How we rank and how we earn
The order of the list comes from our records, never from money. Here is the rule, and every way this site could be paid.
How the list is ordered
Each place earns points for how well our record of it is supported. A higher score means we can stand behind the entry better. It does not mean the place is better.
- 5 points: the editor has written a tip about the place.
- 4 points: two or more independent sources confirm the place.
- 3 points: the opening hours are stated.
- 2 points: a price is stated.
- 1 point: the venue publishes the price as an exact figure, not an approximate one.
A tie goes to the cheaper hourly rate, entry included, then to the name. Price, open now and name are one tap away above the list.
Paid placement
No place pays for its position today, and no page shows a paid place.
When a paid place exists, it will carry the label “Paid placement”, stand outside the ranking with no rank number, and never move a ranked place.
We sell it only to a venue whose licence we have seen (in Zurich: the operating licence under PGVO Art. 11), and to at most 5 venues at a time.
Affiliate links
No link on this site earns us money today.
If a link ever pays us a commission, it carries the label “Affiliate link” beside it. Every outbound link is marked sponsored and nofollow for search engines, whether money moves or not.
Advertising
No ad network runs on this site. We will not add one before 20,000 visitors a month, and never one that changes what a page says.
Check dates
Every fact shows the date it was last checked and who checked it. A fact needs 2 independent sources, or it carries a single-source mark.
After 120 days a fact is marked stale; a legal fact after 180 days.
Every ranked or compared figure on this site is for the standard service at the venue, as the glossary defines it. The price list also shows other rows, such as extensions, packages and themed sessions, each labelled.
How we check a fact
- Every price comes from the venue's own website or from a listing platform that names the venue. We keep the source address, the date we read it and who read it.
- A fact needs 2 independent sources. A fact with one source is printed with † and the words “one source checked”.
- A statute is confirmed word for word on the official register that publishes it. That one primary source is enough.
- ≈ marks an approximate figure: the venue's own pages disagree, or they state it only roughly.
- A price older than 120 days shows a warning. Past 365 days our build refuses to publish it. Legal text is re-checked every 180 days.
- Cheapest and dearest are never typed by hand. The cheapest is the lowest price for that time in the city: no package, no extension, no reduced service, no themed session. A promotion counts when it recurs, like a weekly day price, and is left out only when it has an end date. The dearest is the highest of those same counted prices, across every venue.
- A price that you pay after an entry fee names the entry beside it.
Every figure in one table: the Zurich price index. Every fix we made: the corrections log.
What money never buys
No payment changes a rank, a price, a check date or a word of a guide. We publish no ratings and no reviews.