METHODOLOGY

Trust the source, not the commission.

Verification states

Verified means the material claim was checked against a first-party source and dated. Partial means some important fields remain unresolved. Needs review means the record should not be used for a purchasing decision without checking the source again.

Unknown is better than guessed

Tool pricing changes quickly. Missing fields use unknown. The database does not infer an affiliate program from an old blog post, or infer commercial-use rights from the existence of a free plan.

Affiliate separation

Affiliate availability, commission and recurrence are stored as economics fields. They are not inputs to editorial quality, usefulness or recommendation ordering. If affiliate links are added later, the destination and disclosure must remain explicit.

Source hierarchy

First-party pricing, terms, documentation, changelogs and affiliate policy pages are preferred. Secondary sources may be used to discover a claim but should not mark it verified.

Freshness

Every verified source has a checkedAt date. Records should be rechecked after material pricing announcements and periodically even when no change is known.