About this site, and how it decides
CompareAI exists because most “best AI tools” pages are ranked by commission rate and written by someone who has never opened the product. This one is desk-researched, sourced and explicit about what it does not know.
How the rankings are made
Each category page compares five or six tools on four things: the price you actually pay, how well the tool does its stated job, how much friction there is in using it, and whether the free tier is honest. The order is set by those factors. Commission is not one of them.
Where the data comes from
- Pricing is read from the vendor's own pricing page, not from a reseller blog. Both monthly and annual figures are recorded, because vendors increasingly quote the annual number as the headline.
- Features come from vendor documentation and pricing tables. Where a capability is unclear or plan-dependent, the page says so instead of assuming.
- Affiliate terms come from the program's own page or its network listing. Where only third-party aggregators publish a number, the term is labelled “verify” rather than stated as fact.
What this site does not do
- It does not run a lab or a benchmark suite. These are desk-researched buying guides that prioritise accurate pricing and fit over synthetic scores.
- It does not publish invented “success rates”, fake user counts, or made-up test hours.
- It does not accept paid placement. There is no sponsored tier and no way to buy a ranking.
- It does not claim a tool is best because it pays the most. Three category winners pay nothing at all.
How often it is checked
Prices and program terms were verified in November 2026. AI pricing changes constantly — several tools on this site repriced during 2026, and two affiliate programs closed. Every comparison page carries a “last checked” date. If a vendor page disagrees with this site, the vendor page is correct.
Affiliate disclosure
Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you click one and buy a subscription, we may receive a commission from the vendor. The price you pay is the same either way.
Here is the part most sites leave out:
- Affiliate programs are free to join. We never pay for placement, and we are not paid unless you subscribe.
- Commission does not influence ranking, scoring or verdicts. Where a tool with no program is the better choice, it is ranked higher anyway — see GitHub Copilot, Cursor and Midjourney.
- Only programs we could confirm are labelled “open”. Programs that closed are labelled closed. Where terms are unclear, they are labelled “verify”.
- We do not claim to have tested a product hands-on unless the page explicitly says so. These are documented comparisons, not laboratory reviews.
The disclosure also appears at the top of every comparison page, before the first affiliate link, as the FTC's guidance requires. If you are building a site from this template, keep it there — moving it to the footer is both bad practice and, in the US, potentially unlawful.
What the labels mean
| Label | Meaning | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Open | The program is public and we could verify its terms and application path. | Safe to apply and to state the commission on your page, with a date. |
| Verify | A program is reported to exist, but the rate or page could not be confirmed. | Apply, then use the figure in your own dashboard — not a blog's figure. |
| Closed | The program was discontinued or stopped accepting new affiliates. | Do not apply. Do not claim it pays. Keep the tool in the comparison. |
| None | No affiliate or referral program exists. | Link it for trust. Any site quoting a rate for these is wrong. |
Update history
Public, append-only, so you can see what changed and when.
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 5 Nov 2026 | Added the AI SEO and visibility comparison (Semrush, SE Ranking, Frase, Ahrefs, Otterly) and three buyer-intent guides. Site now covers six categories, 32 tools and 16 open programs. |
| 5 Nov 2026 | Site published with five category comparisons, 27 tools, and 13 open programs. Pricing and terms checked against vendor pages. |
| 5 Nov 2026 | Marked Leonardo AI and Canva affiliate programs as closed; marked Cursor as no cash program after its July 2026 referral closure. |
| 5 Nov 2026 | Added the Cloudflare Pages + GitHub deployment guide and the affiliate config status panel. |
Contact
Corrections, program updates and partnership questions: hello@compareai.pages.dev. We answer corrections first.
This site stores only a theme preference and a comparison list in your browser's localStorage. Outbound affiliate clicks are counted first-party in aggregate on Cloudflare — no cookies, no IP addresses stored, no third-party analytics or advertising pixels. Affiliate vendors set their own cookies after you click through to them.