How we make money
We don’t make any money yet. There are no affiliate links, sponsors or ads on the site today, and no vendor pays us.
That will change. This page says how, in the order we plan to switch each one on, and the rules that keep money away from rankings. We’ll update it before the first paid link goes live.
The rules
- Money never enters the formula. Rankings come from benchmark, test and price data only. Whether a vendor pays us is stored apart from the scores, and no scoring code reads it. The methodology shows every formula and weight.
- No one can buy a rank. We don’t place models by hand, and paying us doesn’t move a model up or keep a rival down.
- One sponsored slot, clearly labelled. At most one fixed “Sponsored” slot on a page or in an issue, never inside a ranked list or a best-pick section.
- Every paid link is labelled where it appears. See the disclosure page, and the sponsorship policy for what sponsors can and can’t buy and who has paid us.
- We decline vendor-funded evaluations. A vendor can’t pay us to test its own model.
- Vendors get a right of reply. Paying us doesn’t buy it, and not paying doesn’t lose it.
What we plan, in order
| Stream | When | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Affiliate links | First, in the next few months | Only on pages where we already recommend the tool. Payouts never affect rankings. |
| Reports and evaluations for buyers | Next | Paid by the team choosing a model, never by a vendor. We decline vendor-funded evaluations. |
| Newsletter sponsorship | At about 2,000 engaged readers | One labelled slot per issue, never in the best-pick section. |
| Labelled provider profiles | Later | A vendor can pay for a verified profile. It’s labelled and never changes a score. |
| Video sponsorships and YouTube ads | Once the channel has a few thousand subscribers | Labelled as sponsored, and never decides which models we test. |
| Display ads | At about 25,000 pageviews a month | On explainer pages only, never on results or rankings. |
| Data API and licences | Once developers use the data | We sell access to our data, not placement in it. |
| Team plan | If readers ask for it | Alerts, saved scenarios and exports. Same rankings as everyone else. |
The order may change. Each change will be logged in the version history below.
What we won’t do
- Resell API access.
- Put ads or sponsored picks on results or rankings.
- Accept money to test, review or rank a vendor’s own model.
Who runs this
Model Menu is run by Arash Shirsavar. To confirm: ownership and any ties to vendors.
Version history
- v1.0, 25 October 2026: approved. Ownership and any ties to vendors are still to confirm.
- v0.2, 24 October 2026: rankings now use benchmark data too.
- v0.1, 24 October 2026: first draft.