How We Pick Products and Services
At The Spruce, our goal is to provide you with the best products and services to suit your home and needs. That is why our team of editors and experts test and curate over 10,000 products a year to bring you recommendations you can trust. We have over 14 million people visiting our site each year to get the best how-to and shopping advice.
Why You Should Trust Us
At The Spruce, we aspire to provide the highest quality content produced by humans, for humans. It is against our guidelines to publish automatically generated content using AI (artificial intelligence) writing tools such as ChatGPT.
Product and service recommendations from The Spruce are purely editorial and independent. Occasionally, brands and PR agencies will send us items for editorial consideration, but our thoughts and opinions are our own. We never accept a product in exchange for positive coverage. Once we have the items, we treat them just as we do the ones we bought ourselves, and we’ll only recommend them if we think they’re really great.
We feature brands owned or founded by people who identify as Black, Indigenous, other people of color, and other minority groups whenever possible. We are also committed to hiring a diverse group of contributors and staff members on our team, which is outlined in Our Diversity and Inclusion Plan.
- The Spruce / Dera Burreson
What We Do
Need a new washing machine? We’ve got you covered. Our team of seasoned editors and writers reaches out to experts to get advice on what you really need to consider when you’re shopping. We test products (like pillows or patio umbrellas) ourselves in our labs or at home to get hands-on experience.
We also know not everyone’s looking for the same things when shopping (some people might want soft sheets while others prefer crisp) so we like to offer a few recommendations. We always consider value when making recommendations, providing options along various price points that we think are worth their price.
Our jobs require us to spend a lot of time online shopping, and we want to pass along some of that expert knowledge to you. In addition to lists of the best products for your home, we share new launches and can’t-miss sales, and personal stories about items we all love.
How We Test Our Products
We think hands-on experience is critical to helping you make the right decision. Since you can’t test drive 60 different sheet sets before buying them, we do the work for you. We test products in one of our three testing labs around the country and in the homes of our team members and freelance writers to determine whether they live up to their claims—and if they are worth your money. Articles with the Spruce Approved seal of approval have undergone thorough, hands-on vetting to earn a spot on our list.
How We Test 100s of Products Every Single Month
How We Review Services
Unlike many products, certain services—such as long-distance moving and termite control—are more difficult for our editors and writers to try at home. When this is the case, our in-house research team collects extensive data and, in some instances, conducts consumer surveys to gather as much information as possible on each company being considered for inclusion in one of our buying guides. Some of the ways they obtain data are through customer service calls, online or over-the-phone quotes, and discussions with subject matter experts.
Together with the editorial team, our researchers compile a specific set of criteria to work off of for every category we cover, from home improvement to green energy solutions. Once the data has been filled in, each criteria point is assigned a weight as a means of scoring each company. Our “Best of” lists are then compiled using those scores.
How We Find Deals
In today’s world, it’s hard to know what a true deal is. That’s why we scour the internet to provide you with the biggest deals we see in our research, as well as alert you when some of your favorite brands are having their yearly sales. We get up at the crack of dawn on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Prime Day to make sure you know what to buy on the big sale days.
We also constantly monitor shopping trends so we can tell you where to buy the coolest decorations for your living room or if the newest vacuum on the market is worth upgrading to. We are your go-to source for the latest and greatest out there, from your bedroom to your patio and everything in between.
- The Spruce / Rachel Marek
Fact Checking
Our team of seasoned editors fact checks our content to make sure statistics are up to date and we are providing accurate information on the products and services we recommend.
It’s frustrating to do the research and make your final selection only to find that a product is out of stock. We try to mitigate this by having dedicated editors check availability to provide you with the best user experience possible. While our primary focus is on the products, we also evaluate customer service, warranty information, and the delivery experience for hundreds of online merchants to give you a complete picture of the buying experience.
We regularly re-test products awarded The Spruce Approved seal and update our findings to ensure you have access to the most up-to-date offerings and information.
Our goal is to help you make an informed buying decision, so you’ll know what you’re getting before you click the buy button. We spell everything out for you in an easy-to-understand way, sharing in-depth information about why we know these products deserve to carry The Spruce Approved seal.
How We Make Money
We receive an affiliate commission on some, but not all, of the products we recommend—but only if you decide to click through to the retailer’s site and make a purchase. We only recommend retailers that we trust and have a proven track record for service and dependability.
- The Spruce / Phoebe Cheong
Safety
Please note that all products, including those we review and recommend, may from time to time be subject to recalls or revised use recommendations. We, therefore, urge you to monitor any official announcements from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) that may be related to products you purchase and it is always best to register your purchases with the manufacturer so you can get alerted if a recall is issued.
Contact Us
If you have questions, comments, or opinions you’d like to share with our team of editors, please feel free to email us at thespruceapproved@thespruce.com.
Meet Our Team
Barbara Gillette
Master Gardener
Barbara Gillette is a Master Gardener, Herbalist, beekeeper, and journalist with three decades of experience propagating and growing fruits, vegetables, herbs, and ornamentals. From sowing seed to harvest, from heirloom tomatoes to wild orchids, her gardening experience encompasses first hand knowledge of best practices for success.
She has worked with the University of Kentucky Department of Agricultural Communications and with several commercial greenhouse operations and was past president of the Anderson County Farmer’s Market Cooperative. She has cultivated and planted more than 150 shrubs and trees on her eight acre property over the past 23 years.
Amanda Rose Newton
Board Certified Entomologist
Amanda Rose Newton is a pest specialist, reviewing pest control content for The Spruce’s Cleaning Review Board. She is a board-certified entomologist and volunteers for USAIDs Farmer to Farmer program. Currently, she is a professor of Horticulture, an Education Specialist, and pest specialist.She has a decade’s worth of experience in both the academic and professional sides of horticulture and entomology. Her focus is on educating gardeners to use sustainable practices that will lead to improved food security and quality for the next generation.
Julie Thompson-Adolf
Master Gardener
Julie Thompson-Adolf is a Master Gardener and author with over 30 years of experience with year-round organic gardening, seed starting and saving, growing heirloom plants, perennials, and annuals, and sustainable and urban farming.
She’s a Master Gardener, served on the National Garden Bureau’s Plant Nerds team, and joined with television host P. Allen Smith for Garden2Blog. Julie is a member of Garden Comm: Garden Communicators International, Slow Food, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, and many other environmental and gardening groups.
Debra LaGattuta
Master Gardener
Debra is a Master Gardener who received her official title in 2015. She has over 30+ years of experience as a home gardener experienced in designing, planting, and maintaining cottage-style perennial, vegetable, and four-season container gardens.
She is the lead gardener in a Plant-A-Row, which is a program that offers thousands of pounds of organically-grown vegetables to local food banks. She is also the author of several gardening presentations on topics including perennial plant primers, hardy perennials for different zones, and vegetable gardening.
Andrew Hughes
Certified Arborist
Andrew Hughes is a certified arborist, member of the International Society of Arborists specializing in tree heal care, and reviews tree content on The Spruce’s Gardening Review Board. He founded and runs Urban Loggers, LLC, a company offering residential tree services in the Midwest and Connecticut.
Mary Marlowe Leverette
Master Gardener
Mary has been a Master Gardener for 30+ years and a commercial and residential gardener. She is a former Clemson University Extension Agent. She worked to develop the Riverbanks Botanical Garden that opened in 1995.
Along with her brother, Mary owns Marlowe Farms Apple Orchards and has 50+ years of experience in vegetables, annuals, and perennials in the home garden as well as commercial crops.
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