Legal & Transparency

Affiliate Disclaimer

AI Consensus Index is an independent research publication. This page explains how we make money, how that relationship affects our work, and what guarantees we make to readers about editorial independence.

📅 Effective: January 2026
🔄 Last Reviewed: March 2026
📍 Applies to: aiconsensusindex.com

1 What Is an Affiliate Relationship?

An affiliate relationship means that if you click a link on this site and subsequently purchase or subscribe to a software product, we may receive a commission from the vendor. This commission is paid by the vendor — not by you. You pay the same price you would pay visiting the vendor's website directly.

Affiliate commissions are a standard revenue mechanism used by independent software review publications. They allow us to fund independent research, product testing, and editorial production without charging readers or accepting vendor advertising fees.

2 Which Links May Be Affiliate Links?

On AI Consensus Index, the following link types may carry affiliate tracking parameters:

Links that do not carry affiliate parameters — including internal navigation, filter controls, back links, and comparison anchors — are clearly non-commercial.

How to identify affiliate links

Affiliate links typically contain a tracking parameter such as ?via=aiconsensusindex or ?fpr=aiconsensusindex in the URL. These parameters allow vendors to attribute referrals to our publication. They do not collect personal data on your behalf beyond what the vendor's own terms permit.

3 Current Affiliate Relationships

As of the effective date of this disclaimer, we maintain active affiliate relationships with the following vendors reviewed on this site:

Active affiliate relationships exist with Manatal (via manatal.com/?via=aiconsensusindex) and Recruit CRM (via recruitcrm.io?fpr=aiconsensusindex). All other vendor links on this site are non-affiliate referral links with no commercial arrangement in place. This list is updated as relationships are added or removed.

The absence of an affiliate relationship with a vendor has no effect on whether that vendor is included, ranked, or reviewed. All 20 platforms currently listed in our index were selected based on market relevance, not commercial viability.

4 Our Editorial Independence Policy

The following principles govern how commercial relationships interact with our research and editorial process. These are structural commitments, not aspirational statements.

Principle 01
Scores Are AI-Generated, Not Editorially Set
Consensus scores reflect the direct outputs of four AI models — Gemini, Claude, Grok, and ChatGPT — queried using a standardized evaluation prompt. No human editorial adjustment is applied to dimension scores or final consensus scores.
Principle 02
No Paid Rankings or Placement Fees
Vendors cannot purchase ranking position, index inclusion, review placement, or featured status. The ranked order on the index page is determined solely by consensus score. Vendors are not aware of their ranking prior to publication.
Principle 03
No Vendor Review or Approval Rights
We do not share review drafts, dimension scores, or final verdicts with vendors prior to publication. Vendors have no right to request amendments, removal, or re-evaluation of published content based on commercial disagreement.
Principle 04
Affiliate Status Does Not Affect Editorial Treatment
Products with active affiliate relationships (Manatal, Recruit CRM) are evaluated using the same methodology and prompt structure as all other vendors. Their scores, verdicts, and critical assessments are not moderated based on the existence of a commission arrangement.
Principle 05
Negative Reviews Are Published Without Exception
Where an AI model consensus produces a low score or critical verdict, that output is published unchanged. We do not suppress, soften, or omit negative assessments based on vendor relationships, potential future relationships, or reader feedback.
Principle 06
Disclosure Is Proactive, Not Reactive
This disclaimer page is linked from every affiliate link context on the site. We do not wait for regulatory obligation or reader complaint to disclose commercial relationships — disclosure is structural to how the site is built.

5 FTC and Regulatory Compliance

This disclosure is made in accordance with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (16 C.F.R. Part 255), which requires clear and conspicuous disclosure of material connections between reviewers and the products or services they evaluate.

For readers in other jurisdictions, this disclosure also addresses the requirements of:

Our commitment

If you are uncertain whether any link on this site is commercially affiliated, assume that it may be and evaluate our reviews accordingly. We believe reader skepticism is healthy and appropriate — our methodology is designed to withstand it.

6 How We Use Commission Revenue

Affiliate commissions fund the direct operational costs of this publication, including:

We do not have investors, venture backers, or advertising clients whose interests could conflict with editorial independence. Affiliate commissions are the sole external revenue source for this publication.

7 What This Disclaimer Does Not Cover

Scope limitation

This disclaimer covers commercial relationships between AI Consensus Index and software vendors. It does not constitute legal, financial, or procurement advice. AI-generated scores reflect model outputs as of the review date and should not be treated as the sole basis for enterprise software purchasing decisions. Conduct your own due diligence, request vendor demonstrations, and engage procurement counsel where appropriate.

8 Contact and Corrections

If you believe a commercial relationship on this site is undisclosed, inaccurately described, or that editorial content has been materially influenced by a vendor relationship, we encourage you to contact us directly. We treat editorial integrity complaints seriously and will investigate and respond within 10 business days.

If you are a vendor and wish to establish or terminate an affiliate relationship, or to dispute factual errors in a review, contact us via the email address listed in our site footer. Note that commercial inquiries do not confer any right to alter published editorial content.

← Back to Rankings