Affiliate Disclosure
The full story on how we make money, why some of our links pay us, and why our recommendations are still trustworthy.
If you buy something after clicking a link on this site, we may earn a commission — at no extra cost to you. Here’s exactly how that works and, more importantly, why it doesn’t change what we recommend.
Plain-language summary. Some links on AI Ideas Bank are affiliate links. We only recommend tools we’ve actually used or that our team has rigorously vetted. We never take money to change what we recommend or where a tool ranks. If we say “this is the best AI writing tool for X,” it’s because we believe it — not because the commission is higher.
Table of contents
1. FTC-required disclosure
In accordance with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR Part 255 (“Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”), we are required to disclose that AI Ideas Bank participates in various affiliate marketing programs. This means we may receive a commission when you click on certain links on this site and make a purchase.
This disclosure applies to all pages of aiideabank.com, our newsletter, our YouTube channel, our social media accounts, and any other content we publish.
2. What an affiliate link is
An affiliate link is a special URL that includes a tracking code. When you click it and complete a qualifying action (usually a purchase or signup), the merchant knows we referred you and pays us a small commission — typically 10–40% of the sale. You pay the same price either way. The commission comes out of the merchant’s marketing budget, not your pocket.
Affiliate links on this site typically look like: https://aiideabank.com/go/toolname (a clean redirect) or the merchant’s URL with tracking parameters. We may label them with “(affiliate)” or a small icon on some pages.
3. Which programs we participate in
We participate in affiliate programs from the following categories of merchants:
| Category | Example tools | Typical commission |
|---|---|---|
| AI writing & content | Jasper, Copy.ai, Writesonic | 20–30% |
| AI SEO tools | SurferSEO, Frase, MarketMuse | 15–30% |
| Newsletter platforms | Beehiiv, ConvertKit, Substack | Fixed / recurring |
| Automation platforms | Make, n8n Cloud, Zapier | 15–25% |
| Web hosting & infra | Vercel, Cloudflare, Neon | 10–20% |
| Course platforms | Podia, Teachable, Kajabi | 20–30% |
| Domain & brand tools | Namecheap, Porkbun | Fixed per sale |
| Design & creative | Canva Pro, Figma, Framer | 15–25% |
| Course & book affiliates | Gumroad, LemonSqueezy creators | 10–30% |
| Amazon Associates | Books, hardware (rare) | 1–10% |
Not every link on our site is an affiliate link. Many of our references — especially to specific case studies, non-commercial resources, and open-source tools — are just plain links with no commission attached.
4. How we choose tools to recommend
Every tool we recommend goes through a four-step evaluation:
- Fit for the specific business use case. A tool that’s great for enterprise SaaS may be wrong for a solo founder. We match the tool to the reader, not the reader to the tool.
- Hands-on testing. Our research or dev team uses the tool for at least one real workflow before recommending it. We don’t recommend based on the marketing page.
- Real 2026 pricing. We check the vendor’s pricing page quarterly. If pricing changes, we update the recommendation — even when it means dropping a tool we like.
- Alternative disclosure. For every “best of” recommendation, we also mention the top free/open-source alternative when one exists.
5. Editorial independence — our commitment
This is the section that matters most.
Because we make money from affiliate commissions, there’s a legitimate concern that our recommendations could be biased toward the tools that pay the highest commission. That’s a real problem across the AI-tools review industry. Here’s our commitment on how we handle it:
- Recommendations are made before we sign up for an affiliate program. When we finalize a “best tools for X” list, we then check which ones have affiliate programs. If our top pick doesn’t offer affiliates, it still ranks #1.
- Commission rates don’t affect ranking. Ranking is based on fit, pricing, features, and reliability — period. Two tools with wildly different commissions can rank first and last based on merit.
- We recommend free and open-source tools too. Some of our most frequent recommendations — ChatGPT free tier, n8n self-hosted, Postgres, open-source LLM stacks — make us $0 in commission. We recommend them anyway because they’re the right answer.
- We publish negative reviews. If a popular tool over-promises or under-delivers, we’ll say so — even if we’re losing affiliate revenue by doing it.
- “Why NOT to use this” sections. Every idea and tool review on the site has an honest downside section. That’s deliberate.
6. What we won’t do
- We won’t list a tool we haven’t used or vetted just because a vendor asked us to.
- We won’t push a paid tool when a free one does the job better.
- We won’t hide affiliate relationships. Every affiliate-heavy page is disclosed both at the top and at the bottom.
- We won’t accept payment to change a review, ranking, or rating.
- We won’t use dark-pattern tactics: no fake countdowns, no fake “spots remaining,” no fake user reviews.
7. Sponsored content policy
Occasionally we accept sponsored placements — a newsletter mention, a sponsored deep-dive, or a “featured tool” slot. When we do, they are:
- Clearly labeled — the word “Sponsored” appears prominently, not hidden in fine print.
- Segregated from editorial — sponsored content does not affect our organic recommendations, rankings, or reviews of the same tool.
- Optional — we turn down sponsors when the fit is wrong for our readers, no matter what they offer.
If you’re a vendor interested in sponsorship, contact sponsor@aiideabank.com.
8. Other revenue sources
Affiliate is one of several revenue lines. For full transparency, this site is funded by:
- Affiliate commissions from tool recommendations (this page).
- Display advertising via Google AdSense and Ezoic. Ads are labeled and separate from editorial.
- Direct sales of our business plan PDFs ($29–$99).
- Cohort courses ($299–$499) and community memberships.
- Newsletter sponsorships — brief, labeled placements in the weekly Tuesday email.
- Consulting retainers — strategy work for select clients (does not affect editorial).
We do not currently sell reader data, run pop-up lead-gen for third parties, or accept “pay-to-play” directory listings that promise ranking benefits.
9. Report a concern
If you ever feel a recommendation on this site is influenced by commission rather than merit, tell us. That’s exactly the kind of feedback we act on.
Email: editorial@aiideabank.com · Subject line: “Editorial concern”
Bottom line: Affiliate commissions keep the lights on so we can keep this site free and independent. But we’d rather make less money and stay trusted than make more money and burn out our readers. Every “best of” list on this site would rank exactly the same way if we made $0 from it. That’s the promise.