Affiliate Disclosure
TierZero earns some income from affiliate links. Here is exactly how that works, which providers pay us, which don't, and why it never decides a ranking.
Some of the outbound links on this site are affiliate links. If you click one and subscribe to a paid plan, the provider pays us a commission at no additional cost to you — you pay the same price you would have paid anyway. This is standard for review sites; what varies is whether a site lets those commissions steer its advice. Ours do not, and this page explains the safeguards.
How affiliate links work here
Every affiliate link on the site points to an internal /go/ address that redirects to the provider, and every one is marked so search engines treat it as sponsored. We disclose the relationship inline, right next to the link, wherever a commission is possible — not just on this page. We only ever place an affiliate link to a provider we would recommend on the merits, and we never link a free VPN that has been flagged for selling data or carrying malware, even where such a programme exists.
Who pays us, and who doesn't
We can earn a commission on paid subscriptions to Proton VPN — whose free plan is our top overall pick, with the affiliate income coming only if a free user later upgrades — and to a small set of reputable paid providers such as Surfshark, for readers who decide they need more than a free plan can offer. We earn nothing from several of the options we recommend most warmly: Windscribe closed its affiliate programme in 2021, and Mullvad refuses to pay for reviews or placement at all. We recommend both anyway, on their merits — which is the clearest evidence we can offer that the money does not drive the advice.
Why it never decides a ranking
Our rankings are built on safety criteria — named ownership, an honest funding model, an independent audit, minimal permissions — and on each service's documented features, all read from primary sources and dated. Commission rates never enter that calculation, and where they would point one way while safety points another, safety wins every time. You can see the criteria applied in the open in our best free VPN guide. If you ever think a recommendation reads as paid-for, email us and we will show you the reasoning behind it.