According to Forrester's integrity policy, no. It states that client companies cannot purchase research coverage or favorable opinions, and that Forrester controls its research agenda, judgments and conclusions. The policy is a statement of intent, so buyers should still read how a vendor uses a report and test products themselves.
What the policy says
Forrester describes itself as an independent research and advisory company. Beyond the headline rule, the integrity policy says:
- Research follows standardized methodologies to keep quality and recommendations consistent.
- Employees may not sit on company boards or endorse a company's strategy or products.
- Employees may accept only reasonable travel reimbursement tied to sponsored events, analyst days or briefings.
- Consulting that compares companies stays confidential for the client's internal use.
- Forrester commits to correcting material factual errors quickly.
The methodology page adds a structural rule: an analyst declines engagements with a client that is a vendor under evaluation in the same market, from kickoff through publication.
What vendors may and may not do
The vendor review policy sets the boundary during review. Participating vendors can see scorecard feedback, their write-up and their placement before publication. They can escalate factual disagreements about their own score to a research director, and then to a group director and a center of excellence for process, fairness or methodology concerns.
They may not dispute criteria, scales or weightings, challenge the reading of customer feedback, raise concerns about other vendors' scores, lobby executives or account managers, or provide false or misleading information. Forrester may exclude a vendor from review for the last of these.
Why the worry persists
Perception problems come from two places. Vendors who pay for reprint licenses can promote a result, and buyers see only the promoted ones. And any firm that earns revenue from technology vendors invites questions. A policy page cannot settle that.
What it does give you is a checklist of safeguards you can ask about at any analyst firm: rules on paid coverage, rules on staff relationships, a documented dispute process, and a stated way to correct errors.
A practical stance for buyers
- Read the objectivity and methodology statements, not only the chart.
- Ask the vendor whether they licensed the report and which parts they are quoting.
- Treat a placement as one input to a shortlist.
- Verify the capabilities that matter to you in a proof of concept.
Separating research from promotion
Two activities are easy to confuse. One is the research itself, governed by the integrity policy and methodology. The other is how a company promotes a result afterwards, governed by the citation policy, which requires approval for external use and limits comparative claims.
A buyer can keep these apart by asking what a vendor is quoting and whether it links to the publisher's own summary. If a claim leans on a chart you cannot find on the publisher's site, treat it as unverified until you can read the underlying text.
Quick check
Does Forrester let vendors argue about weightings?
Per the vendor review policy, no. Criteria, scales and weightings are treated as analyst opinion.
Is a policy page proof that nothing improper happens?
No. It documents intended safeguards. Verify by reading methodology and testing products yourself.
Safeguard's free scan lets you see SBOM and dependency findings on your own project before you decide whom to trust.
Sources
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.
