PARTNER WITH TOOLCHASE
What you can buy here, and what you cannot
ToolChase is where people compare AI tools and decide. Three ways to work with us. Payment buys a review and a clearly labeled placement. It never buys a ToolChase Score, a ranked position, or a favorable verdict.
Who reads ToolChase
Visitors arrive comparing tools and reading buying guides. Bottom of funnel, ready to buy, not passive scrollers.
AI assistants send us more visitors than any other attributed channel, about 40 percent of attributed traffic and roughly four times what search sends. Buyers increasingly ask an assistant which tool to use, and the assistant answers from pages like ours. We share current figures for any page you are considering.
Editorial independence comes first
Our recommendations are trusted because they cannot be bought. Advertising supports the site; it never changes our verdicts. In practice:
More: Editorial standards · How we review · Methodology
How money actually works here
Here is how commerce and editorial interact, stated the way it operates.
Inclusion is commercial. Position is editorial.
We decide together whether your tool appears on a named guide. Our editors decide where it lands in that guide, using the same judgment they apply to every other entry. A paid partner can hold any position the guide's logic gives it, including first, and where that happens the entry says so in visible text.
The score is independent.
A ToolChase Score comes from hands-on testing against our published 8-parameter methodology. No payment has ever moved a score and none ever will. Where a paid placement was not part of hands-on testing, the entry carries no score at all and says so in plain words.
Disclosure sits at the entry, not only in the footer.
A reader meeting a paid entry sees the label and the reason in the same block of text. Our live format reads like this: "Sponsored listing. [Tool name] is a ToolChase partner and this placement is paid. It is included because it is relevant to this topic, but it was not part of our independent hands-on testing and does not carry a ToolChase test score. Treat the notes below as a vendor-informed summary, not a tested verdict." Where the relationship is affiliate rather than sponsorship, the entry says so and states that ranking is editorial.
Payment buys review access.
Our constraint is editorial time. A paid tier is how a new tool enters the review queue. It is not how a tool gets a better outcome once it is there.
What a ranked list is drawn from
Read this before you buy anything.
Our guides rank tools from the ToolChase directory. That directory is 700+ tools we have already reviewed, plus new tools that come through the paid queue below. It is not a census of the market and we do not claim it is. A tool we have never reviewed is not in the pool a list is drawn from, however good it is. Our editors also add tools on merit whenever a category demands it, unprompted and at no charge, so the pool grows outside the paid queue too. But if you want a guide read as a complete survey of every product in a category, no directory can honestly sell you that, and this one will not pretend to.
What you can buy
There is no free submission route for a new tool. These are the ways in. Tell us which one on the form below and we will come back with a figure and a start date.
Tier 1: Editorial Review
Pricing on request, on the form below
Buys the review. Does not buy the verdict.
What it buys
- Hands-on testing of your tool by our editors, front of queue
- A full ToolChase review page with a ToolChase Score from that testing
- Placement in the relevant category and in site search
- Eligibility for comparison pages, alternatives pages, and future guides
- A labeled vendor materials block on your review page: your demo video, screenshots, and logo
- Factual corrections within 48 hours, for as long as the page exists
What it does not buy
- A minimum score, or any score at all in advance
- A word of the editorial copy
- A position in any ranked list
- Inclusion in any specific guide
One time means one time. No renewal and no annual fee. The page stays up and is re-verified on the same monthly cycle as every other tool.
Tier 2: Featured Partner
Pricing on request, on the form below
Buys inclusion and a label. Does not buy a number.
What it buys
- A labeled Featured Partner entry on one named page you pick from our eligible list, for 90 days
- Your logo, your pricing line, a tracked link, and a description written by our team from your materials
- Inclusion in that page's quick-picks list and comparison table, labeled there too
- Renewal at the same rate, or you walk away and the entry comes down
What it does not buy
- A numbered slot in the ranked list. Numbered positions are earned on the scoring framework and are not sold at any price. A Featured Partner unit is a separate labeled block, and it does not move any other entry.
- A ToolChase Score, or an increase to one you already have
- Editor's Choice, which is editorial only and is not sold at any price
- A promise that the surrounding editorial will be kind to you
Where it can run. Only on pages with enough readers to be worth buying. We send you the current eligible list with its traffic figures and the window they cover. We do not print per-page numbers here because they move, and a stale number on a sales page is a lie with a delay on it.
ToolChase Weekly
Pricing on request, on the form below
A labeled sponsor slot in the weekly email.
What it buys
- A clearly labeled sponsor slot in one send of ToolChase Weekly
- Your logo, a short description written from your materials, and a tracked link
- A subscriber list that is growing, with current numbers shared before you commit
What it does not buy
- An editorial mention. The tools we write about that week are chosen the same way as always
- A ToolChase Score, a ranked position, or any change to your review page
- The subscriber list itself. We do not share, sell, or rent reader data
Labeled, always. A sponsor slot is marked as sponsored in the email, in the same way a paid entry is marked on the site. Readers can tell the difference at a glance.
If you are already listed, nothing changes
The 700+ tools already in the directory keep their review pages, their scores, their category placement, and their eligibility for comparisons, alternatives pages, and every guide we write. That costs nothing and is not going to start costing something. If you are already listed and you email us about pricing, the correct answer is that you do not need to be here.
Not for sale, at any price
- A ToolChase Score, or a change to one
- A ranked position, or the removal of a competitor from one
- Editor's Choice
- A favorable verdict, a rewritten con, or a deleted limitation
- Data about our readers
More: Editorial standards · How we review · Methodology
Get in touch
Both prices are above. Tell us which one and we will confirm scope and timing within 1 to 2 business days. If your tool is not a fit, we will say so rather than take the money.
Advertising FAQ
Can I pay for a higher score?
No. A ToolChase Score comes from hands-on testing against our published methodology. No payment has ever moved one and none ever will. If we have not tested your tool, the entry carries no score rather than a bought one.
Can I be number one?
You can, and a paid partner currently is on two of our guides. What you cannot do is buy it. Position is decided by our editors on the guide's own logic, so a paid entry lands wherever that logic puts it, first or eleventh or nowhere. If our editors judge you a mid-list fit, you are a mid-list entry at the same price, and we will not quote you a position before or after you pay.
What does a paid entry actually look like on the page?
A labeled entry inside the guide, with a Sponsored or Featured Partner label next to the heading, your logo, your pricing line, and a disclosure paragraph at the entry itself explaining that the placement is paid and what that does and does not mean. Untested placements state that they were not part of our hands-on testing and carry no score. Paid links are clearly marked as sponsored so search engines do not treat them as editorial endorsements.
How is it disclosed?
At the entry, in visible copy, where a reader meets it. Not buried in a footer line and not only in the page header. Every paid entry carries a Sponsored label at the entry and in the page contents, and where we did not test the product the entry also carries a paragraph saying the placement is paid and that no score was produced.
How long does it run?
Editorial Review is one time and the page is permanent. Featured Partner runs 90 days from launch, renewable at the same rate. When a term ends without renewal the entry comes down and the surrounding editorial is unchanged.
Can I change my logo or my copy?
Your logo, your pricing line, and your link, yes, any time. The editorial copy, no. We write every description ourselves, from your materials where the placement was not tested, and we do not publish vendor-written copy as editorial.
Do you still review tools for free?
Yes, constantly. Our editors pick tools to review on merit, and nobody pays for that or is asked to. What we do not run is a free route you can request. If you want to be sure you are reviewed rather than hoping to be picked, that is what Tier 1 is.
What if you review us and the verdict is bad?
It publishes. The fee pays for the work, not the outcome. If your tool tests poorly, the review says so, the score is the score, and the page goes live like any other. We will correct a factual error within 48 hours and we will re-test after a major release. We will not soften a verdict, delete a limitation, unpublish a page, or refund a review because you did not like the result. That rule is the entire reason a placement here is worth anything, and it is not negotiable for anyone at any price.
Do you turn tools down?
Yes. We decline products that are not really shipping, have no meaningful AI in them, or cannot be verified from an official source. We also decline placements on guides where the tool does not belong, because an entry readers dismiss is worth nothing to you.