Affiliate & Advertising Disclosure
What affiliate links are
Some links on StackSmarter are affiliate links. That means if you click one and sign up for or buy the product, the vendor pays us a commission — typically a percentage of the subscription, sometimes recurring for as long as you stay a customer. It costs you nothing extra; the price you pay is the same as going direct.
How we make money
- SaaS affiliate commissions (our primary revenue): when you sign up for AI tools and software we review through our partner links, usually via affiliate networks like PartnerStack, Impact.com, CJ Affiliate, or ShareASale.
- Display advertising: you may see ads on this site served through an ad network (such as Mediavine Journey). Advertisers pay for placement; we don't control which specific ads appear.
- Sponsored content: if a vendor ever pays us for a review or placement, it will be clearly labeled as sponsored at the top of the article.
- Digital products: we sell our own playbooks and prompt packs (for example, setup guides and prompt collections). Buying them supports the site directly.
Why it doesn't change our verdicts
Our rule is simple and public: we only recommend tools that clear our tests — the tool must solve a job a small business actually pays for, its pricing must be defensible against the human alternative, and we name its biggest limitation in the review. If a vendor with a generous commission doesn't clear those bars, it doesn't make the list. Commission rates never determine rankings, and we say so on every monetized post in a disclosure notice near the top.
What we don't do
- We don't publish "reviews" of tools we haven't actually evaluated.
- We don't let advertisers edit our verdicts or suppress limitations.
- We don't recommend tools solely because they pay well.
Questions?
If you ever have a question about a specific link, a review, or how we're compensated, we'll answer plainly.