Affiliate disclosure

The short version, today: exactly one link on this site is an affiliate link, and it goes to NordVPN. Every other outbound link here pays us nothing, because we have either not applied to that programme or been refused by it. Each link says which it is beside the button, and every comparison carries a ledger naming what each vendor on it pays us.

The full version

This disclosure is made in accordance with the United States Federal Trade Commission’s guidelines on endorsements and testimonials (16 CFR Part 255), which require that material connections between a publisher and the companies it writes about be disclosed clearly and conspicuously.

ToolSieve earns its keep through affiliate programs operated by some of the software vendors reviewed here. As of August 2026 we are a member of exactly one: NordVPN, whose program also covers NordPass and NordLocker. Applications are pending or have been declined elsewhere. Every other outbound link on this site goes to the vendor’s ordinary public page and carries no tracking identifier of ours, which is stated beside each of those buttons.

NordVPN ranks first on the VPN page. It held that rank before the program was approved, on the published criteria, and the page still says in plain words that NordVPN renews about forty percent higher than ExpressVPN. If a paid partnership ever required us to soften a number, we would drop the partnership rather than the number.

When another application is approved, we swap that vendor’s link for a tracked one and the label beside the button changes from “not an affiliate link” to a plain statement that it is one. We do not change the ranking at the same time. The price you pay is the same either way.

How we keep the money away from the rankings

• Rankings are set by the published criteria on each comparison page before monetization is considered.
• Every link is individually labeled for what it is, next to the link itself and not only on this page. Right now one of those labels says we earn a commission and all the others say we earn nothing.
• We include tools that pay no commission at all, and tools that run no affiliate program at all, when they belong in the comparison. Mullvad and Attio are both on this site and neither can ever pay us.
• Inside comparisons, we disclose roughly what each vendor pays affiliates, so you can audit our incentives against our conclusions.
• Every recommended tool carries a “who should not use this” section. A page designed only to convert would not have one.

What we do not do

• We do not accept payment for placement or rankings.
• We do not publish sponsored reviews presented as editorial.
• We do not let vendors preview, edit or approve comparisons before publication.

If anything on this page seems inconsistent with what you see elsewhere on the site, that is a bug. Tell us and we will fix it.