Affiliate disclosure

Which links are affiliate

The links flagged as affiliate live on review pages and on the marketplace landing pages (/browse, /browse/appsumo, and the rest). Every review that contains one carries the disclosure callout at the top — you do not have to dig for it.

Any link that sends you to a marketplace to buy a deal is the affiliate one. Internal links (to other reviews, the shelf, this page) are not. Every paid link is tagged as a sponsored placement so search engines and AI assistants treat it the same way they treat ads — no hidden incentives.

If you are ever unsure, assume the safer thing. Treat every link that leaves The Lifetime Deal for a third-party site as potentially affiliate.

Internal links (to other reviews, to the homepage, to the disclosure page itself) are not affiliate — they navigate around the site. Outbound links to documentation, screenshots, or sources we cite are also not affiliate.

Where the commission comes from

Any of the marketplaces we cover on the shelf may pay a commission when a reader buys through us. The relationships vary by marketplace and by individual deal — some are direct, some run through an affiliate network, and some self-hosted alternatives have no referral programme at all. The exact arrangement is not the interesting part. What matters is that we never know the commission rate before we write the verdict, and changing the rate (or removing it entirely) would not change the verdict.

Affiliate status for any specific deal can change without notice on the marketplace side. The disclosure callout on each review reflects status at publication time.

Editorial firewall — how a verdict gets made

Every review follows the same four steps documented at how we review:

1. We research from every source — marketplace listing, vendor docs, refund history, community feedback, and where useful, hands-on use.
2. We cross-check every claim against more than one source.
3. We compute the three-year saving against the monthly equivalent.
4. We write one verdict — Buy, Consider, or Skip.

Commission rate is not an input to any of those steps. A Skip verdict is published with the same affiliate link as a Buy verdict, because the link itself is information — it lets a reader check the marketplace claims even when our verdict says don’t buy.

Reviews are never sponsored or paid for by the vendors themselves. We do not accept “guest posts”, “sponsored slots”, or pay-to-review pitches. If we ever did (we won’t), the placement would be marked as advertising on the page itself.

What we do with the commission

The commission funds the desk. It pays for the LTDs we buy when hands-on use adds something a doc page cannot, the hosting, the screenshot pipeline, and the time it takes to research a deal properly before publishing. We do not run display ads or sell email lists, and the newsletter is not gated behind a paywall.

FTC compliance

This site complies with the United States Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR Part 255 guidelines for endorsements and testimonials. Affiliate relationships are disclosed at the top of every review that contains them, and on this page. Material connections, when present, are stated clearly and conspicuously, near the relevant recommendation, in plain English. UK ASA and EU consumer-protection equivalents are covered by the same disclosure.

Not financial or business advice

A verdict reflects whether a lifetime deal is worth its price for a typical buyer based on our testing. It is not financial or business advice for your specific situation, and does not replace your own diligence before spending money on any tool.

Contact

Spotted an affiliate link that is not flagged, or a disclosure that needs updating? [email protected] — we’ll fix it in the next deploy.

See also our privacy policy and the about page.

Changes to this disclosure

If this disclosure changes (new affiliate marketplaces, new disclosure rules, retired partnerships), the date below updates. Material changes get a brief note at the top of this page.

Last updated: May 21, 2026.