Marketing Automation
Emarsys
EU-Made Report an errorPanel rating · 6 judges · How to read the stars
Category median
Sovereignty: 1 of 4 dimensions proven
0–5 in half steps. 5 means the rubric's top anchor is met on the evidence.
by SAP Emarsys · emarsys.com
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Read this page as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.
The panel's verdict
SAP Emarsys, now SAP Engagement Cloud, is a marketing automation product; the bench scores highest where breadth is the test and lowest wherever mechanics must be evidenced. Channel coverage, the strongest criterion at 5-7, credits ten named channels from email to call centre plus advertising and Google integration categories, while shared suppression, cross-channel frequency capping and one consent state across channels appear nowhere in the evidence. Lead management scores 0-1: the evidence never mentions lead scoring, lifecycle stages, routing or handover to sales. Journey orchestration scores 2-4 — judges credit configurable, pre-built tactics beyond a single-trigger autoresponder, but branching, waits, entry/exit conditions and collision handling go unevidenced. Consent and profiling, CRM and data, and sovereignty each sit at 2-3: a website privacy policy exists, but product consent tooling, CRM sync mechanics and the processor chain are not — the responsible entity may be "any other member of the global SAP Group", residency is unstated and subprocessors appear only as categories. No split between the judges was large enough to flag; the only commercial action captured is a demo request.
Speaks for it
- Channel coverage scores 5-7 on ten named channels from email to call centre, plus advertising and Google integration categories
- Configurable journeys and pre-built, customizable tactics stand above a single-trigger autoresponder; journey orchestration scores 2-4
- A published privacy policy names GDPR and lists user rights including deletion, objection and consent revocation; consent scores 2-3
- An Austrian legal entity, Emarsys eMarekting Systems GmbH in Vienna, is named as one possible controller; sovereignty scores 2-3
Held against it
- No journey mechanics — branching, waits, entry/exit conditions, per-contact state, collision handling — are evidenced; journey orchestration stays 2-4
- The evidence is silent on lead scoring, lifecycle stages, routing and sales handover; lead management scores 0-1
- Product consent tooling is unevidenced — no double opt-in, per-channel consent states, stored consent records or per-contact tracking switch — and the privacy policy governs emarsys.com
- 'SAP Integrations' is a label with no evidenced sync direction, field mapping, deduplication or conflict rules; CRM and data scores 2-3
- The responsible entity may be 'any other member of the global SAP Group', data residency is unstated and no subprocessor list exists; sovereignty scores 2-3
Best for
- You run B2C engagement programs where breadth across many channels matters most and you can verify suppression and frequency-capping mechanics in a demo
- You are already in the SAP ecosystem and want SAP, Google and advertising integration categories as a starting point to validate
- You want configurable, pre-built cross-channel journey tactics and can accept unevidenced advanced mechanics until shown otherwise
Avoid if
- You need documented lead scoring, lifecycle stages, routing or handover to sales, where the table scores 0-1
- You need evidenced journey mechanics — branching, waits, entry/exit conditions, collision handling — before signing
- You require fixed data residency, a fixed contracting entity or a subprocessor list; the evidence records data residency and subprocessor exposure as unknown
- You need consent tooling for end contacts — double opt-in, per-channel consent states, stored consent records — not only a website privacy policy
The scores
Journeys & orchestration
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How this is scored
Multi-step automation: triggers, branching, waits, and — the part that decides whether it survives contact with reality — what happens when journeys collide.
0 — Autoresponders on a single trigger; no branching, no waits, no conditions.
3 — Linear sequences with simple conditions, one entry trigger per journey, and no visibility into where a contact currently sits.
5 — A visual builder with branching on attributes and behaviour, waits and goals, entry and exit conditions, and per-contact journey state visible.
8 — Event-driven entry from external systems, frequency capping and suppression across journeys, priority when a contact qualifies for several, versioning of a live journey, and testing against real records.
10 — Orchestration is coherent across the whole programme: one decision layer deciding what a person receives next regardless of which journey wants to send it, holdout groups for measurement, and a journey a colleague can read months later without a diagram.
The Demand Gen Lead
The homepage sells 'sophisticated, cross-channel journeys at scale' and 'fully customizable' pre-built tactics, but nothing in the evidence evidences branching, waits, entry/exit conditions, or where a contact currently sits in a journey — and not one word on what happens when journeys collide. Marketing copy lifts it just above linear sequences; the evidence does not reach a real builder with visible journey state. 1
The Sales Ops Manager
The homepage claims 'sophisticated, cross-channel journeys at scale' and pre-built, 'fully customizable journeys', which is more than a single-trigger autoresponder — but nothing evidences branching, waits, entry and exit conditions, or what happens when journeys collide. For a platform pitched at this scale, silence on collision handling and per-contact journey state is the part that decides whether it survives contact with reality. 1
The Data Protection Officer
All I have is marketing copy — 'sophisticated, cross-channel journeys at scale' and pre-built 'tactics' — with nothing evidenced on branching, waits, entry/exit conditions, per-contact state, or what happens when journeys collide. The tell for me is that suppression and frequency capping across journeys go entirely unmentioned, so a person who objected to profiling could still be swept into every path. That caps it at the low anchors. 1
The Lifecycle Marketer
'Sophisticated, cross-channel journeys at scale' and pre-built customizable tactics are claims, not mechanics — the evidence says nothing about branching, waits, entry/exit conditions, or where a contact currently sits in a journey. And the collision layer I actually buy for — frequency capping, suppression, priority across journeys, holdouts — is asserted nowhere, so this sits at linear-sequence territory with an unproven promise. 1
The Solution Architect
The homepage claims 'sophisticated, cross-channel journeys at scale' and customizable pre-built tactics, but the evidence evidences no branching, waits, entry/exit conditions, per-contact state, or what happens when journeys collide — a claim at the level of linear sequences with no visible mechanics behind it. 1
The Skeptic
"Sophisticated, cross-channel journeys at scale" and "fully customizable" pre-built tactics are brochure words; the evidence is silent on triggers, branching, waits, per-contact journey state, and what happens when journeys collide — the parts that decide whether this is orchestration or a drip sequence with better lighting. I credit the existence of configurable journeys, not the marketing adjective. 1
Lead scoring, routing & lifecycle
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How this is scored
Scoring, qualification and handover to sales — including whether the customer can explain to a lead why the system decided what it decided.
0 — No scoring or lifecycle model; every contact is treated alike.
3 — A single additive score with fixed rules, no decay, no lifecycle stages and no routing.
5 — Configurable scoring on attributes and behaviour with decay, lifecycle stages, and routing to owners or teams with notification.
8 — Multiple scoring models per product or region, negative scoring, account-level scoring alongside contact-level, SLA on follow-up, and score history visible per contact.
10 — Scoring is explainable and accountable: the contribution of each signal visible per record, model changes versioned with their effect on the funnel, routing rules auditable, and predictive scoring — where offered — documented well enough for a DPO to assess it as automated decision-making.
The Demand Gen Lead
The evidence is completely silent on lead scoring, lifecycle stages, decay, routing and handover to sales — the only adjacent claim is 'AI to predict campaign performance', which is a campaign metric, not a score a rep can work or explain to a lead. Missing evidence is information, and by the anchors that is a zero. 1
The Sales Ops Manager
The evidence never mentions a lead score, lifecycle stage, qualification model or handover to sales; the only gesture is AI copy about orchestrating 'predictions', aimed at campaigns rather than leads. If the evidence doesn't show a scoring model, there is no scoring model. 1
The Data Protection Officer
No lifecycle model, no routing, and no per-person score is evidenced anywhere; the nearest claim is 'use AI to predict campaign performance,' which is campaign-level, not a decision about an individual. I need predictive scoring documented well enough to assess under Art. 22 and there is literally nothing to assess. 1
The Lifecycle Marketer
The homepage capability list runs from loyalty to AI agents and never mentions a score, a lifecycle stage, qualification or a handover to sales — total silence is information here. Nothing in the evidence even gestures at scoring or routing, so the anchors put this at zero. 1
The Solution Architect
The capability set on the homepage covers AI marketing, loyalty, omnichannel, personalization and reporting, and says nothing about scoring, decay, lifecycle stages, routing or handover to sales; unevidenced means absent, and I've filled that gap after signature before — it's expensive. 1
The Skeptic
The homepage capability list — omnichannel, personalization, loyalty, AI predictions of campaign performance — contains no scoring, no lifecycle stages, no routing, no handover to sales. 1
Channels & personalisation
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How this is scored
What the platform can actually send and personalise: email, SMS, push, on-site content, ads audiences — judged on what shares one profile and one suppression list.
0 — Email only.
3 — Email plus one further channel, managed separately with its own list and no shared suppression.
5 — Email, SMS or push and web forms driven from one contact profile, with dynamic content blocks and shared unsubscribe handling.
8 — The above plus on-site personalisation, ad-audience sync to the major networks, cross-channel frequency capping, and content personalised on behaviour rather than only on stored fields.
10 — Channel is a delivery detail: one profile and one consent state across every channel, next-best-channel selection, and personalisation that draws on the full behavioural record without the marketer assembling it by hand.
The Demand Gen Lead
Ten channels listed — email, web, digital ads, SMS, mobile wallet, mobile app, conversational messaging, direct mail, in-store, call centre — plus a claimed unified customer-data layer activated 'across every channel' and AI personalisation of audiences, content, offers and recommendations. That breadth and the advertising/Google integration categories sit at the 8 anchor, but shared suppression, cross-channel frequency capping and behavioural personalisation mechanics are asserted in copy, not evidenced. 1
The Sales Ops Manager
Ten channels are listed by name, Google and Advertising integrations exist, and personalization is claimed 'grounded in trusted, unified data' — genuine breadth toward rubric level 8. But shared suppression across channels, cross-channel frequency capping and one consent state across channels are asserted nowhere, and the channel list is a menu, not a mechanism, so I can't credit it past 6. 1
The Data Protection Officer
Ten channels from email to call centre are listed, with advertising and Google audience integrations, all claimed to hang off one customer-data layer that personalises 'across every channel.' What's absent is exactly what I weigh: a single consent state and shared suppression spanning those channels, and cross-channel frequency capping — none of it appears, so it stays below the 8 anchor despite the breadth. 1
The Lifecycle Marketer
Ten listed channels from email to call center, Google and advertising integrations, and personalisation claimed on 'trusted customer and business context' rather than hand-assembled fields — most of the way to an 8 on paper. What's missing is exactly what makes an omnichannel claim real: one profile, one consent state, and cross-channel frequency capping are evidenced nowhere. 1
The Solution Architect
Ten listed channels including SMS, web, digital ads, mobile app and wallet, plus advertising and Google integrations — breadth at or past rubric level 5 — but 'one profile' rests on adjectives ('trusted, unified data'), and shared suppression, shared unsubscribe and cross-channel frequency capping are evidenced nowhere. 1
The Skeptic
Ten channels listed (email, SMS, web, ads, mobile app, wallet, conversational, direct mail) with an explicit claim of one customer-data layer activating "across every channel" — that clears rubric level 5 on breadth. But the evidence says nothing about shared suppression, cross-channel frequency capping, or unsubscribe handling across those ten channels, and a channel list is not a channel capability. 1
Consent, tracking & profiling
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How this is scored
The platform builds behavioural profiles of named people. Consent capture and proof, tracking that can be limited, retention, and whether automated decisions about individuals are documented and contestable.
0 — Tracking always on and undocumented, single opt-in, no consent record, no retention rule, no way to exclude a person from profiling.
3 — Double opt-in available with a timestamp, cookie tracking that cannot be disabled per contact, and retention described as the customer's problem.
5 — Double opt-in as documented default with a stored consent record including source, per-channel consent states, tracking switchable per contact, and stated retention for inactive records.
8 — Consent reproducible as evidence with the wording versioned, profiling suppressible per person, retention executed per data category, documented handling of access and erasure requests including derived scores, and a cookieless or first-party tracking mode.
10 — Built for the accountability principle: a per-contact history of what was tracked, scored and decided, automated decision-making documented well enough to support an Art. 22 assessment, profiling off by default for anyone who has not consented to it, and deletion that removes derived scores as well as raw events.
The Demand Gen Lead
There is a genuine privacy policy: GDPR named, a full rights catalogue (access, correction, deletion, restriction, objection, consent revocation, complaint), a retention section and cookie processing under a Cookie Statement — but it governs emarsys.com, not the product. No evidence of double opt-in defaults, per-channel consent states, per-contact tracking switches or profiling suppression in the platform itself. 2
The Sales Ops Manager
There is a documented privacy posture: GDPR language, a Cookie Statement, a retention section and a full rights list including deletion, objection and exclusion from processing — above the undocumented floor. But nothing evidences double opt-in, stored consent records with source, per-channel consent states or a per-contact tracking switch, and for a platform whose pitch is AI personalization of named shoppers, the consent architecture is entirely undocumented. 2 1
The Data Protection Officer
What exists is a website privacy policy — cookies 'for the purposes set out in the Cookie Statement,' a retention section heading, and an enumerated rights list including objection and consent revocation — which sits between the 0 and 3 anchors. Not one product capability is evidenced: no double opt-in, no stored consent record with source, no per-channel consent states, no per-contact switch for tracking or profiling, and nothing saying erasure reaches derived scores or that the AI predictions feeding personalisation are documented for automated-decision-making review. This is the criterion I care about most and it is the least substantiated. 2 1
The Lifecycle Marketer
The privacy policy governs cookies on emarsys.com, not the platform's consent tooling for end contacts: a retention section exists but its substance is unstated, and user rights are listed without any mechanism, record or per-channel consent state. No double opt-in default, no stored consent record with source, no profiling suppression per person — above zero only because retention and rights are at least documented. 2
The Solution Architect
The privacy policy documents cookies, a retention section, a minors section and the full GDPR rights list including deletion and objection — but it governs emarsys.com's own tracking, and the product's end-customer consent capture (double opt-in, per-channel states, stored consent records with source, per-contact tracking switch) is entirely unevidenced. 2
The Skeptic
The privacy policy grants users objection, restriction and deletion rights and has retention and cookie sections — but it governs visitors to emarsys.com, not evidenced platform capability. No double opt-in, no per-channel consent states, no consent record with source, no profiling suppression per person; for a product whose entire pitch is behavioural profiling, that silence is the finding. 2
CRM integration & data model
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How this is scored
The join that decides the implementation: how the platform and the CRM stay in agreement about who a person is, and what happens when they disagree.
0 — CSV import and export; no CRM integration and no identity resolution.
3 — One-way sync into a named CRM on a schedule, with duplicates resolved by hand and no conflict rules.
5 — Bidirectional sync with at least one major CRM, field mapping, deduplication rules, and a sync error log somebody can act on.
8 — Configurable conflict resolution per field, account and contact objects both modelled, custom objects supported, near-real-time sync with retry, and a documented API with rate limits.
10 — One record, two systems, no ambiguity: identity resolution across anonymous and known states, field-level ownership defined per system, replay of failed syncs, and a data model the customer can extend without vendor services.
The Demand Gen Lead
Integration categories exist — SAP, Google, advertising, technology partners — and 'Customer Data' claims bringing business data sources together, but there is no evidence of bidirectional CRM sync, field mapping, deduplication rules, conflict handling or an API with limits. The join that decides my implementation is unevidenced beyond a category label. 1
The Sales Ops Manager
'SAP Integrations' is a bare heading and the 'Customer Data' line about bringing sources together is a marketing claim — no CRM named with a sync direction, no field mapping, no deduplication rules, no conflict resolution and no sync error log. I inherit every duplicate a platform creates, and the evidence tells me nothing about who wins when two systems disagree about the same person. 1
The Data Protection Officer
'SAP Integrations,' technology partners, and a claim to 'bring together data sources across your business' is the entire evidentiary basis — no bidirectional sync, field mapping, conflict rules, sync logs, or identity resolution across anonymous and known states. For a profiling platform that join is where lawful basis gets muddied, and it is undocumented. 1
The Lifecycle Marketer
'SAP Integrations', 'Google Integrations' and 'Bring together data sources across your business' are labels, not joins — no bidirectional sync, field mapping, deduplication rules, conflict handling or identity resolution is evidenced anywhere. A unification claim with none of the mechanics is worth roughly a one-way-sync assumption. 1
The Solution Architect
'SAP Integrations' and 'bring together data sources' is all the evidence offers: no sync direction or named CRM mechanics, no field mapping or conflict rules, no custom objects, no documented API with rate limits, and — the part that decides implementations — no evidence of an anonymous-visitor-to-known-contact identity resolution path. 1
The Skeptic
"SAP Integrations" is a navigation label, not a data model: no named CRM, no sync direction, no field mapping, no deduplication, no conflict rules, no documented API. A generic "bring together data sources" claim does not evidence the bidirectional sync rubric level 5 requires. 1
European sovereignty
panel opinion
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How this is scored
Where behavioural profiles of named EU residents are processed, who the contracting entity is, and which subprocessors see them. Independently sourced by the sovereignty pipeline; scored here as this buyer weighs it — which given the profiling is heavily.
0 — Non-EU vendor and contracting entity, hosting unstated or non-EU, subprocessors unnamed, behavioural data leaving the EU with no stated basis.
3 — EU data residency for storage while tracking, sending or support access remain non-EU, or the contracting entity sits outside the EU.
5 — EU hosting as standard and an EU contracting entity, but parts of the chain — tracking scripts, AI scoring, analytics — are non-EU without an explained safeguard.
8 — EU hosting on named infrastructure, EU contracting entity, complete subprocessor list published, and any non-EU processing named with its legal basis.
10 — Sovereign end to end and evidenced: every profile, event and derived score processed in the EU by European subprocessors, certification published, and no transfer requiring a Schrems II argument to survive.
The Demand Gen Lead
The policy names Emarsys eMarekting Systems GmbH in Vienna as controller, but the same sentence allows 'any other member of the global SAP Group', and data goes to Group members, third-party providers and partners — hosting is unstated and no subprocessor list exists. An Austrian letterhead with no residency statement and no named chain does not earn more than 3, and for a platform profiling named EU consumers that is a real problem I weigh heavily. 2
The Sales Ops Manager
An Austrian legal entity is named, but the same sentence says processing may be 'by any other member of the global SAP Group', data residency is unstated, and no subprocessor list exists — recipients explicitly include SAP Group members, partners and third-party providers, with country provisions spanning the US, Singapore and Australia. Where behavioural profiles of named EU residents are the product, I cannot verify where they are processed, and that weighs on me heavily. 2
The Data Protection Officer
A Vienna entity is named, but the same sentence allows 'any other member of the global SAP Group' to be the responsible entity, hosting is unstated, the subprocessor list is absent, and recipients include SAP Group members, providers and partners. I weigh this heavily given the profiling: behavioural profiles of named EU residents, an unfixed contracting entity, and no published residency or processor chain barely clears the floor. 2
The Lifecycle Marketer
The Austrian entity is named only as one possible controller, with processing possibly by 'any other member of the global SAP Group', data residency unstated, and no subprocessor named beyond 'third-party service providers, SAP partners and others'. For a platform profiling named EU residents, this chain is uninvestigable, which given my weight on sovereignty caps it at 3. 2
The Solution Architect
The responsible entity is 'either Emarsys eMarekting Systems GmbH in Vienna, Austria or any other member of the global SAP Group', hosting is unstated, and subprocessors appear only as categories ('SAP Group members, third-party service providers, SAP partners'); GDPR is engaged, but an unfixed contracting entity plus global-group transfer rights clears no Schrems II argument I'd sign. 2
The Skeptic
The policy names Emarsys eMarketing Systems GmbH in Vienna as controller but immediately adds "or any other member of the global SAP Group" — so the contracting entity is not fixed, and recipients are listed only as unnamed categories ("SAP Group members, third-party service providers, SAP partners and others"). Hosting is unstated; for a profiling engine holding named EU residents' behavioural data, I cannot even confirm the residency half of rubric level 3. 2
Pricing transparency
not rated — the vendor publishes no price
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How this is scored
Whether a buyer can compute the real annual invoice for their contact base and send volume — including the tier where automation actually begins, overage, and mandatory onboarding — from public pages alone.
0 — No public prices at all; every tier is a sales conversation, and onboarding fees are never mentioned.
3 — A contact-tier headline exists, but the tier where journeys, scoring or CRM sync begin is unstated, as is any mandatory implementation fee.
5 — Contact-tier prices public with billing period and send limits stated, but at least one commonly needed capability sits in an unpriced enterprise tier.
8 — Every tier priced publicly with contact and volume limits, feature boundaries, overage rates, onboarding costs, minimum term and VAT treatment stated.
10 — Complete price computability: annual invoice derivable for a given contact count, send volume and feature set, including overage, additional users and any implementation fee stated outright.
The Demand Gen Lead
The only commercial action anywhere on the evidence is 'Request a demo' — no tiers, no contact prices, no send limits, no feature boundaries, no onboarding fee mentioned. Straight zero: I cannot compute any annual invoice from public pages. 1
The Sales Ops Manager
No price, tier, contact band, send limit or onboarding figure appears anywhere in the evidence; the only public commercial action is 'Request a demo' alongside a 3-minute video. rubric level 0 exactly: every tier is a sales conversation. 1
The Data Protection Officer
The only commercial artefact on the evidence is 'Request a demo' — no prices, tiers, send limits, feature boundaries or onboarding fees anywhere. That is the anchor-0 case verbatim. 1
The Lifecycle Marketer
No public price on any captured page; the entire buying motion is a demo request and a 3-minute video. Nothing — tiers, automation threshold, onboarding, overage — is computable from this sheet. 1
The Solution Architect
No public price appears anywhere in the evidence; the entire commercial motion is a demo request, and mandatory onboarding or implementation fees are never mentioned — anchor zero exactly. 1
The Skeptic
No public prices anywhere in the capture — no contact tiers, no send limits, no overage, no onboarding line item; the sole commercial CTA is "Request a demo." This is the classic enterprise staircase: the tier where journeys begin and the mandatory implementation fee exist, just never on the pricing page, because there is no pricing page. 1
European sovereignty — proven facts
1 of 4 dimensions provenBuilt only from facts shown on the vendor's own pages. A dimension we could not prove is left open, not scored as zero.
| Legal entity | Incorporated in AT ⚠ unverified | 3/3 pts | 2 Report an error |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ownership | Not determined ⚠ unverified | — | uncited Report an error |
| Data residency | Not determined | — | uncited Report an error |
| Subprocessors | Not determined | — | uncited Report an error |
Where this could be wrong
- Evidence ages. The oldest capture behind this page is from 2 Sep 2026. Vendors change pricing and policies without notice; every fact reflects its source as of the capture date shown in the registry.
- Weak sourcing — Ownership. Not confirmed on the vendor’s own pages as captured.
- Weak sourcing — Legal entity. The responsible entity may alternatively be 'any other member of the global SAP Group' whose jurisdictions are not given, and this comes from the privacy statement rather than an imprint/legal disclosure page.
- AI can misread a source. Extraction and judgement are automated; a citation guarantees traceability, not infallibility. If something here is wrong, say so — no account needed, every report is decided within 5 business days, and accepted corrections are published.
What we left out
A claim that does not survive our checks costs us the claim, not the page. This is what was taken off this one.
- We found no public information on pricing on the pages we read (emarsys.com, emarsys.com/privacy-policy). If the vendor publishes it somewhere else, send us the page. Know more? Tell us
- 1 product fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material. Know more? Tell us
- 1 support fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material. Know more? Tell us
- 1 sovereignty dimension could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and is shown as unknown. Know more? Tell us
- 6 of the readings below were written against an earlier fact sheet — a fact has been corrected, added or pulled since. Until the panel next runs on this product you are reading the older judgement. Know more? Tell us
Sources (2)
The pages every claim on this page was read from — each one checked, dated, and kept verifiable.
- 1 Vendor homepage emarsys.com Checked 15 Sep 2026 +1 earlier capture: 2 Sep 2026 Details →
- 2 Privacy policy emarsys.com Checked 15 Sep 2026 Details →