Affiliate Disclosure
MailPilot is an independent review site. We earn revenue through affiliate links — when you click a link on this site and sign up for a tool we recommend, we may receive a commission from that vendor. This costs you nothing extra.
How this affects our reviews
It doesn't. We have three rules we don't break:
- We never accept payment for a review. If a vendor offers to pay us to write a positive review, we say no.
- We only recommend tools we'd use ourselves. If we wouldn't run our own business on a tool, we won't recommend it to you.
- Cons go in the review, not in a footnote. If a tool has a real downside, we say so — even if it costs us the commission.
Current affiliate status
As of August 2026, we are an approved affiliate of AWeber (Customer Referral Program). For all other tools we recommend, our application is either pending or in progress. We link out to vendors using either vendor-issued affiliate links (where approved) or direct non-affiliate links (where we are still in the application queue). Links are not changed retroactively — if a vendor approves us after publication, that page is updated on the next review cycle.
We do not receive compensation for inclusion in any best-of list. Tools that pay us and tools that don't are scored on identical criteria.
How affiliate commissions are structured (when applicable)
When a vendor approves us, the typical structure is one of:
- Recurring revenue share — a percentage of subscription revenue for as long as the customer stays subscribed (most ESPs offer 20-50% recurring)
- One-time CPA — a flat fee per signup (less common for SaaS, more common for one-time-purchase tools)
- Hybrid — a smaller recurring share plus a signup bonus
The specific terms are set by each vendor and disclosed in the partner dashboard when we're approved. We don't negotiate bespoke rates publicly.
How we use affiliate income
Affiliate income covers the running costs of the site — hosting, domain, tooling and the time spent keeping pricing current. It does not change what we recommend. A tool that is wrong for you costs us more in lost trust than any single commission is worth, so being accurate and being profitable point the same direction.
No sponsored content
If a vendor sponsors a post, we label it clearly at the top. Unsponsored reviews never mention sponsors.
Questions
Email our editorial team if you have questions about any affiliate relationship or how it might affect a specific recommendation.