Policy v1.0

Ethics & money

We want to get paid eventually. Here's exactly how, and the stuff that's never for sale, no matter the offer.

policy v1.0 · the short version
$0
buys a better rank or score
Ours
the money behind the plans we test; freebies disclosed
Labelled
every sponsor slot and paid test
0
previews of results before publishing

Never for sale

×

Rankings and scores

No tool can pay to move up, get a better score, or skip a runoff.

×

"Best" badges

We don't sell winner badges or "Stack Runoff approved" seals.

×

Deleting bad results

A bad run stays up. Factual errors get corrected and logged; bad luck doesn't.

×

Preview of scores

Sponsors and tool makers never see results before they're published.

How we make money (or will)

SourceHow it's labelledRule
Newsletter sponsor slotSPONSORED at the top of the slotSponsors can be tools we test. Their slot never touches their score.
Site sponsor on a category pageSPONSORED on the unitPlaced outside the results grid and cost table.
Commissioned testsPAID TEST on the page and in the titleSame public prompts, same rubric. The maker pays for the test, not the result, and gets no edit rights.
Pro tier (later)Paid by readersRaw-output archive and prompt packs. Free readers still get every result.
Affiliate links (maybe)AFFILIATE next to the linkOnly if offered for every tool in a runoff, or none. Never affects order or score.

Accounts and freebies

AI disclosure

AI

Stack Runoff is run with a lot of automation: AI agents help run prompts, score, and draft pages; a human spot-checks before anything ships. Every asset on our results pages is AI-generated by the tool named next to it, and that's the point.

Something here look off? Tell us: [email protected]. Policy changes are dated on this page.

Last updated: 22 Oct 2026.