How we test

Every ranking on this site follows the same method. We score what an owner feels first — not what looks good in a sales deck.

The four things every listing has to earn

1. Real, published pricing

Management fees and software pricing are taken from the company’s own site. If pricing is quote-only or hidden, the entry is marked “not published” — never estimated.

2. Live-site verification

We open every company’s website and confirm it is a real, operating business. Defunct, parked or silently-acquired brands are removed from the list.

3. Owner fit

We weight the things that decide an owner’s experience: payout clarity, response time, cleaning and turnover reliability, contract terms and lock-in.

4. Sourced criticism only

When we say something negative about a company, it links to a real review or record. We do not publish unbacked opinion as fact.

How positions are decided

Rankings are our editorial judgement, formed from the criteria above for the target owner. Large national brands often sit lower not because they are bad, but because their pricing and scale fit a different owner than the independent local operators we rank at the top.

Prices and details change. Each entry shows when it was last reviewed, and we re-check the lists regularly.