How we work
How we compare providers
Every comparison site claims to be unbiased. Here's the actual machinery — specific enough that you could audit us. Six fixed criteria, real prices with discount codes applied, renewal costs pulled out of the fine print, and reader-reported delivery times next to the marketing claims. If a score ever looks bought, you'll be able to point at the exact criterion we violated.
Last checked: October 2026
Key takeaways
- →Six fixed scoring criteria, applied to every provider in every comparison.
- →Prices re-verified against provider websites — we caught three NIF price rises in October 2026.
- →No pay-for-placement: providers can't buy listing or ranking, at any price.
- →Reader-reported delivery times published alongside marketing claims.
- →Corrections go live within 48 hours and are logged publicly.
The six criteria
1. Price as you'd actually pay it
Headline prices lie by omission. We check the price with discount codes applied, and we list what's excluded — like the €20 Finanças password one NIF provider charges extra for, or the fiscal rep quietly missing from the 'all-inclusive' package.
2. Fiscal-representation terms
How many months are included, and what does renewal cost? Year two is where the real money is — renewals range from €79 to ~€149/year, and providers make their margin there.
3. Advertised vs. real delivery times
We publish both. Provider homepages advertise best cases; our reader-reported dataset tracks what actually happened. When they diverge, we say so.
4. Independent reviews, read critically
Trustpilot and similar get read, not quoted. A hundred five-star reviews posted in the same week tell a different story than a hundred spread over two years — we check the distribution, not just the average.
5. What's missing from the sales page
Rush options, password inclusion, support quality, refund terms. The cons matter as much as the pros — a comparison that only lists positives is an ad.
6. Freshness
Prices and terms are re-verified on a rolling basis. In October 2026 we caught three NIF providers raising prices within weeks of each other — because we check, not because they told us. High-volatility categories get checked most often.
No pay-for-placement
This is the whole game, so let's be blunt: providers cannot pay for listing, for ranking, or for softer write-ups. We earn referral fees from some providers — disclosed on every page where they apply — and through our quote-matching service. The scoring doesn't know about any of that.
Reader-reported data
Provider homepages advertise best-case delivery times. We're building the dataset nobody else has: real processing times reported by readers who actually used the services. It's early — help us grow it by telling us about your experience.
How scores become rankings
Each provider gets scored against the same six criteria, and the ranking follows the score — not the other way round. When the numbers are close, we say so instead of inventing daylight between them; see the NIF comparison for how a tied race looks in practice. The full set of live comparisons shows the same discipline applied category by category.
Corrections policy
We get things wrong sometimes — usually because a provider changed something without telling anyone. Verified corrections go live within 48 hours and appear in the public provider updates log with the old value, the new value, and the date. Report errors to hello@portugalsetup.com.
What we are not
We're not lawyers, accountants, or immigration advisors. Our guides are deeply researched but general — for your specific situation, verify with the relevant Portuguese authority or a qualified professional. We'd rather you double-check us than trust us blindly. If you want to know the humans behind the scores, read who we are.
See the methodology in action
Our NIF provider comparison applies all six criteria — verified October 2026.
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Frequently asked questions
How do you make money if ranking can't be bought?
Three ways: referral fees from providers (disclosed wherever they apply), our quote-matching service, and eventually handling the admin directly as a relocation service. None of it touches the scoring.
How often do you re-check prices?
On a rolling basis, and every page carries a 'last checked' date. High-volatility categories (NIF providers, banks) get checked most often — that's how we caught three price rises in a single month.
Can providers dispute a review?
Yes — and we've built the process for it. Send evidence to hello@portugalsetup.com. If you're right, we correct within 48 hours and log it publicly. If you're asking us to soften accurate criticism, we'll publish that too.