Last updated: September 3, 2026

Affiliate Disclosure

Exactly how First Reviewers makes money, and the promises we make so it never changes our reviews.

The short version When you buy through some links on our sites, the vendor pays us a commission. It costs you nothing extra. That money keeps the reviews free, and it never decides what we recommend.

How First Reviewers makes money

First Reviewers is a free resource for small business owners. Every review, comparison, and guide is open to read, with no account and no paywall. To fund the testing, hosting, and writing, we use two revenue sources: affiliate commissions and display advertising. This page explains both so you can weigh our recommendations with full information.

What affiliate links are

Some, not all, of the links on our websites are affiliate links. If you click one and then buy something or sign up for a service, the vendor pays us a small commission.

Here is the important part: it costs you nothing extra. You pay the same price whether you use our link or go to the vendor directly. In some cases our links give readers discounts that the standard checkout does not offer.

Programs we work with

  • Impact, which handles affiliate programs for brands such as HubSpot, Canva, Mailchimp, and Monday.com
  • PartnerStack, which handles SaaS programs such as Notion, Beehiiv, and Loom, often with recurring commissions
  • Amazon Associates, for any physical products we link to, such as books or hardware
  • Direct partnerships with individual software companies under their own affiliate terms

The specific programs can change over time. This page is updated whenever a new network is added.

Do commissions change our reviews?

No. Here is the promise we hold ourselves to on every page we publish:

  1. We test every product ourselves, at our own expense, before writing a word about it
  2. We only recommend products we would pay for, because that is how we found them in the first place
  3. Negative reviews happen. If a product is bad, we say so, even when its affiliate program pays well
  4. Rankings are never bought. Sometimes the highest-paying tool gets our lowest score
  5. We disclose, clearly and every time, in line with FTC requirements

How to recognize an affiliate link

Affiliate links appear in our articles as text links, buttons such as "Visit HubSpot" or "Try Free", and links inside pricing and comparison tables. When you click one, you may briefly pass through a tracking URL before landing on the vendor's site. That hop is what credits the referral.

Display advertising

Our sites may show ads through networks such as Google AdSense, and later through premium managers such as Mediavine as traffic grows. These ads are served by third parties. We do not pick the individual ads, but we do control the ad partners we work with and hold them to sensible standards.

Sponsored content

If we ever publish an article that a company paid for, it will be labeled as sponsored at the top of the page, in plain language. As of this update, we have published no sponsored content, and our reviews are never for sale at any price.

FTC compliance

This disclosure is provided under the Federal Trade Commission's guides on endorsements and testimonials (16 CFR Part 255), which require websites to disclose material connections with the products they recommend. It applies across the First Reviewers network. You can read the FTC's guidance directly at ftc.gov.

Your support matters

When you use our links, you fund more testing, more honest comparisons, and free access for the next reader. It never changes a score, but it genuinely keeps the lights on. We appreciate it.

Questions

Anything about our affiliate relationships you want explained further?