1.8/5
Trustpilot rating
75 reviews
Report
Should I Use NewsGuard?
Transparent tools to counter misinformation for readers, brands, and democracies.
Depends
DependsBuy if you're a school, library, advertiser, or researcher who needs human-reviewed news credibility data.
Human-rated news credibility data — great for schools, libraries and ad brand-safety; poor consumer reviews (1.8/5) and political baggage.
Confidence: Medium
~9,000
Sites rated
news and information sites (2023)
2 weeks
Free trial
unlimited access, then paid membership
2018
Founded
by Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz
Value for money
2
1.8/5 Trustpilot across 75 reviews
Ease of use
3
Simple browser extension; ad integrations reportedly harder
Feature depth
4
Human analyst ratings, brand-safety data, AI tracking
Security posture
3
Published security page; no public vulnerabilities found
Pros
Cons
- Poor consumer reputation: 1.8/5 on Trustpilot across 75 reviews⁶
- Zero reviews on G2 — no enterprise buyer feedback⁷
- 2022 peer-reviewed study found credibility labels have limited average effects⁹
- Politically contested: FTC records demand and FCC clashes11
- Advertiser integrations reportedly not easy to get off the ground⁸
Gotchas
- mediumRatings are contested — Consortium News scored 47.5/100, fueling FCC complaints10
- mediumNewsGuard is suing the FTC over records demands; regulatory uncertainty is ongoing12
- lowTwo-week trial converts to paid membership; exact prices not visible in reviewed sources¹
- lowZero G2 reviews, so institutional buyer references are scarce outside vendor case studies⁷
Best for
- Schools and libraries teaching media literacy
- Advertisers needing news brand-safety data
- Researchers tracking AI-generated misinformation
- Security teams using OSINT monitoring
Not for
- Individuals wanting a free, simple filter — ratings inform but don't block
- Buyers needing independently proven impact — a 2022 study found limited label effects
- Orgs avoiding politically contested vendors — live FTC and FCC fights
- Ad teams wanting plug-and-play — practitioners report slow setup
Companies that use it
- PeakMetrics
- IPG13
Pricing
Individual membership
Paid after 2-week free trial (amount not shown in reviewed sources)
- Unlimited ratings access during trial
- Browser extensions for Chrome and Edge
- Mobile apps via Google Play
Enterprise (brand safety / data licensing)
Not disclosed
- Ratings data licensed to advertisers and platforms
- Used in ad-effectiveness studies
Security
No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.
What users say
Consumer sentiment is poor (1.8/5 across 75 Trustpilot reviews), while ad-industry practitioners find the data useful but non-trivial to implement.
“Not as easy to get off the ground as say a newsg”
Alternatives
Compare NewsGuard with each alternative.
Ground News
News aggregator with built-in bias and blindspot ratings
NewsGuard vs Ground NewsAllSides
Free media-bias ratings showing left, center, right lean
NewsGuard vs AllSidesFactCheck.org
Free fact-checking of specific claims, not site ratings
NewsGuard vs FactCheck.orgLogically Intelligence
Enterprise OSINT platform for monitoring information threats
Full analysis
Based on 30+ public sources; exact pricing and enterprise-user reviews are thin.
Sources
- NewsGuard — official sitenewsguardtech.comofficial
- Website Rating Process and Criterianewsguardtech.comofficial
- NewsGuard FAQnewsguardtech.comofficial
- NewsGuard — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.orgofficial
news
- NewsGuard Reviews — Trustpilot (1.8, 75 reviews)trustpilot.comreview
review
review
- News credibility labels have limited average effects — PMC studypmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govreview
news
- FTC demands records from NewsGuard — Press Freedom Trackerpressfreedomtracker.usnews
- Case: Newsguard Technologies v. FTCclearinghouse.netnews
news
- NewsGuard Product security pagenewsguardtech.comsecurity
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