Commercial relationships do not decide the ranking.

Our commitments

What readers can expect

• No sponsored placement in organic rankings or search results.
• Affiliate availability never changes score, confidence, rank, card size, or visual emphasis.
• Vendor claims establish product facts, not independent proof of quality.
• Low or conflicting evidence stays visible as a limitation instead of becoming zero.
• Published scores, content, and ranking snapshots keep versions and approval records.

Affiliate and sponsorship

Affiliate links are separate from scoring

Some official-site buttons use affiliate links. They are labeled at the point of click and stored in a separate link-state mapping. The same tool without an affiliate relationship remains eligible for the same position, score, and treatment. Paid sponsorship will not be inserted into an organic ranking row. We may monitor additional official update channels for tools with an active commercial relationship, but that coverage does not lower the newsworthiness threshold or change feed order, sourcing rules, or editorial conclusions.

AI assistance

Automation supports research; humans approve publication

Automated collection can normalize permitted public facts and identify stale or conflicting records. It cannot accept terms, bypass access controls, invent missing observations, or publish a score. Public actual-use evidence and editorial conclusions require a recorded human review.

Corrections and vendor input

Anyone can point to a factual problem; no one can buy the outcome

Correction requests should identify a page, field, explanation, and—when available—a direct source. Vendors may submit facts under the same evidence rules as any reader. A request does not guarantee a score or wording change, and resolution notes remain part of the audit trail.