What an affiliate link actually is

An affiliate link is an ordinary link with a code attached that tells the company we sent you. If you then buy something, the company pays us a percentage of that sale. The price you pay is exactly the same as if you had typed the address in yourself. In some cases we can negotiate a discount, in which case you pay less than you otherwise would.

This is how a large part of the internet is funded, and there is nothing wrong with it — provided the site tells you plainly and doesn’t let the money decide what gets recommended. That second part is where most sites quietly fail, so here is exactly how we handle it.

Our rules, in writing

1. Nothing gets on the list for money. A tool appears on our toolkit page because we would tell a friend to use it. Whether an affiliate programme exists is checked afterwards, not before.
2. Commission size never changes the ranking. Where two tools do the same job, the one we put first is the one we think is better for the reader described — not the one that pays more.
3. We name the free route. If something can be done with a free tier, a built-in feature, or no tool at all, we say so, even when that costs us the sale entirely.
4. Every recommendation carries a “skip it if”. If a tool is wrong for a type of reader, we say who and why. A recommendation without a caveat isn’t a recommendation, it’s an advert.
5. Things come off the list. If a tool degrades, raises prices unreasonably, or changes in a way we don’t like, we remove it — regardless of what it was earning.
6. Affiliate links are marked. Where a link earns us a commission, the page it sits on says so clearly, near the link, in language a normal person understands.

Programmes we participate in

DoTech360 participates in a number of affiliate and referral programmes operated by software companies, hardware retailers and online marketplaces. The specific programmes change over time as tools come and go from our recommendations. Where a link on a page is an affiliate link, that page carries a disclosure notice.

We may also, in future, receive free or discounted access to tools for review purposes. If that ever affects something we write about, we will say so on that page, in that article, at the top. Not in a footnote.

Our own products

Some things we sell are ours: templates, prompt packs, build kits and implementation sessions. Those are not affiliate links — we keep the money directly. They are clearly presented as our own products on the products page, and every paid product carries a 30-day, no-questions refund.

What we will never do

• Recommend something we haven’t used or genuinely evaluated.
• Hide an affiliate relationship, or bury the disclosure where nobody will read it.
• Write a “review” that is really a paid placement without saying so.
• Invent urgency, fake scarcity, or countdown timers that reset when you reload the page.
• Sell, rent or share your email address with anyone, ever.

If you’d rather not use our links

That is completely fine and we will not think less of you. Search for the tool by name and go direct. The advice on this site is identical either way — the guides are free and contain the actual method, not a teaser for it.

If you do use our links, thank you. It is what keeps the guides free for the people who can’t pay for anything at all.

Last reviewed: August 2026