How we rank manufacturers
One formula, published here, gives every company on every list an evidence score out of 100. Money can’t move a company up. Paid placements sit in separate boxes labeled Advertisement.
Every fact on a profile links to where it came from. No source, no fact.
A certificate a manufacturer’s website names is shown as named on its site. It counts toward the evidence score only once we have opened the document and checked that it was issued to this manufacturer and is still valid.
Clients, advertisers and companies we have never spoken to are scored the same way.
Where the facts come from
We never copy listings from other directories.
The formula
| # | Criterion | What counts | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Proof of service | How clearly the manufacturer's own website says it makes products for other brands. We count sentences we can quote word for word, each with its link: one quote gives 9 points, two give 18, three or more give 25. The same sentence on another language version of the page counts once. | 25 |
| 2 | Documented certificates | Certificates we have opened as documents and checked: issued to this manufacturer by a certification body and still valid on the day we score. Each checked certificate gives 10 points, up to 20. A certificate the manufacturer only names on its site is shown on its profile but gives no points, and neither do licences, memberships or ratings. | 20 |
| 3 | Published terms | Whether the manufacturer publishes its terms on its own site: a minimum order gives 8 points, a production lead time gives 7. | 15 |
| 4 | Register match | Whether we have the manufacturer's national registration number, from its own website or the official company register of its country. | 15 |
| 5 | Export record | Whether the manufacturer names countries or markets it sells to outside its own country. Its own country, or a count such as “20+ countries”, does not qualify. | 10 |
| 6 | Response to our test request | Whether the manufacturer answered our anonymous test request, and how concretely. We have not sent test requests yet, so this criterion gives 0 points to every manufacturer for now. | 15 |
| Total | 100 |
One criterion is not in use yet, so every manufacturer gets 0 for it: response to our test request. The highest evidence score any manufacturer can reach today is therefore 85 out of100. The evidence score measures how much of what a buyer needs to know the manufacturer has on the record. It does not rate the quality of the products.
When two manufacturers have the same evidence score, the one with fewer facts missing from its profile ranks first; if that is equal too, alphabetical order decides. A list page shows the top 10 first and the other checked manufacturers below them.
What changed in method v1.1 on 29 September 2026: the same sentence on another language version of a page now counts as one quote; a manufacturer’s own country and bare counts such as “70+ countries” no longer count as export markets; and certificates give points once we have opened and checked the document.
AI disclosure
Payment or advertising.
Being a NordSourced client. Client relationships are disclosed on the profile.
Reviews or awards we cannot verify.
Any company can correct a fact about itself by sending a document. We re-check and log the change with a date.
Send a correction