Sponsorship policy

This policy defines what paid visibility can include and which editorial decisions payment cannot change.

What money can buy

• A richer profile, meaning more media, an updates feed and the ability to respond to reviews.
• A clearly labeled sponsor placement in a category.
• Faster review of corrections a vendor submits (verified against public evidence like everyone else).

What money cannot buy, ever

• Position in the ledger or any ranking. Order is set by the data.
• Inclusion. A platform is listed because it belongs in the market, not because it paid.
• A single coverage mark, review or caveat. We will not change one glyph for money.
• Removal of unflattering findings. Critical reviews and the “where it doesn’t fit” notes stay.

Why we publish this

The review channel buyers rely on has a trust problem, built on pay-to-play rankings and seeded reviews. Our reason to exist is being the source that does not do that. Stating the rule in public is how we hold ourselves to it, and how you hold us to it.

Every sponsor placement is labeled

Where a vendor has paid for visibility, it says so on the placement. If you ever find sponsored content on this site that isn’t labeled, that is a bug. Tell us and we will fix it.