How we make money

Affiliate links

Some of the outbound links to vendors on this site are affiliate links. If you click one and go on to buy, we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Affiliate links carry a rel="sponsored nofollow" attribute, and tools we have a commercial relationship with are labelled PARTNER on the page.

Affiliate commission does not decide who we recommend. We link to tools because they earned a place in the Index on the test — not the other way around. Plenty of tools we rate highly pay us nothing, and we say so.

Paid placement (PARTNER)

Select vendors pay for featured placement — a more prominent slot, a highlighted card, a callout. Anything paid is labelled PARTNER, every time, so you always know when money has changed hands.

Paid placement buys visibility. It does not buy a number. A PARTNER badge never moves a tool's SDR Score, never nudges a factor, and never changes where it ranks in the Index. Those come from the methodologyand nothing else. The day that line blurs, the Index is worthless — so we keep it bright, and we'll always tell you when something is paid.

The agency directory

Our outbound-agency directoryworks on a separate model. Agencies can pay to list, and when you request quotes we may pass your brief to the agencies you select and charge them for the introduction. Where a listing is paid or featured, we say so on the profile. Requesting quotes is always free for you, and we'll only share your details with agencies you choose.

Editorial independence

SDR Lab is part of Venture Harbour Ltd. We hold no equity in the tools we cover, take no board seats, and accept no payment to change a score or a ranking. Every score is set by one person, Marcus Taylor, against the same four factors. If you ever think a verdict reads like an advert, tell us— that's a bug, and we'll fix it.

Questions

If anything here is unclear, or you want to know whether a specific link or placement is paid, get in touchand we'll tell you straight.