-generation website that monetizes installer reviews by directing traffic to paying companies, rather than as a pure review site. Source: Tesla Motors Club forum analysis →