last checked 2026-10-23 · UX Shortlist team
How we shortlist
Every ranking on this site uses the same rubric to assess to verified facts: named projects, Clutch records, published rates and minimums. We verify at source, we never estimate, and firms that publish nothing score nothing for transparency. This page shows the rubric weights, what counts as evidence, where each field comes from, and how a firm moves up or down. We do not publish per-agency numeric scorecards; the rankings are editorial comparisons informed by the rubric and the cited evidence, not totals readers can independently recalculate.
The rubric
| Criterion | Max | What earns it |
|---|---|---|
| Named work | 30 | A named client, a named project, and 1 detail you can check: a metric, a scope, a shipped product. 2 or more relevant case studies with specifics take full marks. |
| Client evidence | 15 | Verifiable clients in the page's domain, on the agency's own site or in Clutch reviews. |
| The Clutch record | 15 | Rating weighted by review count and recency. A 5.0 across 25 reviews beats a 4.8 across 6. No profile scores 0. |
| Pricing transparency | 10 | A published rate band and project minimum. "Not published" scores 0 here, on purpose. |
| Service depth | 10 | The page's service is a named practice with visible process or a dedicated team, not a nav link. |
| Domain signals | 10 | Checkable credentials: contract vehicles, standards work, proprietary research, regulated-industry delivery. |
| Buyer fit | 10 | Minimum, team size and engagement model match the page's buyer. |
Deductions: unresolved ownership after an acquisition, key facts we could not verify at source, and a portfolio with no dated work in roughly 3 years each cost points. Ties break on review recency, then breadth of relevant named clients. An agency appears on a page only when it scores on Named work for that page; there are no courtesy listings, and defunct or absorbed studios are not listed as hireable. Acquired firms are named with their parent in the first line of their entry.
What counts as evidence, and what does not
Evidence is a named client plus a named project plus a checkable detail. Logo walls, testimonials on an agency's own site, and pay-to-enter awards count for nothing in our scoring.
The distinction matters because agency marketing is built to blur it. A logo tells you a contract existed once; it does not tell you what shipped. A testimonial curated by the firm being praised is not a review, and we never present it as equivalent evidence. An award with an entry fee measures marketing budget. What we score instead: case studies with numbers, Clutch reviews in volume, published pricing, and credentials a reader can verify in public records, like a GSA contract number on SAM.gov or an acquisition in an acquirer's own newsroom.
Where each field comes from
Rate band, project minimum, team band, rating and review count: the agency's Clutch profile, read directly, with the check date printed on every page. HQ, offices, founding year, clients, case-study details, services: the agency's own website. Ownership: the acquirer's or agency's own announcement, or regulatory filings. Government contract facts: SAM.gov and GSA records. We never source a fact from a third-party roundup, and when our 2 sources conflict, the entry says so instead of picking quietly. Anything unverifiable prints as Not published or is left out.
Re-check cadence
Every list page is re-verified at least twice a year, in April and October, and launch pages get their first full re-check in January 2027, 3 months after going live.
A reported error triggers an immediate check of the affected facts, outside the cycle, with corrections shipped within 7 days. Each page carries a Last checked date and a What changed log; both move only when content changes, so a stale date is a bug, not a style choice.
How a firm moves up, down, or off
Scores move when evidence moves: new named case studies with details, review counts growing or going stale, pricing published or withdrawn, an acquisition changing what a buyer is actually hiring. Firms can send us corrections and new evidence at hello@uxshortlist.com; new claims get verified the same way as everything else before any rank changes, and every movement lands in the page's What changed log. A firm that goes defunct or gets absorbed comes off the lists at the next check, or immediately when reported. The publisher makes the final call on which verified firms join the roster; exclusions never change how the remaining firms are scored or ordered.
What changed
- Clarified that the rubric informs editorial rankings and that per-agency numeric scorecards are not published.
- Method page published with the launch rubric.