Affiliate Disclosure

This page is Chatbotscape's full affiliate disclosure, written to satisfy the U.S. Federal Trade Commission "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising" (16 CFR Part 255), Google's affiliate-content guidance, and the EU and UK consumer protection regulations governing online affiliate marketing. It explains what an affiliate link is, what Chatbotscape earns, which platforms we earn from, and the structural protections that keep scoring decisions independent from commercial relationships.

Quick summary

Chatbotscape earns affiliate commissions on paid sign-ups initiated through some — not all — of the links on our review pages. When you click a link in a Chatbotscape review and then purchase a paid plan from that platform, Chatbotscape may receive a commission from the platform. Affiliate participation does not affect our scoring decisions: scoring is locked to the published rubric before commercial relationships are evaluated, and several platforms we review have no affiliate program at all or have programs we have not joined. Every Chatbotscape review is conducted using the same methodology and the same quality bar regardless of affiliate status.

If you are concerned that a specific review's findings reflect undisclosed commercial influence, you can request a methodology audit through the contact form at /contact. Audit responses are published within reasonable time as the editorial team scales — typically 7-14 business days for substantive review; outcomes are added to the affected review's version history.

What is an affiliate link

An affiliate link is a URL containing a tracking identifier that attributes a subsequent sign-up or purchase to Chatbotscape. When you click an affiliate link on a Chatbotscape review and complete a paid sign-up on the linked platform, the platform records that the sign-up came from Chatbotscape and pays Chatbotscape a commission according to that platform's published affiliate program terms.

Affiliate links on Chatbotscape are visually identical to non-affiliate links. Per FTC guidance, the existence of the affiliate relationship is disclosed at the page level (this page, and inline on every review that contains affiliate links) rather than appended to each individual link with "(affiliate)" text. Where a review contains both affiliate and non-affiliate links to the same vendor, the affiliate version is preferred only because it produces tracking attribution; the scoring or editorial framing does not change.

How Chatbotscape earns

Affiliate program structures vary across platforms. The three most common structures we participate in:

1. Percentage of first-year revenue. A typical structure is 10-30% of the customer's first-year subscription revenue, paid as a single bounty 60-90 days after sign-up to allow for cancellation refunds. Some platforms extend this to 12-24 months of recurring commission rather than a single first-year bounty.
2. Fixed bounty per qualified sign-up. A fixed payment ($25-200 typically) paid 30-90 days after sign-up, conditioned on the customer reaching a qualification threshold (paid for one month minimum, plan tier above free tier, customer activity threshold).
3. Tiered commission scaling with volume. Some platforms increase commission rates after Chatbotscape reaches monthly attribution thresholds. The published-rate tier (the lowest tier any affiliate qualifies for) is what we operate from; we do not negotiate custom rates with any vendor.

We accept the standard published affiliate terms each vendor offers to their affiliate network. We do not negotiate custom rates, custom click-through requirements, or custom scoring arrangements with any vendor. Where a vendor proposes terms that would create commercial pressure on editorial decisions — for example, exclusivity requirements, content-approval clauses, or scoring-floor arrangements — we decline the affiliate relationship rather than accept the terms.

Per-platform commission status

The table below lists every platform reviewed on Chatbotscape with its current affiliate-program enrollment status. Statuses use four levels: Enrolled (Chatbotscape is an active affiliate and may earn commission on paid sign-ups initiated through review links); Pending program enrollment (application submitted or in progress, not yet active); Not pursued (program exists, Chatbotscape has decided not to enroll for editorial-independence reasons or because the program offered terms we do not accept); Excluded (vendor has no public affiliate program, or program is not open to content publishers in our jurisdiction).

Last refreshed: 2026-05-28. We refresh this table quarterly or when an enrollment status changes — whichever is sooner. Where a status changes from "Pending" to "Enrolled" for a platform we have already published a review of, a version-history entry is added to the review noting the date of the commercial-relationship change.

How to read this table. "Pending program enrollment" is the most common status because Chatbotscape launched in May 2026 — affiliate-program applications take 2-12 weeks to approve across vendors. Reviews published while a program is in "Pending" status do not contain attribution-tagged affiliate links; if enrollment is approved later, the links may be updated to affiliate URLs and a version-history entry is added to the affected review documenting the date of the commercial change. Reviews are scored before affiliate status is checked — the scoring-isolation protocol described below ensures the editorial findings are not influenced by whether or when an affiliate relationship becomes active.

Scoring isolation protocol

The defense for editorial independence is not "trust us" — it is a structural workflow that locks scoring decisions before any commercial relationship is evaluated. The protocol:

1. Scoring runs first. When a Tier 1 review enters the editorial pipeline, the six-scenario testing protocol and the 17-dimension scoring rubric produce a draft editorial score before any team member checks affiliate program status. Scoring fields in the review's frontmatter (editorial_score, value_for_money_score, per-dimension scores) are populated and timestamped before the affiliate-link section of the review is drafted.
2. Commercial relationship check runs second. Once scoring is complete and the editorial draft is finalized, a different team member reviews affiliate program status to determine which links in the review (alternatives section, comparison FAQs, vendor link block) will use affiliate URLs vs. plain URLs. The team member doing the commercial check is not the team member who set the scoring.
3. Audit trail is preserved. Each review's POC notes sibling file records the scoring decisions (with date stamps) and the subsequent commercial-relationship review (with separate date stamps). The editorial review process can surface this audit trail on request.
4. Affiliate availability never affects scoring. A platform with no affiliate program receives the same scoring rigor as a platform that pays high commissions. A platform with a high commission receives the same scoring discipline as a platform with no commission. We publish negative findings on platforms we earn affiliate commissions from when those findings are accurate — see, for example, scoring discipline applied across the Wati / AiSensy / Manychat triangle where editorial findings vary substantially despite all three being WhatsApp-specialist platforms with active affiliate programs.

What we do NOT accept

The following commercial arrangements would create editorial pressure on Chatbotscape's reviews and are therefore not accepted under any terms:

Sponsored editorial placement. We do not accept payment from vendors in exchange for higher editorial rankings, more favorable framing, or removal of negative findings. We do not accept payment for "featured" slots in best-of lists or comparison tables. We do not accept payment for inclusion in alternatives sections of competitor reviews.

Pre-publication vendor review or approval. Vendors do not have right of pre-publication review or right of removal for findings they disagree with. Vendors have the right to submit factual corrections (with supporting evidence) post-publication; that is the only vendor-side input on published content.

Exclusivity arrangements. We do not accept exclusivity arrangements that prevent us from reviewing or linking to competing platforms.

Content-approval clauses. We do not accept affiliate program terms that require pre-publication content approval, scoring-floor commitments, or guaranteed-positive framing.

Negotiated custom commissions. We accept standard published affiliate program terms; we do not negotiate custom rates that would create per-vendor commercial pressure.

Editorial team independence

Members of the Chatbotscape editorial team do not hold equity, employee status, contractor status, advisory roles, or board positions at any platform we review. Where a team member has a prior employment or advisory relationship with a reviewed platform (current or within the prior 24 months), they are recused from that platform's review and the recusal is disclosed in the publishable review body. Surnames or other coincidental overlaps that could be perceived as conflicts are disclosed proactively in the review body, not only in internal notes.

The full conflicts-of-interest policy is documented at /methodology/editorial-policy.

How to audit a specific review

If you suspect that a specific Chatbotscape review reflects undisclosed commercial bias, you can request a methodology audit through the contact form at /contact. Audit requests are routed directly to the editorial review process and answered within reasonable time as the editorial team scales — typically 7-14 business days for substantive review. Audit responses cover:

1. Affiliate relationship timeline — when was the affiliate program for this platform joined (if applicable), and when were the scoring decisions for this review locked?
2. Scoring decision lineage — what did the testing protocol observe, and what scoring decisions did the rubric produce?
3. Editorial-team recusal status — were any team members recused from this review, and why?
4. Specific finding verification — for any specific claim or score you flag, what primary source verified it and when?

Audit outcomes are published as version-history entries on the affected review with disclosure of what was reviewed and what changed. We do not retaliate against readers who request audits.

Reader recourse

If you believe that Chatbotscape has materially failed its editorial-independence commitment, you have several options beyond contacting us directly:

1. FTC consumer complaint — if you believe Chatbotscape has violated FTC endorsement-and-testimonial guidance, you can file a consumer complaint at ftccomplaintassistant.gov.
2. Google policy reporting — if you believe Chatbotscape's content violates Google's affiliate-content policies, you can report this through Google's standard search-content-quality reporting mechanism.
3. EU consumer protection — if you are a reader in the EU, you can report concerns to your national consumer protection authority.
4. Public review on third-party sites — Chatbotscape's reputation lives partly in third-party reviews of Chatbotscape itself. Negative reviews of our editorial practices on Trustpilot, Reddit, or industry publications are signals the editorial review process monitors.

Our commitment is that we would rather be corrected publicly than allow undisclosed bias to persist. The reader recourse mechanisms above are part of the structural defense.

FTC compliance statement

This page satisfies 16 CFR Part 255 "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising" by disclosing the existence of affiliate relationships clearly, conspicuously, and proximate to the content where the relationships are relevant. Every Chatbotscape review that contains affiliate links includes an inline affiliate disclosure block that references this page. The disclosure is not hidden in fine print, not buried in a multi-thousand-word terms-of-service document, and not contingent on the reader clicking through additional pages. It is a standalone disclosure page linked from every review and from the site footer.

If you believe this disclosure is insufficient under FTC guidance, please write to editorial@chatbotscape.com. We will investigate within reasonable time as the editorial team scales — typically 7-14 business days for substantive review and update this page if your concern is valid.

Last updated

26 May 2026 — Initial publication. Next scheduled refresh: 26 August 2026 (or earlier if affiliate program participation changes materially).

Related pages

• About Chatbotscape — what we cover and who we are
• Editorial Policy — editorial values and anti-pattern policies
• Methodology — full scoring methodology including the monetization section
• Editorial Team — team identity and process
• Privacy Policy — data we collect, including from affiliate link clicks
• Terms of Service — usage terms and liability disclaimers