We believe companies should be up-front and transparent about how they make money. We often point out that Google and Facebook are giant advertising agencies, so it’s only right that we practice what we preach and are up-front about how our work is supported.
We make money through affiliate commissions from the VPN companies we work with. When someone clicks one of the links on our site and buys a VPN service we’ve recommended, we receive a small payment from the company.
We never receive payment for writing a positive review – never have, never will.
In fact, we follow a strict code of conduct:
So, we must be biased if we receive payment from VPN companies, right?
No, not at all.
That is because we would stain our reputation with such ill-begotten practices that are easily discovered by double-checking VPN websites and real user reviews. Think about it – we could theoretically over-praise a VPN product and provide false information.
However, anyone could easily discover this by simply taking a look at other reviews.
Not only that, but it would be immoral, and the main focus of our work is to make online privacy understandable for all, and to make the internet a better place.
In any case, the conclusion would most likely be unfavorable for us since we are real people who care about our reputations. We promise to provide accurate and objective reviews as best as we can.
We can tell you all kinds of things about being very honest and transparent – and while all of that is true, people may still think that we’d rank VPN services based on what makes us more money.
And that is absolutely true! But not for the reasons you might be thinking.
As you know, all VPN services offer either a free trial or a refund policy of up to 30 days. So, we would make less money if we promoted low-quality VPNs without providing all the information, as people would just ask for a refund. It wouldn’t matter how big of a commission we were receiving from a VPN service if half the people signing up there would just get a refund anyway (no VPN pays affiliate commissions for refunded sales).
So, it makes sense for us to actually recommend the VPN providers that offer great services. This means few to no refunds and a sustainable business model.
As for why exactly we do work with affiliate commissions, it is fairly simple. The infrastructure itself, the process of reviewing and analyzing VPNs, as well as the process of providing quality material takes time and money.
As such, to maintain the same level of performance and quality that users enjoy, we have decided to monetize the VPN subscriptions from our website.
Does it cost users more?
Absolutely not.
PrivacyAffairs will always be a free source of information, accessible to anyone around the world who wants to know more about online privacy.
Your digital protection is our goal. If we’ve provided you with the necessary information to make an educated choice, then we’re more than satisfied.
First of all, you should know that it’s best to corroborate your information and read as many reviews as possible before committing to a VPN service.
We’re not even telling you to read our reviews. Let the quality speak for itself instead. Here is the procedure that we follow in analyzing and ranking VPNs:
Step one – Speed test and overall performance experiments. In this category, we’ll be talking about the average speed results of a VPN by testing multiple servers.
Step two – Locations overview, where we present the expansion of a VPN’s server coverage, the concrete number of servers, as well as the locations of each server
Step three – Privacy, where we approach, on the one hand, the privacy and zero-logging policies, bringing it to your attention if the respective VPN is trustworthy or not. Moreover, we’ll also paint you a general picture of a VPN’s security and encryption protocols.
Step four – Ease of use, the category where we analyze the aesthetics and functionality of a VPN service’s app, usually on a laptop and a range of mobile devices such as Android phones or iPhones. Here, you’ll find out if the app is easy to manage, intuitive enough, and can work your way around the settings.
Step five – Support, the place where we talk about customer support. Response times, overall helpfulness of the staff, client satisfaction, and user opinions
Step six – Pricing, where we give you a run-down of how cheap or costly a VPN actually is. Furthermore, we’ll also let you know about any available discounts and also the most advantageous subscription plan.
These are the only principles by which we rank VPNs on PrivacyAffairs. The affiliate commissions are simply a small reward for our work here.
For no other reason than because we like our website visitors to make an educated decision when it comes to their online security. And, perhaps, because we wanted to address some of the potential worries that some might have had.
We here at PrivacyAffairs believe that without honesty and a rigorous set of principles, we would be wasting our time even creating this site – and we have put a lot of time into it.
As such, we have decided that you, the visitors, should know how we make money.
If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to get in touch!