About test

test

test is the monthly consumer-testing magazine of Stiftung Warentest, the German federal consumer-testing foundation headquartered at Lützowplatz in Berlin. Since March 1966 it has published the foundation's comparative product and service tests — from washing machines to health insurance — financed entirely by readers, with no advertising allowed, in order to preserve its independence. Alongside the finance magazine Finanztest (see separate profile) and the test.de website, it is one of the foundation's three brands. The magazine's annual average circulation was reported at 299,000 copies.

Overview

test is arguably the most trusted magazine in Germany: a publication whose verdicts — ranging from "gut" (good) to "nicht zufriedenstellend" (unsatisfactory) — can make or break products, move markets, and send manufacturers to court. Its authority rests on a simple, radical business model: because readers alone pay for the tests, no advertiser can influence them. The foundation's statutes forbid advertising revenue entirely, and its test verdicts are licensed to manufacturers only for packaging and advertising use after the fact — never sold in advance.

History

The foundation behind the magazine was created after years of debate and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's government statement of 9 October 1962: on 16 September 1964 the federal government decided to establish a product-testing organization, and on 4 December 1964 the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by Economics Minister Kurt Schmücker, erected Stiftung Warentest as an independent non-profit foundation under civil law. The state's founding of a testing institute marked, in the words of historian Kevin Rick, a paradigm shift in consumer policy — the Bundestag intervening directly in the market for consumer information.

The first monthly issue, titled DER test, appeared on 26 March 1966 with a launch run of 210,000 copies — half of which sold immediately at newsstands — offering test results for 24 zigzag sewing machines and 10 hand blenders for 1.50 Deutschmarks, framed by a service section of consumer topics and tips. The press echo was mixed: alongside enthusiasm ("finally!") came sharp criticism — the Verbraucherpolitische Korrespondenz called the tests partly useless, partly misleading, and several reports complained that two tests per issue meant only 24 a year "for four million marks". In the Bundestag, SPD deputy Lucie Kurlbaum-Beyer objected to the first cover, which showed a full-page blonde woman: was it the task of a publicly funded magazine, she asked, to work with consumer information rather than "putting together a magazine with sex"?

The early years were turbulent. In April 1967 sales collapsed dramatically — subscribers fell to 10,000 — and from 1968 newsstand sales were discontinued entirely, with only subscribers and direct orders served. From 1968 the test results were accompanied for the first time by the now-famous quality verdicts. To spread the word, the foundation made its results available free of charge to newspaper and magazine publishers from 1968 — and newsstand sales resumed in 1970.

The foundation learned to make news with its results — and to defend them in court. When the November 1969 issue rated three ski bindings from market leader Hannes Marker "unsatisfactory," the company sued; after a very long trial reaching the Federal Court of Justice, it lost in 1975. When a 1973 test of pram safety found unexpectedly many poor products, the editors wheeled the prams from the foundation's headquarters to Berlin's Kurfürstendamm for a public presentation. After the 1985 Heysel stadium disaster it tested the safety of 18 Bundesliga football grounds, rating eight "very alarming." In 1988 a wood-chipper manufacturer sued over safety requirements exceeding the DIN standard — and lost at the Federal Court of Justice. Around ten lawsuits a year are filed against the foundation; it wins most of them. In its first fifty years — celebrated in 2014 — the foundation anonymously tested more than 100,000 products in 5,500 tests, a scale of independent product scrutiny unmatched anywhere in the world. The anniversary also confirmed the magazine's cultural status: half a century after the blonde woman on the first cover provoked a Bundestag debate, test had become an institution Germans consult the way they consult the weather forecast — routinely, and with consequences.

Since 1997 the results have also been published online at test.de, and since 1979 the foundation has run the Jugend testet school competition, teaching young people critical engagement with products, services and advertising. The foundation is a member of Consumers International, the global federation of consumer organizations, and Hubertus Primus has been its executive director since 2012. Its Berlin headquarters at Lützowplatz houses the test laboratories' coordination, the editorial offices and the publishing operation — the physical plant of German consumer protection.

Content and concept

Each monthly issue presents comparative tests of products and services across every consumer category: household appliances, electronics, cars and tires, food and cosmetics, health products, financial services, travel and more. The methodology is the magazine's core asset: products are purchased anonymously at retail, tested in independent laboratories against published criteria, and rated on a transparent scale. The "mantel" (jacket) section around the tests carries consumer topics, advice and tips — the service journalism that makes the magazine readable beyond the verdict tables.

The no-advertising rule is absolute: the foundation's income comes from magazine and book sales, licence fees for test verdicts, online test results and its capital endowment. In 2024 revenues were around 66.7 million euros; the federal government increased the foundation's capital by 100 million to 175 million euros in 2016–2017, and since 2024 the foundation receives no annual grants from the federal budget at all.

Coverage and audience

test addresses every German consumer — which is to say, everyone. Its verdicts are cited in purchase decisions across the country, and a "gut" rating from Stiftung Warentest remains the most valuable quality signal a product can earn in the German market — manufacturers print it on packaging, retailers advertise with it, and consumers treat it as the final word. The magazine's influence extends far beyond its 299,000-copy circulation through the free availability of results to other media and the licensing of verdicts for product packaging and advertising: the verdicts travel even where the magazine doesn't.

Ownership

test is published by Stiftung Warentest, the independent non-profit foundation established by the Federal Republic of Germany in 1964 and based in Berlin. The foundation employs around 374 people (2021 figure). Its independence is structurally guaranteed: no advertising, no manufacturer funding, no government grants since 2024 — only readers, licence income and capital returns.

Digital presence

test.de has published the foundation's test results online since 1997, evolving into a comprehensive consumer portal with test databases, buying advice and paid detailed results. The digital offering extends the print magazine's authority into the daily purchase decision — the smartphone check in the supermarket aisle that has replaced the monthly magazine browse for many readers. The site's paid content model mirrors the print philosophy: readers pay, advertisers don't exist, and the verdicts remain unbuyable — the digital continuation of the independence that the 1966 founders built into the foundation's statutes.

Sixty years after DER test's first issue, the magazine remains what its founders intended: the consumer's advocate in the marketplace, paid by readers, feared by manufacturers, and trusted by a country that takes its quality verdicts very seriously indeed. The foundation's test laboratories and its refusal of advertising revenue remain the institutional guarantees behind every verdict the magazine publishes.