How We Review & Score Tools

Every score on PassivePin comes out of the same pipeline. Here's the whole thing, no secrets.

1. Live testing first. A tool enters the index only after we've run it on our own hardware — typically a Raspberry Pi 5, an Intel N100 mini PC, and at least one budget VPS — for a minimum of two weeks. We measure actual bandwidth consumed, CPU/RAM load, and heat/power draw where relevant.

2. Payout verification. We don't publish earnings until money (or tokens) actually arrives in an account we control. Screenshots and transaction hashes stay in our records. 'PAYING' means paid within the last re-check cycle; 'WATCH' means delays, silent term changes, or support black holes; 'CLOSED' means dead — and we leave those pages up as warnings.

3. Five factors, weighted: payout reliability (30%), realistic earnings vs. claimed earnings (25%), setup friction (15%), resource footprint (15%), longevity signals — team, funding, track record (15%).

4. Monthly re-checks. Badges and scores are revisited every month, and immediately after any major announcement (token launch, payout change, acquisition). Pages show their last-reviewed date so you can judge freshness yourself.

5. Reader reports. Community reports are weighed against our own data. Multiple independent reports of missed payouts trigger an immediate re-check, regardless of schedule.

Conflicts of interest are handled structurally: reviewers don't know which tools have active referral deals until after scores lock. It's a small team, but the spreadsheet doesn't lie.