Affiliate disclosure

How we make money, in plain English

SoftGids is free because some vendors pay us a commission when readers click through and buy. Here is exactly how that works, and the wall that keeps it away from our verdicts.

How it works

From click to commission, step by step

You research for free

Every review, rating, comparison and guide on SoftGids is free to read. No paywall, no account required.

You click through to a vendor

Some buttons and links that take you to a vendor's site are affiliate links. They are the same links you could find yourself, with a tracking reference added.

The vendor may pay us

If you go on to buy or subscribe, the vendor may pay us a commission. It comes out of their marketing budget, never out of your price.

The verdict stays untouched

The analysts who write assessments never see which vendors pay or how much. Commercial terms live on the other side of a wall they cannot look over.

You never pay more by using our links. Vendors pay the commission from their own marketing budgets, and prices are identical either way.

The firewall

What commissions can and cannot touch

Commissions do

Fund the analysts, moderation and research behind the platform
Keep every review, comparison and guide free for readers
Pay for the verification work that keeps ratings trustworthy

Commissions never

Change a star rating, which is computed from verified reviews
Move a product up or down any ranking or comparison
Soften a verdict, hide a weakness or remove a negative review
Decide which products we cover or how we describe them

The mechanics make manipulation impossible rather than merely discouraged. Star ratings are computed automatically from verified user reviews, so there is no editorial rating for money to influence. Rankings follow from those computed scores. And the analysts who write our assessments never see commercial terms, which vendors pay, or how much.

Plenty of products we recommend pay us nothing at all. Where a page contains affiliate links, the buttons behave identically whether a commission exists or not, and a product without an affiliate programme is listed, rated and ranked on exactly the same terms as one with.

Editorial policy

How reviews are verified, how scores are computed, and the rules vendors play by.

Read the policy

Questions about a link?

Ask us directly. We will tell you plainly whether a relationship exists with any vendor on the platform.

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