Affiliate program overview

What we recommend

Some pages on the directory recommend specific tax-software products, accounting software, payroll software, and related tools. These recommendations are commercial relationships: we participate in affiliate programs that pay us a commission when a reader follows a link from the directory and purchases through that link.

The current affiliate-program participants are: TurboTax, H&R Block, FreshBooks, QuickBooks, Xero, Koinly, CoinTracker, ZenLedger, Bench, Gusto. The full list with applicable jurisdictions and commission structures is published in content/affiliate-links.csv and surfaced on the affiliate-disclosure page.

How affiliate placement is determined

Affiliate placement is determined by editorial judgement first and commercial relationship second. Products covered in editorial content (scorecards, comparisons, topic hubs) are selected based on: (a) market presence in the relevant jurisdiction, (b) feature completeness for the use case discussed, (c) review aggregate from independent sources, (d) the editorial team's hands-on testing where applicable.

Products that meet the editorial bar are then evaluated for affiliate-relationship availability. Where an affiliate program exists for a recommended product, the link is an affiliate link. Where no affiliate program exists or where the product fails the editorial bar, the link is a direct (non-affiliate) link. We do not promote products that fail the editorial bar simply because they offer high commission rates.

What this means for readers

The affiliate-disclosure page lists every program we participate in with the applicable commission structure. The disclosure is also visible inline on every page that contains an affiliate link, with the link itself marked as affiliate via the standard link-rel="sponsored" attribute and with a visible "[affiliate]" tag where the link appears.

Affiliate revenue does not change the price you pay; it pays us a commission from the merchant. You can in most cases reach the same product by typing the merchant's URL directly into your browser, in which case the merchant retains the full revenue. Either path is fine; the affiliate links are how we fund the directory's editorial work, and the disclosure exists so you can make an informed choice.

What we don't accept

Sponsored content. Sponsored placement in editorial articles. Pay-for-rating in firm reviews or topic-hub comparisons. Any commercial relationship that would shape editorial judgement on which products or firms are recommended.

If a vendor approaches the directory offering payment for editorial coverage or placement, the directory declines and notes the approach in the editorial team's transparency log.

How affiliate revenue affects the directory's tier program

The directory's commercial sustainability comes from: (a) paid-tier listings (the firm-tier subscription), (b) affiliate revenue from the recommended-product programs. The two revenue streams are operationally independent: a firm cannot buy affiliate placement, and an affiliate cannot buy firm-listing prominence.

The two revenue streams are also operationally independent of editorial: the editorial team writes and reviews country pages, topic hubs, and methodology articles without input from the commercial team, and the commercial team places affiliate links in editorial content only after the editorial team has flagged candidate products for inclusion.

Tracking and analytics

When you click an affiliate link, the merchant's tracking system records the click and any subsequent purchase you make. The data points the merchant typically captures include: timestamp of click, IP address, browser fingerprint, referring URL (the directory page you clicked from), and the purchase details (product, price, fees) if you complete a purchase.

The directory does not directly receive this data. We receive aggregate commission reporting (total clicks, total conversions, total commission) from the affiliate network. We do not see individual reader's purchase details.

If you want to opt out of affiliate-link tracking entirely, you can: visit the merchant directly without going through the directory link; use a privacy-respecting browser configuration that blocks tracking cookies; or use a VPN. None of these options affect your access to the directory's editorial content.

Reporting affiliate-program issues

If a recommended product underperforms expectations or has substantively changed since our coverage, send a note via the corrections-and-edits-policy flow. The editorial team reviews affiliate-product coverage periodically (typically annually or on major-version-release events); reader reports accelerate the review cycle.

If a reader believes the directory's coverage of a product is biased by affiliate relationships, the corrections-and-edits-policy flow accepts coverage-bias submissions; the editorial team reviews and either provides a published response or revises the coverage.