How our price checks work

• What the label means

  Some of our guides give one figure for many sellers, such as a typical monthly price. That figure always carries the label "Hot or Nothing price check", the month we checked the prices and the number of sellers it covers, for example "Hot or Nothing price check, October 2026, 18 sellers". The label links to this page.

• What counts as a seller price

  A price counts only when the seller shows it publicly on its own page, we have the link to that page, and we know the month we read it. A price with no link to the seller's page, or with no month we read it, is left out before the article is written. Anywhere else in a guide, a single seller's price sits on the same line as its source, usually a link to that seller's page.

• Like for like

  We compare the same product, in the same form, for the same billing period. We never convert a price to another period, so a 12-week price is compared only with other 12-week prices, and a monthly price with other monthly prices.

• How many sellers

  A price check always covers at least 2 sellers, so a single seller's price never gets the label. Each seller counts once, and the label always tells you how many sellers the figure covers, so you can judge it for yourself.

• The month

  The month in the label is the month we read the sellers' pages. Prices change, so check the seller's own page before you buy.

• How the figure is worked out

  The figure is the range, from the lowest price to the highest, with each seller counted once. When the check covers 3 or more sellers, we may add the middle price too. To find it we sort the prices from lowest to highest and take the one in the middle. With an even number of prices, it is halfway between the two in the middle. We do not publish a figure in any other way, and we never call it an average.