Methodology of FW Delta Research
This page describes the rules by which every issue is produced: how statements are classified, which sources count, how scores are built, how missing information is handled and which interests FW Delta itself has.
The standard applies to all reports together. Every issue additionally restates its own methodology, sample and limits, so that a report stays verifiable on its own.
Data cutoff of the current report series: 29 July 2026
1. Statement taxonomy
Every load-bearing statement belongs to exactly one class. The classes are not mixed: an observation does not become a calculation, a scenario does not become a customer case, an assessment does not become a fact. In the reports, the class tag stands in front of the statement.
Taken directly from a source and paraphrased: documentation, price list, licence text, regulation, study or published dataset.
Requirement: Primary source preferred, cutoff date named, footnote set, no extension beyond the source.
n8n publishes a pricing logic based on complete workflow Executions, independent of complexity and with unlimited steps.
Derived mathematically from disclosed input data. The calculation is reproducible, the input data are attached as a table or CSV.
Requirement: Formula, input values, rounding rule, exchange rate where converted, and a traceable table.
The median of the pricing transparency index is 80 out of 100 points; 13 of 20 products reach at least 80 points.
A possible constellation, explicitly not observed, used for decision support. A scenario is not a customer case and not a market statement.
Requirement: Named as a scenario, assumptions disclosed, sensitivity shown, no statement about typical market reality without additional evidence.
For lead routing with 10,000 events, the modeled platform component ranges between 5 and 1,154 euros depending on the meter, while review and error rework account for 5,500 euros.
An analytical conclusion drawn from observed or calculated findings. It does not create a new fact.
Requirement: Kept separate from measured values, without invented facts, with a counter-argument or limit where that is relevant.
"CSV available" is a data access signal, not evidence of a backup and not evidence of a tested restore.
A normative proposal for decision-makers. Not legal, tax or accounting advice.
Requirement: Addressee named, risk and effort taken into account.
Critical platforms should run a reconstitution drill at least annually: export, new target, import, integrity check and documented residual deviation.
States explicitly how far a finding carries and where it stops applying.
Requirement: Appears in the report at the point where the statement ends, not only in the small print.
The composite applies exclusively to the eight vendors that appear in both modules. It must not be equated with the 20-product pricing index or with the SaaS landscape as a whole.
A note that must not be skipped when reading, quoting or reusing a finding, because otherwise a false statement results.
Requirement: Carried along in summaries, quotations and any further use.
"Not publicly evidenced" does not mean "does not exist". It means that the information could not be counted as robust public evidence within the defined research process.
2. Source hierarchy
Sources are ordered by proximity to the subject. A Tier 3 source does not replace an available primary source. Every source must actually carry the sentence it is cited for. Sources stay numbered and sit with the report, not in a website footer.
- EUR-Lex, official EU institutions as well as legislative and regulatory texts
- official regulators and standardisation bodies
- official vendor price lists, product and security documentation
- official licence texts and project announcements
- peer-reviewed research and preprints with complete methodology
- publicly documented datasets, annual reports and regulatory filings
- established trade media with reference to primary sources
- academic reviews
- recognised industry associations
- repositories of established research organisations
- official technical blogs with clear authorship and methodology
- consultancy reports
- vendor surveys and vendor benchmarks
- editorial summaries
- blog posts without a disclosed dataset
Tier 3 sources are explicitly labelled as such where a self-interest is possible.
- search result snippets
- AI-generated summaries
- affiliate comparison sites
- unverified social media posts
- anonymous statistics collections
- quotations without an origin
- price figures from undated screenshots where a current official pricing page is available
3. Standard for scores and indices
A score from FW Delta Research measures publicly findable documentation as of a defined cutoff date. It is a measurement of the state of information, not a verdict on a company. Five conditions have to be met:
- 1 Criteria are defined before interpretation.
- 2 Weights are published.
- 3 Data sources are documented per examined object.
- 4 "Not found" is distinguished from "not present".
- 5 The result is not generalised beyond the object measured.
What a portability or documentation index does not measure
Take the vendor lock-in index: it measures operational portability. It explicitly does not measure:
- data protection quality
- product quality
- availability
- company stability
- contract law
- security
- total price
- customer satisfaction
How a score must not be read
- Vendor X is CRA-compliant.
- Cloud Y is fully sovereign.
- Product Z is secure.
- C2PA proves that a piece of content is true.
- OTLP makes a vendor interchangeable.
- CSV is a complete backup.
How it is phrased instead
- The public documentation examined covers seven of eight criteria.
- As of the cutoff date, the report found a documented reporting channel and public advisories.
- The matrix rates verifiable sovereignty controls, not the legal suitability for every workload.
A documentation score is not a compliance, security or quality statement. A high value only means that an external reviewer was better able to trace the defined signals.
4. Handling missing information
Where the systematic public document search up to the data cutoff found no sufficient information, this is recorded as a finding about the state of information. Neither zero points nor full risk points are awarded automatically.
Not ranked: the public documentation is not sufficient for a robust assessment.
No data: as of the cutoff date, no usable public information was available for this field.
This is how it reads in the report: "In the systematic public document search up to the data cutoff, no sufficient dedicated documentation was found."
And explicitly not: "The vendor does not support this." Missing information means "not documented", not "does not exist".
5. Price and currency standard
Prices change, which makes a price without context worthless. Every price table in a report contains:
- product and plan
- billing unit
- billing interval
- minimum quantity or seat rule
- list price
- original currency
- exchange rate and date
- taxes excluded or included
- annual or monthly payment
- excluded costs
Currency conversion: ECB reference rate of 28 July 2026
The following applies uniformly to comparative euro values in FDR-2026-01 and FDR-2026-05:
| Rate | Type |
|---|---|
| 1 EUR = 1.1367 USD | reference rate |
| 1 EUR = 0.85550 GBP | reference rate |
| 1 USD ≈ 0.87974 EUR | derived |
| 1 GBP ≈ 1.16891 EUR | derived |
The rates serve comparability only. They are not transaction rates. List prices are not negotiated prices: discounts, enterprise offers and contract amendments can deviate considerably.
6. Rounding
Decimal places are a statement about precision. They are used only where the data carry them.
- Single price
- two decimal places
- Annual total
- rounded to whole euros
- Score
- whole points, except for aggregated means
- Percentage
- at most one decimal place, where the data justify it
Rounding is never used to create an impression of higher precision. A decimal place is admissible only where it comes out of a transparent calculation.
7. Reproducibility
Every numerical headline finding is published so that a third party can recompute it. That includes:
- data cutoff
- unit
- sample
- definition
- formula or weighting
- rounding rule
- companion data
- limit of transferability
The companion data are part of the report, not an optional download. Tables and charts are produced from the same files that are available for download. A dataset is not changed silently: every substantive change produces a new report version and an entry in the version history .
8. Conflict of interest and disclosure
FW Delta offers services around custom software and self-controlled infrastructure. The methodology, sample, calculations and sources of every report are published so that the findings can be checked independently. A high or low score is not a purchase recommendation.
This position can influence the choice of research questions and the interpretation. That is why criteria, weights and raw data are disclosed. Vendors are not asked for approval in advance. Factual correction notices are documented, reviewed and, where a correction is justified, incorporated transparently.
The reports are not legal, tax or accounting advice. They do not replace a licence review, a security assessment or your own contract analysis.