Vendor reviews and advertising

The short version

You can pay us to look at your product, or to place a labelled advertisement. You cannot pay for a place in a list, a position, a verdict or a change of wording. Articles containing a paid placement at present: 0.

What a company can pay for

• An evaluation. A fee for us to assess a product against the published criteria for its category. The fee is for the work of evaluating and is charged whatever the outcome.
• A labelled advertisement. A clearly marked placement, shown apart from any ranked list.
• An edited guest article. Under the rules on the guest posts page.

What money cannot buy

• Inclusion in a list or comparison. That depends on the criteria.
• A higher position, a badge, or a "best for" label.
• A favourable verdict, or the removal or softening of criticism.
• Sight of an article before it is published, or approval of its text.
• A link that passes ranking credit. Paid links are marked sponsored.
• The removal of a "paid" label.

How a paid evaluation works

1. You tell us which product and which category.
2. We send the criteria for that category and written terms. The fee is agreed and paid before work starts and is not refundable on the result.
3. We evaluate the product the same way as any other in the category. If we cannot verify a claim, the article says so.
4. If the product meets the criteria it appears where the evidence puts it. If it does not, it is listed under "Not included, and why", or left out.
5. Wherever the product appears, it is labelled as a paid placement next to its name.

Lists always include products whose makers have paid nothing, and the page states how many of each there are.

How paid items are labelled

The label sits beside the item, and the article carries this notice near the top:

Paid placement: a company named on this page paid a fee to be reviewed. It did not see or approve the text, and payment does not affect our verdict or ranking.

Free products and accounts

A free licence, account or device given for review counts as payment. It is disclosed in the article and the link is marked as sponsored.

What we do not accept

We do not take placements for consumer VPN services, gambling, adult content, essay writing, or any product we could not describe honestly to a reader. We do not sell packages across other websites.

Get in touch

Email [email protected] with the product, its category and the page that shows its current pricing. Fees are quoted on request. There is no published rate card yet.