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Our methodology
You weigh price against catalog depth and reliability when you compare virtual course marketplaces. AcademyCue organizes each choice through matching criteria across full reviews plus condensed profiles, so you scan verdicts fast and spot trade-offs without guesswork.
Cost influences the tech score at 40%, catalog scope contributes at 40%, plus confidence signals add at 20%. That mix places affordability and selection slightly above reputation, yet safeguards still shift your shortlist order during close calls. You understand exactly how much importance each pillar holds before you commit time or money.
All scores draw upon official brand pages, regulator registers alongside additional cited sources. Detailed reviews cover widely used services, briefer profiles cover emerging alternatives, while comparison tables keep wording parallel through every criterion. Partners appear ahead within each ranking, then remaining options follow sorted by score. You filter by certificate type, subject matter, or budget band to narrow contenders before reading deeper.
Pricing appears beside plan length where published, and limits alongside quotas where disclosed, so value stays tied toward actual access. Criterion led headings structure every page, verdict boxes summarize strengths clearly, and methods remain consistent over time for fair side by side decisions.
This page explains how AcademyCue scores and ranks providers.
What we cover
This site compares online courses, language learning, tutoring, test prep, certifications, audiobooks and ebooks.
What we score
Every provider is scored on a scale of 1 to 10 on the criteria below. The overall score is the weighted average of these criteria.
| Criterion | Weight |
|---|---|
| Cost | 40% |
| Offer | 40% |
| Trust | 20% |
How rankings are ordered
Rankings apply the following priorities in order; a later priority only breaks a tie in the earlier ones:
- Providers with a paid offer serving the current view come before those without one.
- Within each of those groups, providers available in your country come first, followed by those marked unavailable.
- Within each availability group, providers marked as lacking a required licence come after the others.
- Where these priorities tie, affiliate network links come before our own referral or direct partner links.
- Among network offers, an offer explicitly listing your country comes before a broad default offer. Within each of those groups, known expected commission per click comes before unknown values, and higher expected commission comes first. Ties are broken by commission terms (lifetime, revenue share, then per sale or lead) and then higher payout. For referral or direct partner offers, only explicitly listing your country breaks the commercial tie; their payout is not used as expected commission per click.
- Only after all the earlier priorities tie do rated providers come before those marked "not rated yet", followed by higher overall score.
When no country is selected, eligible active offers serving at least one country qualify for the paid group, including offers limited to particular countries. We use the highest recorded expected commission per click across an offer's base value and country values. When a country is selected, its value is used where recorded, otherwise the offer's base value applies.
A provider with a lower score can therefore appear above one with a higher score because of the earlier priorities. Featured cards and sponsor strips sit outside the ranking. A booked placement is labelled "Sponsored"; when none is booked, the featured card shows a partner picked by the commission it pays us, labelled "Featured".
Countries
Global rankings list every relevant provider. When a provider does not accept customers from your country, we mark it and point you to an alternative. Country pages list only providers available in that country.
Sources
Facts come from each provider's own website and documents, public registers, affiliate network listings and other published sources, including independent reviews. Each fact on a page shows its source link and the date we checked it. When a provider publishes no country list, its countries come from its affiliate programme listings, and the page says so. The editorial policy explains how facts are checked.
Keeping it current
Scores change when the facts behind them change. A ranking is published once at least five providers in it are scored, and a provider gets a review page once enough of its key facts are confirmed. Spot a mistake? Write to [email protected].
This page is written by the AcademyCue Editorial Team.