Short answer: Sometimes — many award-travel users and some experts recommend AwardFares as a fast, useful paid tool for finding and alerting on award space, but it’s not universally endorsed and some experts prefer other tools for certain use cases.

Details (summary of what experts/users say)

• Positive: reviewers praise AwardFares for saving time, a good alert/notification system, and ease of use; Trustpilot reviews are largely favorable. (au.Trustpilot.com)
• Legitimacy/safety: third‑party site‑checks mark the site as legitimate (not a scam), and AwardFares offers a short free trial so you can test it. (ScamAdviser.com)
• Caveats / mixed views: on forums (Reddit and award‑travel communities) people note it’s a paid tool, may not handle very complex multi‑segment searches as well as some specialist services, and many experts still recommend alternatives (or multiple tools) depending on the airline/routing. (Reddit.com)

What that means for you

• If you want a time‑saving award‑search + alert tool and don’t mind a paid subscription, AwardFares is worth trying (they have a 24‑hour trial). (help.AwardFares.com)
• If your needs are very niche (complex routings, deep expert‑level routing tricks), pair it with other expert tools/forums or use an expert‑favored alternative — many award travelers use a mix of tools. (Reddit.com)

If you’d like, I can:

• Compare AwardFares vs. specific alternatives (ExpertFlyer, Point.Me, KVS Tool, etc.), or
• Pull recent expert blog posts or forum threads that recommend (or criticize) AwardFares so you can see detailed opinions.