Affiliate Disclosure
Short version: some posts on this site contain affiliate links. Every post that has one carries a disclosure notice at the top of that post. If you buy through a link, the merchant pays me a share of the sale — your price does not change. Commissions do not decide what I recommend: this site recommends products that pay nothing, and writes up flaws in products that pay well. The rest of this page is the policy behind that.
What an affiliate link is
An affiliate link is an ordinary link carrying an identifier. When you click it, the merchant can tell the visit came from this site. If you go on to buy or subscribe, they pay me a share of the sale as commission.
That money comes out of the merchant's marketing budget. It is not added to your price. What you pay going through a link here is the same as what you'd pay searching for the merchant directly.
Programs this site participates in
Two networks and three brand programmes, as of October 2026:
- PartnerBoost — accepted as a publisher, October 2026. The brand-programme links on this site run through this network.
- Amazon Associates — accepted as an associate, October 2026. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
- CZUR, Kuycon and TESSAN — brand programmes joined through PartnerBoost. Links to these brands are live in the posts whose disclosure notice points here.
CZUR, Kuycon and TESSAN products are sold on Amazon, so a purchase completes there, but commission on those links comes from the brand's own programme via PartnerBoost rather than from Amazon Associates. A post's disclosure notice and the label on each link tell you which programme pays.
Programmes will be added to this list as they are joined, and removed if they end. Naming them is more honest than describing them in general terms, and most programmes require it in their terms anyway.
A post that carries no disclosure notice contains no links that pay me.
What commissions do and don't affect
This is the part of the page that matters, so I'll be specific.
What they don't affect
- Rankings and conclusions. Who comes first in a comparison is decided by the test results. I don't move A ahead of B because A pays 30% and B pays nothing.
- Criticism. Products that pay me get their flaws written up exactly like products that don't.
- The freedom to say no. If a product runs an affiliate program and I don't think it's worth buying, I say so and leave the link out.
What they do affect — honestly
- What I choose to test. I'm more likely to test a product that has an affiliate program, because writing it up might pay. That bias is real, I can't fully remove it, and the least I can do is tell you it exists.
- Coverage. Some excellent open-source tools have no affiliate program, and they probably show up here less than they deserve. If you're making a decision, don't treat "what this site covers" as a complete map of what's available.
My rules
- No hands-on language for a product I haven't handled. Where a post rests on a spec sheet, a teardown, or testing someone else did, the post names that source instead of writing as if I'd used it. I can recommend something I haven't held — I can't claim an experience I didn't have.
- Posts with affiliate links carry the disclosure at the top, not buried at the bottom.
- No paid reviews. If a vendor ever pays for coverage, it gets labelled as sponsored and kept separate.
- No "limited time" or "only a few spots left" urgency tactics.
- When a product gets worse, the conclusion changes — even if it's still paying me. Edits are dated.
Cookies and tracking
When you click an affiliate link, the merchant or affiliate network may set a cookie in your browser so a later purchase can be attributed to this site. That's how the mechanism works; this site can't switch it off, though you can block third-party cookies in your browser settings.
What this site itself collects, and doesn't, is on the privacy page.
Compliance
This disclosure is provided in line with the US Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides. If you have a question about any commercial relationship behind something on this site, just ask me.