Most comparisons start with the return and end there. Return is the number that is easiest to advertise and hardest to verify. Start somewhere else.
1. Is there a published term behind the figure?
A number with a document behind it can be checked. A number without one is a slogan. How a plan is priced and what a consistent return claim really is cover this.
2. Who holds the money?
Named, regulated, reachable. An operator you cannot find is not a safer bet than one you can — see the questions to ask.
3. What does getting out cost and how long does it take?
Price the exit before you enter. It is the only number you will know for certain if something goes wrong, and it is almost never published prominently. The process is described in withdrawals.
4. What happens in the bad month?
Ask in writing. An operator with a considered answer has one. This is the test that distinguishes a product from a pitch.
5. How old is it, and what happened in the worst month it has lived through?
Not a track record you were told — something you can see. A programme's first bad month is more informative than its best month.
6. What does the total cost look like over the full commitment?
Fees, cycle length and the cost of an early exit, added up. A headline percentage is not a return.
The comparison that actually helps
Put the two side by side in a table with the six rows above, fill both in from the documents rather than the sales material, and then ask which one you could hold through a bad year. That is the decision. The percentage decides nothing on its own.