If you've ever encountered an online pop-up that asks you how likely you are to recommend a company or the products it sells, the survey is likely looking for you to contribute to its Net Promoter Score, or NPS.
Created by business strategist and author Fred Reichheld, an NPS informs a company or brand about how it's doing with the general public.
The higher the number, the more positive feedback the brand is earning from people.
(Scroll to the bottom for the full formula on creating an NPS.)
At Daxdi, we ask for recommendation scores in our Readers' Choice Awards and Business Choice Awards surveys, and we use them to generate an NPS and determine the Best Brands going into 2021.
We give a brand a "best" designation if it earned the highest NPS among its competition in a survey and scored an NPS of 50 or better.
Read on to find out which tech brands you should consider across various categories.
*Net Promoter, Net Promoter Score, and NPS metrics are registered trademarks of NICE Satmetrix, Bain & Company, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.
Computers and Peripherals
(Image via rawpixels)Laptops (All)
Apple (74 NPS)
Apple's back.
Last year, Microsoft stole the crown when Apple could only muster an NPS of 64 for its laptop line among Daxdi readers.
This year, Apple's MacBooks earn it a 74 NPS, while Microsoft sits at 59 for laptops overall.
Hybrid/Convertible Laptops
Microsoft (60 NPS)
This is Microsoft's third win as the Best Brand for hybrid/convertible laptops, albeit with a drop in score from last year's 69 to 60.
But that's still enough to beat our Readers' Choice winner in the category, HP, which had a great overall score but only had an NPS of 59.
Dell also had a 57, so the competition in this category is fierce.
Tablets
Apple (73 NPS)
Its NPS number is down the slightest bit from last year's 75, but Apple's iPads are clearly the only tablets our readers really recommend.
The next best score in the category is Samsung at 59.
For more, read Readers' Choice Awards 2020: Laptops and Tablets.
Desktops (Overall)
Apple (72 NPS)
People love their Apple desktop computers, no matter what the configuration.
They won last year with a 65 NPS; this year that score goes up to 72.
Desktops (Gaming)
Dell (61 NPS)
This is the first year we broke out a Readers' Choice Award for gaming PCs in particular, which went to Alienware.
But Alienware's NPS of 59 couldn't top Dell, which happens to own Alienware.
(Even HP got a higher NPS at 60).
For more, read Readers' Choice Awards 2020: Desktop PCs for Home and Gaming.
Printers
Brother (66 NPS)
There was never much question that Brother would win this; it always does.
Despite fluctuation in its NPS over the years—last year it earned a 71—our most awarded printer brand ever in reader surveys continues to dominate.
For more, read Readers' Choice Awards 2020: Printers.
Monitors
Asus (69 NPS)
Last year, the most talked about monitor maker was ViewSonic, which nabbed an NPS of 71.
It fell to 66 this year, leaving room for Asus to step in.
This despite a one-point decrease from the 70 it had last year.
For more, read Readers' Choice 2020: TVs and Computer Monitors.
Mobile
(Image via rawpixels)Mobile Networks
Google Fi (76 NPS)
When a previous winner has a precipitous drop in its NPS—like Consumer Cellular's winning 85 NPS last year going to a 74 this time—it leaves room aplenty for a competitor to steal the limelight.
And thus we welcome back Google Fi.
It lost to Consumer Cellular as Best Brand for the last couple of years.
Now it has an impressive NPS in a product category that doesn't get a lot of love from even the most devoted of customers.
For example, the best NPS any of the big three carriers could earn was T-Mobile's NPS of 52—and that was before the Sprint merger.
Smartphones
OnePlus (81 NPS)
OnePlus wins its third Best Brand award for smartphones.
And while 81 is down from a high of 83 last year, the big three makers of smartphones in the US (Google, Apple, and Samsung) all tied for a distant second place with an NPS of 65.
Mobile Operating Systems
Android (66 NPS)
Last year when Android won with an NPS of 70, the gap between it and Apple's iOS (at 51 NPS) was wide.
Google's OS is again on top, but the chasm is now much narrower with Apple at 57.
Maybe next year things will change, but for now, Android reigns supreme for word of mouth.
For more, read Readers' Choice Awards 2020: Smartphones, Carriers, and Mobile OSes.
Security
(Image via rawpixels)Antivirus Programs
Malwarebytes (69 NPS)
This is the second year we asked readers to rate their antivirus/security suite.
Last year, Webroot was the big winner across the board, but it didn't make the cut for antivirus-only users this time around.
That left Malwarebytes to step in with a 69 NPS, up slightly from 68.
The next "best" brand is AVG at 52.
Security Suite Software (Home Use)
Webroot (87 NPS)
Webroot still earned enough responses amid those with paid security suites to dominate as the Readers' Choice winner and now as Best Brand for the year.
That 87 is a big improvement over that of last year's winner ESET, which dropped from 82 to 76 this year.
Webroot's 87 is also the second best NPS number we saw all year across all categories.
For more, read the Readers' Choice Awards 2020 for Antivirus and Security Suite Software.
Virtual Private Network (VPN) Services
ProtonVPN (72 NPS)
We gave Readers' Choice awards to two VPN services this year: Private Internet Access and ProtonVPN.
While the two were evenly matched in many regards, there's a four-point difference between ProtonVPN's NPS of 72 and PIA's 68 (which tied with Surfshark).
That's down from PIA's score of 71 last year.
Considering that ProtonVPN didn't even appear in the results last year, that makes it a pretty good 2020 for the service.
For more, read the Readers' Choice Awards 2020: VPN Services.
Home Security Systems
SimpliSafe (79 NPS)
This is the kind of change a company likes to see.
Last year, SimpliSafe won as Best Brand with an NPS of 66.
This year, it did it again, but with a stellar jump up to 79.
This is the third time SimpliSafe is the winner, and it is clearly becoming the brand's award to lose.
Home Security Cameras
Wyze (65 NPS)
Wyze is breaking into a lot of new territory this year with products like headphones, thermostats, and even smartwatches, but it'll always be known for ultra-inexpensive security cameras.
And while its NPS dropped from 80 last year to 65, it handily beat second place Amazon Ring at 56.
Video Doorbells
Google Nest (55 NPS)
This year was the first time we asked readers about their video doorbells.
Only two vendors had enough responses in the category to make the results.
Ring by Amazon couldn't top a 50 NPS, leaving Google Nest as the vendor of choice.
It only makes one product in the category, the Nest Hello, but the $229 device still wins, even as Google kills off the Nest Secure system.
Nest Hello remains on sale, at least for now.
Smart Locks
(Image via August)August (69 NPS)
Last year, no vendor in our smart lock survey could muster an NPS over 50.
This time around, only one of the three vendors that made the cut managed it.
If you want to secure your front door, August's devices are the Readers' Choice and the Best Brand in the category overall.
For more, read Readers' Choice 2020: Home Security Systems, Cameras, Smart Locks, Video Doorbells.
Internet/Networking
(Image via rawpixels)ISPs
Google Fiber (86 NPS)
Google Fiber is not new and is barely even expanding—the curse of many a fiber-optic network from big providers—but the customers it has absolutely love it.
They handed the fiber-to-the-home service a stunning NPS of 86, which is noteworthy because no other ISP in our survey got an NPS over 50.
The second highest rating is a 40 NPS for RCN, and that's not saying much.
Last year's winner, Grande Communications out of Texas, dropped from an adequate 55 to a sad 38.
This year's co-winner for Readers' Choice, Verizon Fios, also had a 38 NPS.
Almost two-thirds of the ISPs rated in the survey got a negative NPS, which means most people would never recommend their ISP.
Google Fiber—available in only 19 cities—is the exception to that rule.
For more, read Readers' Choice Awards 2020: Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
Curious about your own internet speed? Check it with the Daxdi Speed Test right now.
Network Attached Storage Devices
Synology (75 NPS)
Synology is the perennial winner of Best Brand in this category, and it continues the streak this year.
That's the same score it earned last year, down from an all-time high of 87 in 2017.
But that's all it takes to be the most talked about brand in the land of NAS.
It wasn't much of a contest this year.
The next highest vendor was QNAP at 53 NPS, quite a tumble from last year's promising 71.
Routers
Asus (63 NPS)
This is another Asus triumph, despite a score decline from 71 to 63 NPS.
Considering the next highest score is a 58 for TP-Link, the gap may be closing, but for now Asus can claim victory alongside the Readers' Choice for routers.
Whole Home Mesh Routers
(Image via Google)Google (66 NPS)
This is Google's third win as the Best Brand for mesh routers.
The Google Wifi system is a hit with users again, although the bloom may be off the rose as its NPS slipped from a nice 79 down to 66.
In fact, the big competition is from Asus with a 57 NPS for its mesh devices, so Google best watch its back.
For more, read Readers' Choice Awards 2020: Routers and Network Attached Storage.
Smart Home, Cars, and Entertainment
(Image via ShutterStock)Smart Thermostats
Ecobee (69 NPS)
Ecobee didn't win the Readers' Choice award this year.
It went to surprise entry Emerson, which edged ahead in overall satisfaction.
But the tables were turned when it comes to the Net Promoter Score; Ecobee's 69 was slightly ahead of Emerson's 66.
That's down from Ecobee's 71 NPS last time, but they were the only two brands that got an NPS over 50 this year.
Smart Displays
Google Nest (53 NPS)
A smart display is like a smart speaker—think Amazon Echo or Google Nest devices—but with a built-in screen to provide even more feedback and interface options.
This is the first year we've asked people to grade them, and only those two brands made the final cut.
Even then, only one, Google Nest, had an NPS high enough to qualify as a best brand thanks to coming in over 50.
As the category matures, we'll see how these devices fare.
Smart Plugs
Kasa Smart (62 NPS)
The Kasa Smart brand from TP-Link is doing something right, keeping its NPS at 62, the same as last year.
No other brand could break the barrier of 50.
Smart Lighting/Bulbs
Wyze (61 NPS)
Wyze's jump into smart bulbs has more than paid off with not only its first win over bigger names as a Readers' Choice, but now also becoming our first-ever Best Brand for smart lighting.
(Last year, no vendor could crack an NPS of 50 and were all disqualified).
The next best this year was Kasa Smart's bulbs with a 52; all the others were again under 50.
For more, read Readers' Choice Awards 2020: Smart Home Devices.
Connected Cars
(Image via Tesla)Tesla (91 NPS)
Sometimes a brand comes along that the public loves, despite misgivings and low ratings from the pros and critics.
We see it happen a lot with brands like Apple—that premium pricing makes for loyal promoters.
But we've seldom seen a Net Promoter Score on the level that Tesla earned in our first-ever Readers' Choice survey on connected cars, which asked for ratings about the connectivity inside, rather than the vehicle overall.
Tesla's ratings in our survey were almost all astronomically high.
The NPS is the frosting on the cake, the highest we saw all year and maybe ever.
The second highest NPS was a 76 for GMC vehicle connectivity; not bad, but a far cry from Tesla's solid A-.
Every other vehicle brand was at 57 or lower.
For more, read Readers' Choice Awards 2020: Connected Cars.
TVs
TCL (65 NPS)
TCL's NPS dipped to 65 from the 67 it had last year, but no one else can touch it.
The Chinese TV maker knows exactly what it's doing making affordable sets mostly with built-in Roku smart TV features, and it shows in how people feel about them.
The next closest brand is Samsung with an NPS of 62.
4K TVs
(Image via LG)LG (71 NPS)
Last time, TCL won the Best Brand slot for 4K TVs with a 74, but it slid to a 70 in our latest survey.
You might think Sony—our Readers' Choice Award winner—would steal the show.
But it turns out LG is a hair ahead of all the rest in Net Promoter Score.
It's a tight race for most of the TV makers on how much they're getting talked up by Daxdi readers.
For more, read Readers' Choice 2020: TVs and Computer Monitors
Technology for Business
(Image via rawpixels)You may notice a trend among the Net Promoter Scores found in the business categories: they are relatively low.
That's the price a brand pays for being forced upon some users by bosses or IT.
It limits the number of winners when we only include a brand that has a 50-plus or higher NPS, including big categories (like desktops, where the highest NPS was 28).
Like last year, the people using some brands for work couldn't really reach an NPS-level consensus on what brand they'd really recommend.
Security Software
Webroot (81 NPS)
Like with our consumer-level security suites, the business-level accolades from readers go to Webroot.
Last year we gave this to Malwarebytes with a 68 NPS, and that's what it earned this year too.
But Webroot's 81 NPS puts it on top, followed not-to-closely by BitDefender at 70.
For more, read Business Choice Awards 2020: Security Software.
Laptops
Apple (72 NPS)
Microsoft managed two years in row as the top business laptop brand, but Apple came roaring in this year, with MacBooks and the like nabbing an NPS of 72 compared to Microsoft's 54 (down from 57 last time).
Hybrid/Convertible Laptops
HP (57 NPS)
Microsoft took this slot last year with a 55 NPS, but this year HP edged ahead.
The business hybrid laptops between the two, plus Dell, all hover around the same area, but only HP can claim Best Brand going into 2021.
Tablets
Apple (75 NPS)
Using a tablet for work? Unlike with smartphones, it would appear Apple is the way to go, not some device with Android.
The iPad line garnered a great 75 NPS to stay ahead of the next runner-up, Samsung at 59.
For more, read Business Choice Awards 2020: Laptops and Tablets.
Mobile Operating Systems
Android (55 NPS)
When it comes to mobile OS of choice for the office, Android's Net Promoter Score outstrips that of iOS, the only real competition.
Clearly Android is the OS you need on a handset if you want to get work done.
Smartphones
Google (64 NPS)
Google's smartphones—the Pixel line—earned this award last year, albeit with a higher NPS of 73.
Samsung is closing in on the promoters with a 61 NPS this year, and even Apple isn't far behind at 57.
Still, these big dogs clearly have some work to do to catch up to the love workers have for a Google phone with stock Android on it.
Mobile Carriers
Google Fi (79 NPS)
Last year, no business phone carrier in our survey could claim a Best...
