Wirecutter | Recommend truly important things

The mission of Wirecutter is to recommend truly important things. Every year, we independently test and review thousands of products to help you find the one you need. Our goal is to save you time and eliminate shopping pressure, whether you are looking for daily necessities or gifts for loved ones.

We strive to become the most trusted product recommendation service, and our work is completely independent of editors. We will not publish recommendations unless our authors and editors have rigorously reported and tested what they believe to be the best.

Wirecutter was founded in September 2011 and was acquired by The New York Times Company in October 2016. We make money through subscriptions and various affiliate marketing plans. This means that we may receive commissions for purchasing products through our retailer website links. However, we will recommend products based on our independent research, analysis, interviews, and testing. We don't have the motivation to choose inferior products or respond to pressure from manufacturers - in fact, quite the opposite. If readers return the product due to dissatisfaction or poor recommendations, we do not charge any membership commission. We believe this is a very fair system, and we are committed to serving our readers first. Of course, the decisions we make about the products on our website are always driven by editorial and product testing standards, rather than alliance transactions or advertising relationships.

Our review requires weeks or months of research and years of experience. In addition to relying on our own professional knowledge, we also collect interviews and data from the best sources around us, including engineers, scientists, designers, and countless subject matter experts, from hairdressers to cat caf é staff (and residents) to corn hole champions. We carefully study customer reviews to identify what is important for real people who already own and use what we are evaluating. In a world where top models with high prices and junk features are often considered the gold standard, our goal is to recommend high-quality things that guarantee their prices and do not introduce additional features that you rarely use

In February 2020, we reviewed the performance of more than 40 pairs of chopsticks in various foods, including Potsticker, Rice noodles, cabbage, soft tofu, and of course Qiduo. Photo: Sarah Kobos

Our process is usually fascinating and fun (for example, imagine creating an obstacle training ground for a robot vacuum cleaner, or lighting a room to test a fire safe). We apply our tireless methods and higher-level research skills to over 1000 product categories, including washing machines, televisions, artificial Christmas trees, bath towels, non stick pans, soundbars, storage boxes, office chairs, headlights, sewing machines, mattresses, wine glasses, air purifiers, space heaters, treadmills, iPhone cases, Wi Fi routers, suitcases, cloth masks, and of course, real wire cutters. In everything we do, we strive to find the best things - and know which ones are not worth buying - quickly, simply, and transparently so that you can continue living your life.

These are things we choose for ourselves and recommend to our family and friends. If we suggest that you spend your hard-earned money on something, we will take it seriously, as if our own money has already gone online.

The most important thing for us is reader trust. If we recommend something due to bias or laziness, readers will not support our work. We also invite readers to conduct fact checking on our articles, which carefully outline the time, logic, and effort we have invested in researching, interviewing experts, and testing equipment. Usually, this takes tens - sometimes even hundreds - of hours. Each guide clearly lists all the evidence we have chosen for you to judge for yourself.