The AI Tool Evaluation Scorecard
Compare tools on paper before they compare your money to zero
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This is a light self-assessment, not a full AI assessment. A short questionnaire cannot see your contracts, your data flows, your vendor terms, or the systems you actually run on, and it only knows what you tell it. Treat the score as an indicator of roughly where you stand and what to look at next. It is not an audit, not a finding, and not something to hand to an insurer, a client, or a regulator as evidence.
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Your answers stay on this page. Scoring happens in your browser and answers are saved only on your own device. Nothing reaches us unless you ask for the 15-minute review at the bottom, which sends your score along so the conversation can start somewhere useful.
Score the tool 1 to 5 on each criterion. The weighted total updates as you go. A Data handling score of 1 or 2 kills the purchase on its own, whatever the total says.
The scorecard
Data handling (25%)
5 = Contractual no-training commitment, retention you control, stated storage location, deletion on exit
1 = Free tier, trains on your data, retention unstated
1 = Free tier, trains on your data, retention unstated
Fit and overlap (20%)
5 = Solves a problem you named before seeing the demo; nothing you own already does it
1 = Solves a problem the demo convinced you that you have; two current tools half-do it
1 = Solves a problem the demo convinced you that you have; two current tools half-do it
True cost (15%)
5 = Flat, predictable per-seat price; usage costs capped or visible
1 = Usage-metered with no cap, per-seat plus platform fee plus onboarding
1 = Usage-metered with no cap, per-seat plus platform fee plus onboarding
Exit and lock-in (15%)
5 = Full export in a usable format; cancel monthly; your workflows survive leaving
1 = Data hostage on exit, annual contract, proprietary formats
1 = Data hostage on exit, annual contract, proprietary formats
Admin control (15%)
5 = Central user management, usage visibility, one switch to remove a departed employee
1 = Personal accounts, no admin view, offboarding means asking nicely
1 = Personal accounts, no admin view, offboarding means asking nicely
Support and stability (10%)
5 = Real support humans, a public roadmap, a vendor likely to exist in two years
1 = A Discord, a founder's inbox, funding rumors
1 = A Discord, a founder's inbox, funding rumors
Weighted total:0.00 / 5
Want to walk through your results with someone? Fifteen minutes.
We will save your score to your contact record and hand you our calendar on the next screen. The call is a review of what you just scored: what the number means for a business your size, and what the next three moves are. If the honest answer is that you can do those yourself, that is what you will hear.