How We Make Money
AI Tool Advisor is a reader-supported publication. We earn money through affiliate commissions when readers click our links and purchase products or services from the companies we review. This costs you nothing extra — the commission comes out of the company's marketing budget, not your wallet.
Running this site involves real costs: web hosting, tool subscriptions for testing (we spend thousands of dollars per year on AI tool subscriptions to test them properly), and the significant time investment required to produce in-depth, honest reviews. Affiliate commissions allow us to keep the site free for readers while maintaining editorial independence.
What Is an Affiliate Link?
An affiliate link is a special URL that contains a tracking code identifying that the visitor came from AI Tool Advisor. When you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, the company knows the referral came from us and pays us a small commission — typically 10-30% of the purchase price for SaaS subscriptions, though rates vary by company and program.
For example, if you click through to Jasper AI from our review, sign up for the $49/month Creator plan, and keep it for three months, we might earn around $15-45 in commissions from that referral. This is how we fund the site.
All affiliate links on this site are marked with the rel="nofollow sponsored" attribute as recommended by Google's guidelines for affiliate content.
Our Commitment to Editorial Independence
Affiliate relationships do not influence our reviews, ratings, or recommendations. Here is exactly how we maintain that separation:
- We test before we check affiliate programs. Our review scores, pros and cons, and recommendations are determined during the testing process. We only check whether a company has an affiliate program after the review is substantially complete. If they do, we add affiliate links. If they do not, the review runs without them.
- We do not accept sponsored reviews. No company, PR agency, or individual can pay us to write a review, to modify a review's conclusions, or to remove negative content. If a tool has problems, those problems stay in the review regardless of whether we have an affiliate relationship with the company.
- Negative reviews stay published. Some of the tools we review receive low ratings and critical assessments. These reviews remain on the site. We do not remove or soften negative reviews at the request of companies, even if they have an affiliate program.
- We do not participate in "pay to play" affiliate programs. Some companies offer higher commission rates or bonuses in exchange for preferential placement or positive coverage. We decline these arrangements. Our commission rates are standard, publicly available rates that any affiliate can access.
- Multiple tools in every category get affiliate links. In a comparison article, we add affiliate links for every tool mentioned that has an affiliate program — not just the one we recommend. If we recommend Tool A over Tool B, both get affiliate links, and you get our honest assessment of why A is better for most people.
- We evaluate tools we do not have affiliate relationships with. Many tools we review do not have affiliate programs at all. We review them anyway because our goal is to help you find the best tool, not just the tool that pays us.
Affiliate Programs We Participate In
As of May 2026, AI Tool Advisor participates in affiliate programs from the following companies and networks. This list is updated periodically as we add or remove programs:
- Jasper AI — via PartnerStack
- Cursor — via direct affiliate program
- Synthesia — via PartnerStack
- Copy.ai — via PartnerStack
- Writesonic — via PartnerStack
- HeyGen — via direct affiliate program
- Midjourney — no affiliate program available (reviewed without compensation)
- GitHub Copilot — no affiliate program available (reviewed without compensation)
- OpenAI / ChatGPT — no affiliate program available (reviewed without compensation)
- Various other AI tools via PartnerStack, Impact, and ShareASale networks
If a specific tool is reviewed on this site and has an affiliate link, the review page will include a disclaimer near the top of the article stating that fact.
Why You Can Trust Us
The internet is full of "best X tools" articles that are thinly veiled affiliate plays written by people who have never used the products. We built AI Tool Advisor specifically to be different from that. Here is what you can expect from every review:
- Every tool has been personally tested by Alex Chen for at least two weeks (often a full month)
- Testing is done on real projects, not contrived demos
- Comparisons include specific head-to-head testing, not feature table copy-pasting
- Both strengths and weaknesses are documented with concrete examples
- Reviews include a "Who should NOT buy this tool" section — because no tool is right for everyone
If you ever have concerns about the objectivity of a review, please email alex@wuyifan.shop. We take editorial integrity seriously and will investigate any concerns promptly.
How to Support Us Without Affiliate Links
If you prefer not to use affiliate links but still want to support the site, here are some ways:
- Share our reviews with colleagues and on social media. Word of mouth is the best growth channel for independent publications.
- Subscribe to our newsletter (if available). We may add a newsletter with additional content not published on the site.
- Send feedback. Knowing which tools you want reviewed and what questions you have helps us produce more useful content for everyone.
Thank you for reading and for supporting independent, honest AI tool reviews.
— Alex Chen, Melbourne, Australia