1. Affiliate links
Some AI tools pay a commission when someone signs up through a partner's link. We've applied to some of these programs. When a link on ToolTier is an affiliate link, we may earn money if you buy, at no extra cost to you.
Right now, the "Visit" buttons on our ranking cards go to each tool's official pricing page. If we join a tool's program, its link may become an affiliate link. This disclosure applies either way.
So you can judge for yourself, every ranking card shows whether that tool runs an affiliate program at all. Here's how this week's picks line up:
| Category | Our pick | Affiliate program? |
|---|---|---|
| AI coding editors/IDEs | Cursor | No affiliate program found |
| Coding agents (CLI/cloud) | Claude Code | No affiliate program found |
| App builders (prompt-to-app) | Lovable | Has affiliate program |
| AI model APIs | Anthropic Claude API | No affiliate program found |
| Code review & testing | CodeRabbit | Has affiliate program |
| Design-to-code / UI generation | v0 by Vercel | No affiliate program found |
| Docs & research for devs | Gemini Deep Research + Notebook | No affiliate program found |
| Dev productivity | Granola | Has affiliate program |
3 of our 8 picks this week run an affiliate program. The other 5 pay us nothing.
Affiliate status of every tool we rank
- Affiliate program unverified: Perplexity
- Has affiliate program: CodeRabbit, ElevenLabs API, Granola, Lovable, Wispr Flow
- No affiliate program found: Anthropic Claude API, ChatGPT, ChatGPT deep research, Claude Code, Claude Design, Claude Research, Cursor, Cursor Bugbot, Gemini Deep Research + Notebook, GitHub Copilot, GitHub Copilot code review, Google Antigravity, Google Gemini API, Google Jules, OpenAI API, OpenAI Codex, OpenCode, Windsurf, v0 by Vercel
- Referral credits only: Replit
- Referral program only: Bolt.new
Based on the tools' public program pages as of October 2026. "No affiliate program found" means we looked and didn't find a public one.
2. The AI Stack Audit
Our main product is the AI Stack Audit: $99 (Solo) or $299 (Team), one-time. You tell us what AI tools you pay for, and we send a written plan for what to keep, cut, switch, or add. If a recommended tool has an affiliate program, we say so in the report.
3. The newsletter
The ToolTier Weekly is free. If we ever add sponsors, they'll be clearly labeled and kept separate from the rankings.
What money never does
- Rankings, scores, tiers, and picks are never for sale.
- An affiliate program never earns a tool a higher score. Tools without one are ranked exactly the same way. Several of our picks pay us nothing.
- No tool can pay to avoid being dropped. Drops are logged publicly on This week's changes.
Questions? Email [email protected].
Want a verdict on your own stack?
The AI Stack Audit tells you which of your AI subscriptions to keep, cut, or add, in a written plan.
Start your audit · Solo $99 / Team $299The ToolTier Weekly
Tier changes, new tools, and dropped tools with reasons, every week. Free. Subscribe and grab the free AI Stack Cheat Sheet: the best tool for every job on one page.
Form not loading? Subscribe on Beehiiv →