Trust is more important than ever before, and at Trustpilot, we believe reviews play a crucial role in bringing businesses and consumers closer together.
We’re continuously working to help consumers make more informed choices and support businesses to build trust, grow, and improve what they offer.
We provide a space where trust in reviews can flourish. Our platform empowers people to share their feedback, while businesses benefit from their customers’ genuine experiences.
Our vision is to be the universal symbol of trust. We provide the resources in our Trust Centre to explain how we’re bringing our vision to life.
Trust in numbers
Total number of active reviews on Trustpilot as of December 2024.
All submitted reviews are checked by automated fake review detection systems.
Reviews detected as fake and removed in 2024.
Our trust principles
At Trustpilot, five principles guide us daily in our operations. And these aren’t just words. Our commitment to neutrality, fairness, transparency, openness, and relevance drives everything we do.
Neutral
We are a platform that allows consumers and businesses to help one another, but we are independent of both.
Open
Consumers can have the freedom to share their genuine experiences as and when they choose, and businesses can invite consumers to leave feedback, and respond at any time.
Fair
The guidelines that govern the platform are applied fairly to both consumers and businesses, regardless of whether they are a paying customer or not.
Transparent
We provide clear and consistent communication about what we do and why we do it.
Relevant
We are committed to being relevant and useful to consumers and businesses.
Our principles in action
As an open and independent platform, we play a crucial role in establishing trust between consumers and businesses. How we operate matters.
Reviews empower people to help others by guiding consumers to make more informed choices or equipping businesses to build trust, grow, and improve. We believe everyone deserves a voice on Trustpilot, which is why consumers decide which businesses are reviewed. We simply host the reviews.
Everyone can share their experiences on Trustpilot whenever they choose. Businesses can engage meaningfully with feedback, but they can never pay to remove reviews. Unlike closed or pay-to-access review platforms, where reviews can only be left by invitation after a purchase, we believe in giving consumers the full picture and providing businesses with the real insights they need. This is why reviews can be written at any time, about genuine experiences, and not just for purchases.
We work hard to ensure the integrity of our reviews and take a responsible approach to technology. We continuously invest in our platform’s privacy and security, and innovate to protect our users. In addition to our fraud detection systems, all reviews are screened by our automated technology to identify and remove any violations. We also allow consumers and businesses to flag reviews they think are suspicious.
Explaining the TrustScore
Each reviewed business receives a TrustScore based on the number of reviews, how old they are, and a weighting system that includes seven reviews at 3.5 stars. This approach ensures that businesses with fewer reviews start with a balanced TrustScore. We explain this next to each score and in detail in a Help Centre article.
Our business model
Trustpilot is free for everyone to use and benefit from. All consumers can access our platform to read, write, and report reviews free of charge. Businesses can learn and improve by accessing our basic services for free, including the ability to read, respond, invite, and report reviews.
We generate revenue from businesses that choose to subscribe to our additional software services, beyond our free offering. These services help businesses gain quick and digestible insights from their reviews to help improve performance, increase feedback visibility on their websites, compare comments for stores across different locations, and access advanced tools and features such as product reviews.
Whether it is a free or paid account, every business benefits from our investment in advanced technologies, as well as our ongoing efforts to safeguard the platform and protect our users.
Journey of a review
1. Consumer creates a user account
Every review written on Trustpilot is connected to a user profile. In signing up, consumers agree to adhere to our terms and guidelines.
2. Consumer writes a review
Businesses can invite reviews, or they can be organic when the consumer comes to Trustpilot unprompted. Reviews must be about a genuine experience.
3. Reviews are assessed by detection systems
All reviews submitted to Trustpilot are assessed by our automated detection systems against millions of data points to search for fake reviews, and they’re checked for compliance against our policies and guidelines. If our systems identify suspicious characteristics in the review, or it breaches our guidelines, it doesn’t appear on our platform.
4. Reviews are posted on Trustpilot
If the review is given the all clear it is posted to the platform. Consumers and businesses can report reviews that they believe may violate guidelines or which have been missed by our detection systems. Our Content Integrity and Fraud & Investigations teams will review these and take appropriate action.
5. Ongoing safeguarding
Where we identify attempts to misuse the platform we take enforcement action. This includes placing prominent notifications on business profile pages to inform the community we are investigating or have taken action against a business, including legal action.
“As the world’s largest independent review platform, we believe Trustpilot has a unique and vital role to play in enhancing how people and businesses connect online, which is increasingly important in the age of AI.”
- Anoop Joshi, Chief Trust Officer
Safeguarding the platform
Protecting consumers and businesses from harmful or illegal content and fake reviews is vital for maintaining the integrity of our platform.
We use a three-pronged approach powered by technology, community, and people.
Technology
Our fraud detection systems and automated software, which check for guideline breaches, play a crucial role in safeguarding the integrity of our platform. Enhanced with AI and developed over many years, every review on our site is screened by this bespoke technology. It focuses on behavioural analysis as well as review content, using systems that analyse IP addresses, device characteristics, location data, and timestamps.
Community
Anyone in our community, whether a business or consumer, can flag a review at any time if they think it breaches our guidelines. Our automated technology screens flagged reviews to determine whether they should remain online, and our Content Integrity teams may get involved if a business or consumer challenges the decision. Other safeguarding measures include our whistleblowing function, which allows users to report suspicious behaviour that impacts our community. Additionally, we work with law enforcement and regulatory bodies to help tackle and overcome scams.
People
Alongside powerful technology, our Content Integrity specialists and Fraud and Investigations team take action on complex issues. Supporting our unwavering commitment to trust and safety is Trustpilot’s wider team of lawyers, technology experts, and communications and training specialists.
Learn more about how we’re working to protect and promote trust online in our 2025 Trust Report.
Protecting integrity: our guidelines and policies
Like any community, our platform works best when everyone understands their role and responsibilities. We have guidelines for both reviewers and businesses, and we communicate this in the Action We Take, which maintains a balance between openness and fairness.
We also have policies to keep Trustpilot a collaborative and trustworthy place for everyone, including fair and appropriate use, privacy compliance, data security, anti-bribery, modern slavery, and more.