New AI tools launch every week, and most “best AI tools” lists are either out of date or quietly written to sell whatever pays the most. We want this site to be useful even if you never click a single link. This page explains exactly how we work, so you can judge our guides for yourself.
Where our information comes from
Every tool on the site has a record that we build from primary sources:
- The vendor’s own pages: product pages, pricing pages, documentation and help centers.
- Plan and pricing details as published at the time we checked, including whether there’s a permanent free plan or only a trial.
- Widely documented facts about how a product works: supported platforms, integrations, file formats, usage limits.
When sources disagree, the vendor’s current official page wins. When we can’t confirm something, we leave it out rather than guess.
What we don’t claim
We want to be precise about the limits of our work:
- We don’t pretend to have tested everything. Unless a guide explicitly says otherwise, our comparisons are based on published features, plans and pricing, not on long-term hands-on use of every tool.
- We don’t publish made-up scores. You won’t see “9.4/10” ratings that imply a precision nobody actually has.
- We don’t copy vendor marketing. Descriptions are written in plain language, and every tool in a buying guide gets an honest section on its limitations.
How often prices are checked
AI pricing changes constantly, with new tiers, credit systems and regional prices. Every price on the site shows when it was last checked (currently September 2026). Treat our numbers as a snapshot and always confirm on the vendor’s site before you buy. If you spot something out of date, tell us and we’ll fix it.
How rankings and “top picks” work
On category pages, tools appear in an order our editors set. It’s based on how well-known and broadly useful each tool is for the typical person in that category, plus whether it has a free plan and how clearly its pricing is published.
There’s no universal “best” tool. That’s why our buying guides are organized around situations (“if you’re a solo creator on a budget…”) instead of a single winner, and why a free or cheaper option is often the right answer.
How we make money, and how it affects the site
Some tools we list have affiliate programs. If you click through and buy, the vendor may pay us a commission, at no extra cost to you. To be completely transparent about what that means here:
- We list popular tools whether or not they pay us. ChatGPT, Claude, Midjourney, Cursor, Zapier, Notion and many others have no affiliate program with us, and they’re covered in full, including in our buying guides when they’re the best fit.
- Affiliate relationships can affect prominence. For example, which tools appear in “alternatives” sections or get highlighted buttons. We’re telling you this directly rather than hiding it.
- Affiliate relationships never change the facts. Pricing, free-plan details, features and limitations are the same whether or not a tool pays us.
- Guides never mention commissions, and writers follow a neutrality brief: decision-first, honest drawbacks for every tool, no hype language, and no invented testing claims.
Corrections
If something is wrong or stale, whether a price, a feature, or a tool that’s changed direction, we want to know. Accuracy is the whole point of a comparison site, and we update pages as soon as we can confirm a change.
The bottom line
Use our comparisons to narrow your options quickly, then take advantage of free plans and trials to confirm the fit yourself. The best tool is the one that solves your specific problem at a price you’re comfortable with, and sometimes that’s the free one.