The short version
Some links on this site to advertising networks are affiliate links. If you open an account through one of them, this site may receive a commission from that network. You pay nothing extra, and your account terms are identical to those of anyone who signed up directly.
Which links are affiliate links
Outbound links to advertising networks may carry tracking parameters and may be commissioned. Links to regulators, courts, statute text, measurement studies and vendor help centres are never affiliate links and never commissioned; they exist because a claim needs a source.
Where a network appears in a comparison without a link, it is because no affiliate or direct relationship exists with that network at the time of writing, not because it was judged unworthy of one. Who applies that rule is set out on the author profile.
What commission does not buy
- Position. Ordering follows the criteria in the review methodology. A higher commission rate does not move a network up.
- Silence. Drawbacks are published for commissioned networks. Where a platform's optimisation is weak or its documentation is missing, that is stated.
- Approval rights. No network sees a draft, suggests edits or removes criticism.
- Exclusivity. Networks that pay nothing are still named, compared and recommended where they fit the reader's situation better.
Why the model is used at all
Checking deposit thresholds against vendor documentation, reading regulator guidance and recalculating rate cards takes time that has to be paid for somehow. The alternatives are a paywall, display advertising, or sponsored content. Affiliate commission was chosen because it is the only one of the three that keeps the reader's incentive and the site's incentive pointing the same way: nobody earns anything from a reader who opens an account, funds it and finds the platform useless. The wider funding picture is described on the about page.
Regulatory position
This disclosure is intended to satisfy the disclosure expectations of the US Federal Trade Commission's endorsement guides and equivalent rules elsewhere. It is written to be readable rather than to be technically compliant and functionally invisible, which is why the relationship is also stated in plain language at the top of the main guide rather than only here. Tracking placed by those links is covered in the privacy policy.
Questions about a specific link
If you want to know whether a particular outbound link is commissioned, ask. That question gets a straight answer through the contact page. The wider rules on independence are in the editorial policy.