Last updated: 30 October 2026
SoftForTrades is reader supported. This page explains, in plain language, how the site makes money and what that means for the guides you read. It follows the United States Federal Trade Commission guidance on endorsements and disclosures.
We earn commissions
Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you click one of those links and later sign up for a paid plan with that software company, we may earn a commission from the company. This is how the site pays for its testing time and hosting.
It costs you nothing extra
Using our links never raises your price. You pay the same as you would by going to the vendor website directly, and vendors sometimes offer the same public trials and offers through affiliate links. If you prefer not to use our links, you can search for the vendor by name and sign up there instead, and every guide here remains free to read either way.
Our picks are not bought
- No vendor can pay for a place in a guide, a higher position in a comparison, or a better verdict.
- Commission rates differ between programs, and rate size plays no part in how tools are ranked or recommended.
- Tools without an affiliate program are still included when they are the right fit for a trade, and guides say so when a recommended tool has no program.
- If a relationship with a vendor ever goes beyond a standard affiliate program, for example a free paid account provided for testing, that fact will be stated inside the guide itself.
How we test, stated plainly
Our testing is trial-based. We sign up for free trials, walk through the workflows a trade business uses every day, and take our own screenshots. Prices are verified on vendor pricing pages and the verification date is shown in the guide. When a feature sits on a paid plan outside the trial, we describe it from vendor documentation and label it as not tested, instead of presenting it as hands-on experience.
Where disclosures appear
Every guide that contains affiliate links carries a short disclosure near the top of the page, so you do not need to find this page to know how a guide is funded. This page is the full version of that notice.
Questions
If anything about our funding is unclear, ask us at hello@softfortrades.com and we will answer directly.