Affiliate disclosure & how we make money
Keeping ToolTarvern free means earning money. Here’s exactly how, and the rules we follow.
Last updated 16 October 2026
Current affiliate relationships
We currently have no affiliate relationships. Every “Visit website” link on ToolTarvern goes directly to the vendor’s site, and we earn nothing when you click it. This page will list any affiliate partners if that changes.
How our outbound links work
Affiliate links on ToolTarvern go through a short address on our own site, such as /go/xero/, and are always labelled “Affiliate link” or “(affiliate link)” and marked rel="sponsored". The address forwards you to the merchant through the affiliate network’s tracking link. If the affiliate agreement ends, the same address takes you straight to the merchant’s normal website, so links keep working.
We count how many times each /go/ link is used, and from which of our pages, so we can see what readers find useful and fix broken links. We don’t record your IP address or use cookies for this — see our privacy policy. We can’t see whether you buy anything; only the merchant or network knows that.
How ToolTarvern earns money
Our tools, guides and comparisons are the product, and they stay free and complete whether or not you ever click a commercial link. We earn money in four ways, each labelled where it appears:
- Affiliate commissions. Some vendors pay a commission when someone signs up through our link. It never costs you extra, and links are labelled “Affiliate link”. Affiliate status doesn’t affect which tools we list, how they’re ordered or what we say about them.
- Display advertising. If switched on, ads are labelled “Advertisement”, appear only between content (never inside a free tool’s inputs or results), and there are at most three per page. See where ads can appear.
- Sponsored placements. A paid “Featured tool” slot, always labelled “Sponsored” with the sponsor named. Sponsors can’t change our profiles, rankings, comparisons or reviews. See how sponsorships work.
- Digital products. Templates and toolkits we make and sell. These are optional extras: we won’t limit free tools to sell them. See resources.
Our rules
- An affiliate link is labelled where it appears, and uses
rel="sponsored". - Whether a tool has an affiliate programme has no influence on whether we list it, where we list it or what we say about it.
- We will recommend free or non-affiliate options whenever they are the better fit.
- Monetisation never gets in the way of using the site — no pop-ups over free tools, no forced signups.
Questions? See our editorial policy or contact us.