Methodology

1. No overall Deal Score

We do not combine price, free allowance, privacy, speed and reliability into one 0–100 score. Fixed weights would impose a hidden utility function on users.

2. AccessValueGroup

1. Permanent unlimited free
2. Permanent recurring free
3. Other no-expiry free
4. Temporary unlimited free
5. Temporary metered free
6. One-time free credit
7. Paid

Numeric sorting only happens when units are genuinely comparable. For example, 10M tokens/month can be compared with 5M tokens/month; 100 prompts/day is not forcibly converted into tokens/month. Public Deal views do not use the migration-era legacy comparableMetric by default; without a trusted typed-derived metric they keep only objective grouping and deterministic order.

Price and Quota objective champions require two positive verification timestamps: the typed fact row itself must have last_verified_at, and the exact fact must also have OFFICIAL/PROVIDER Primary Evidence with its own last_verified_at. A verified parent AccessOption, evidence-only freshness, or fact-only freshness is not sufficient.

A Quota proves how much allowance is included; it does not prove that access is free. Stable free access requires an ACTIVE FREE_TIER Plan with its own positive last_verified_at and exact OFFICIAL/PROVIDER Primary Evidence. Quota evidence then independently proves allowance size. A paid subscription with included monthly usage does not become a free option or free-allowance champion.

A stable Plan is established only when official or Provider evidence explicitly identifies the Plan and its type. AI Deals does not infer FREE_TIER from Quota, noExpiry, a `$0` usage component, Deal type or marketing language. Those signals may trigger further verification, but they are not sufficient proof of a stable free tier.

Quota.noExpiry only means the allowance has no stated expiry; it does not by itself prove “free forever.” A one-time ONCE allowance remains one-time even if its balance does not expire. Finite ongoing allowances must also have no duration or unresolved condition and are compared only within the same metric × reset period × credit-currency qualifier. Provider-specific credits without an explicit currency are not compared across providers.

Best Free AI separates stable FREE_TIER access options from current free Promotions. They are not forced into one blended overall ranking.

3. Pareto dominance

If option B is no better than option A on every known comparable dimension and worse on at least one, B may be collapsed into Other options. Any meaningful trade-off keeps both options visible. Price contributes to Pareto only when price type, currency, unit and price-region qualifier all match; otherwise price is incomparable.

4. Verification evidence hierarchy

Third-party lists and community posts can discover candidates, but cannot independently create Verified facts. AI is a fallback interpreter when deterministic extraction is insufficient.

Use-case capability filters also require fact-level evidence. Any CapabilityAssignment that changes eligibility must itself have positive OFFICIAL/PROVIDER Primary Evidence and its own capability last_verified_at. A verified parent AccessOption cannot substitute for capability evidence, and discovery-only SUPPORTED or UNSUPPORTED rows cannot qualify or disqualify an option.

Model intent pages do not borrow parent verification either. /pricing uses only current PriceComponents with both fact-row and evidence verification. /free additionally requires the access path to belong to an evidence-backed ACTIVE FREE_TIER Plan; Quota alone cannot prove free access. The Quota still needs its own fact-and-evidence verification to be shown as a verified allowance. Legacy currentPrice/freeAllowance cannot create “currently verified” eligibility, and the SEO candidate builder uses the same conditions.

Plan-owned PriceComponent and Quota rows are valid stable commercial facts. Public comparison reads project those Plan-owned facts onto related AccessOptions while preserving exact Plan/Price/Quota provenance; facts are not duplicated merely for display.

5. Checked ≠ Verified ≠ Changed

• last_checked_at — last attempted check
• last_verified_at — last positive verification evidence
• last_changed_at — last material business change

A 429, 403, 5xx or timeout only means the check failed; it is not evidence that an offer expired. Fact categories also cannot inherit the parent AccessOption last_verified_at and present it as their own freshness.

6. Data provenance labels

• Provider data — sourced from official/provider evidence
• Calculated by AI Deals — derived from structured facts, e.g. Cheapest
• Community reported — real-world Worked / Didn’t work reports
• Sponsored — paid placement that cannot change natural ranking

7. Fastest / Most Reliable

Fastest and Most Reliable require real comparable measurements for the same model, access type, region and time window with a minimum sample size. Provider marketing claims are not benchmark evidence.

8. Commercial separation

Referral revenue, affiliate commission and sponsored bids never enter AccessOptionRanking, Pareto logic or Objective Champion calculations.