About PanelCompare
Does PanelCompare take money from the panels it ranks?
Last updated by The PanelCompare editorial team
How is money kept out of the ranking?
- Affiliate status and sponsorship live in database columns the scoring code never reads. Searching the scoring module for “affiliate”, “sponsor” or “paid” returns no hits.
- Paid placement sits outside the ranked list in its own labelled block and never occupies an organic rank position.
- Monetised outbound links carry rel="sponsored nofollow" and a visible partner tag at the link, not only in a footer disclosure.
- The ranking formula is rendered on the methodology page from the same code that computes it, so the weights can be checked rather than taken on trust.
Why does this belong in an FAQ rather than only in a policy page?
Because the default assumption in this niche is correct more often than not. A large share of “top 10 SMM panel” content is owned by panels or by affiliates paid per signup, with rankings sold outright — one indexed panel hosts its own comparison page ranking itself first, and one competitor listing includes a panel whose domain is not registered at all (PanelCompare domain research, 2026-09-06). A reader who assumes this site works the same way is being reasonable, and the answer to that is evidence rather than assurance.
Think this answer is wrong?
Prices, refill terms and platform policies in this market all move, so an answer that was right in September may not be right in December. Every figure above names its source and the date it was checked; if one of them is stale or wrong, the correction process on the about page has a two-working-day reply target, and corrections are published with a dated note rather than quietly patched.