How the order of providers is decided

Providers are compared on eight factors, in this order. The first factor on which two providers differ decides which comes first; a later factor only matters when they are tied on every earlier one.

1. Evidence it does this work — an official listing for this service, then the provider's own description of the work requested (for a translation, one that names your language pair), then a description that does not state the pair.
2. Your other steps too — when your request has several steps (an extract and its translation, say), how many of the others the provider's own site shows it doing: two or more, one, or none. Among providers that show your step equally well, one that can take more of your steps comes first.
3. Track record — a founding year the provider's own site states.
4. Price transparency — a published price that can be compared, then any published price (a starting price, or a tariff marked for an earlier year).
5. Turnaround — a published turnaround that fits your deadline comes first; one that looks too slow for your deadline comes last.
6. Location — being based where the paperwork is handled. This stops counting when the whole job is digital.
7. Credentials — confirmed on an official register, then the provider's own claim.
8. Who it is, and privacy — whether its own pages name who operates it (a legal form, a registration number, or a named responsible person) and publish a privacy notice: both, one, or neither. Both together are the corporate baseline: a provider meeting it carries a mark. It only breaks a tie at the very end — it never hides a provider or puts it below one that does the work less clearly. The details are under Company details in "What I checked" on each card.

There are no scores and no weights, and the same information always produces the same order. Credentials come after everything about the work on purpose: a credential should never lift a provider above one that clearly does the work you need.

No provider can pay to be listed or to rank higher — Vlad has no way to take payment from providers.

Each card says, in plain words, why that provider is where it is.