Affiliate Disclosure

The plain English version: when you click a "Buy" link on CPUVersus and make a purchase, the retailer pays us a small commission. You pay the same price either way. We disclose this on every page that contains an affiliate link.

What is an affiliate link?

An affiliate link is a URL that includes a tracking tag identifying CPUVersus as the referrer. When you click it and complete a purchase within the retailer's tracking window, the retailer attributes the sale to us and pays a commission, typically 1–4% of the purchase price.

Affiliate links on this site carry the HTML attribute rel="sponsored nofollow" to comply with FTC and search-engine guidelines.

Programs we participate in

• Amazon Associates — the operator of CPUVersus is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
• Newegg — via the Rakuten Advertising network.
• Additional programs (Best Buy, Micro Center, manufacturer direct) may be added post-launch and will be disclosed here when they are.

How affiliate revenue affects (and doesn't affect) coverage

What it does:

• Pays for hosting, domain, and the operator's time spent maintaining the site.
• Lets us keep the site free, ad-free in editorial content, and login-free.

What it does not do:

• Influence which CPU "wins" any comparison. Verdicts are derived from the published benchmark data, not from affiliate payouts.
• Influence which CPUs we add to the catalog. We add chips based on relevance to readers, not on which retailer pays the highest commission rate.
• Influence the order CPUs appear in lists. Lists are sorted by data-driven criteria (launch date, score, price), not by affiliate payout.

Sponsored content

We currently publish no sponsored content. If we ever take payment in exchange for editorial coverage, this page will say so explicitly and the affected coverage will be marked #sponsored at the top of the article.

Free review samples (loaner CPUs from manufacturers, pre-release access) do not count as sponsorship. If we receive any, we'll disclose it inline on the relevant page. As of the "Last updated" date above, we have received none.

How to support us

If you like the site and want to support its continued development, the best thing you can do is use our affiliate links when shopping for the CPU you've decided on. It costs you nothing extra and helps keep the lights on.

Reporting

Found an undisclosed affiliate link or think we've crossed an editorial line? Open an issue on GitHub. We take this seriously.