Methodology

CompareVetPricing compares published veterinary prices using dated source evidence and clear like-for-like rules. This page explains what the data can and cannot show.

Data sources

Prices can come from public practice websites, published price lists, practice submissions, user submissions, email or phone confirmations, and imported datasets. Public pages prefer source URLs where display rights allow them.

Checked dates

Public pages show the date a source or observation was checked, and reports show when their benchmark was calculated. Older prices may remain visible with a clear date, but can be excluded from comparisons that need more recent evidence.

Provider verified vs source backed

Provider or practice verified data means a practice or representative has submitted or confirmed an update. Source-backed data means a public source supports the observation. Both still need review before affecting public comparisons.

Missing data

Missing prices are not estimated. A practice can remain listed with contact details while an unavailable service is simply described as having no published price found.

Publishable is not the same as statistical

Some prices can be shown with caveats but excluded from medians. Statistics use prices that pass source, confidence and comparability checks.

Source evidence

Each observation carries source method, source confidence, publishability and evidence metadata. Unverified user reports do not enter core statistics until independently reviewed.

Comparability

Procedure prices are separated by species, procedure code and, where relevant, weight band or inclusion assumptions. Low-comparability prices can remain visible with caveats but stay out of core medians.

Medians before averages

Public pages lead with medians and percentile ranges because routine-care prices can include outliers and different inclusion assumptions.

From-prices and ranges

From-prices are counted separately and excluded from medians by default. Range prices can be represented by midpoint only when comparable.

Outlier handling

Outliers are checked for source errors, species, weight band, units, inclusions and treatment scope before they are included in medians or local ranges.

Freshness

Statistics normally exclude prices older than 365 days unless they have been revalidated. Rankings that make a current comparative claim use stricter freshness requirements; where evidence is older, the page dates or narrows the claim.

When we publish a comparison

We publish a comparison only when there is enough recent, source-backed evidence to make it useful. Sample size, source quality, freshness and like-for-like comparability all matter.

Ownership and transparency

Ownership labels are confidence-weighted dataset fields, not legal findings. Unknown ownership is tracked separately and never counted as independent.

Limitations

CompareVetPricing does not rate clinical quality. Prices can change and may vary by pet size, medication, diagnostics, emergency status, complications and what the practice includes.

Corrections

Practices and owners can report errors. Corrections create review tasks and new auditable observations rather than overwriting history silently.

Commercial firewall

Commercial partnerships do not affect practice rankings, price comparisons, transparency scores, data reports or methodology. Paid placements, if introduced, will be clearly labelled and separated from organic price rankings.

Current aggregate reports are available in the data hub. Corrections and disputes can be submitted through the corrections page. Individual practice prices should always be confirmed with the practice before booking. The data ethics page explains no-pay-to-rank, privacy and responsible-use commitments, and the commercial disclosure explains revenue safeguards.