Sponsor Policy

This policy covers every paid listing and paid placement on freeaiforthat.com. Sponsored placements are off. There are no paid items anywhere on the site today.

Principles

1. Makers can pay to be listed and to be seen. Approval, rank, badges, our picks and the facts we show can't be bought.
2. A paid item must be recognisable as an ad at a glance, on every device.
3. Paid tools meet the same listing rule as every other tool: genuinely free for at least a month, because our promise is "free".

What you can buy

We also add tools ourselves, for free, at our own discretion. Each tool page says "Listed by the maker (paid)" or "Added by our team".

Who can buy

• The tool must meet our listing rule: a free plan, a free trial of 30 days or more, or free credits usable for 30 days or more, all checked against the vendor's public pages and dated.
• We check five things before a paid listing goes live: the site is real, the free offer meets the rule, the tool isn't already listed, it isn't on the list below, and the description is honest. We reply within 48 hours of an application. Makers pay only once we approve it.
• Eligibility is checked every time a slot is shown. If a tool is no longer listed, or its free offer stops meeting the rule, its sponsored slot disappears straight away and unused time is refunded.
• A category row can only carry a tool that's listed in that category.
• Sponsored copy must be truthful. Any "free" or limit claim must match the evidence we hold, and "No card needed" appears only if we've completed the signup ourselves without a card. No fake urgency, no competitor names, no all capitals.
• We don't accept: illegal products; malware or spyware; tools mainly for impersonation, non-consensual imagery or evading law enforcement; adult content; gambling; crypto investment schemes; health or finance claims without qualified substantiation; copy that disparages competitors; or fake urgency and other dark patterns.

Where sponsored items appear

Nowhere else. Sponsored items always sit above the ranked list, in their own group, and are never mixed in between ranked results. They're never on search results or "Free AI tools for…" pages, never in the left navigation, never on another tool's page, never in comparisons or alternatives, and never in the AI chat's answers. At most 10 Spotlights and 10 Featured tools per category run at the same time. Every Spotlight shows on every home page view; a category page shows 5 of its Featured tools, a fresh set on each visit. Clicking a card or row opens our page about the tool; visits that start there never count toward the organic ranking.

When a page is full

• New bookings join a line for that page (the home page, or one category). We show your place and when you'd start, worked out from when live placements end. Nobody who's live is removed.
• "Be next" puts you ahead of the normal line, behind anyone who chose it before you. It costs 50% more, or 100% more once 10 or more are waiting for that page.
• Your 3 days start when you go live, never before. If you'd rather not wait, cancel before you start for a full refund.

How the news line works

• It mixes free tools (just listed, top this week, our Pick of the week) with sponsored items: at least one non-sponsored item for every two sponsored ones.
• Shared-day sponsors take equal turns. There's no bidding: everyone pays the same, and nobody can pay to go first.
• A takeover is the only sponsor for its 4 hours. It starts on the hour or the half hour, booked at least 2 hours and at most 30 days ahead. At most 2 takeovers a day (UTC), at least 4 hours apart, and at most 1 per company per day.
• During a takeover, shared-day sponsors pause and their day ends that much later, so they still get 24 full hours. Nobody is removed. Our Pick of the week also pauses on the news line during a takeover.
• At most 2 news-line places per company at once, and up to 20 shared-day places at a time.
• It's always shown. It stops moving while you hover over it or tab into it, and it doesn't move at all for people who've turned on reduced motion.

What's never for sale

• Approval, or a faster decision.
• Organic rank or position. Paid and editorial listings are ranked by the same formula.
• "Free offer checked", "No card needed", "Great free", "Editor's pick", "Tool of the week", Our picks, or any other badge or award.
• The free facts and verdicts we show for a tool.
• Ratings, reviews or votes.
• Editorial text, and the AI help chat's answers. The chat never recommends sponsored items.
• Our structured data, sitemap, llms.txt and JSON directory. These list organic results only.

How every sponsored item is labelled

1. The literal word "Sponsored", right next to the tool name. Never "Featured", "Partner", "Promoted", a star, or colour alone.
2. The label is always visible (no hover or tap needed), at every screen width, and meets WCAG AA contrast in light and dark themes.
3. Each sits in its own group above the ranked list (cards on the home page, tinted rows on category pages), with no rank number, badges, ratings or votes.
4. Every sponsored card or row says "Sponsored by <name of the payer>", never what they paid. News-line items name the payer and link to this policy.
5. Sponsored links carry rel="noopener sponsored nofollow", open in a new tab and include campaign tags so sponsors can check visits in their own analytics. Each card and row also links to the tool's page on our site, so people can check the free facts first. Organic links carry rel="noopener nofollow".
6. Clicks on a sponsored item are never counted in the organic ranking.
7. No disguised ads: no paid editorial, reviews or "best of" lists, no sponsored row without its tint and label, and no label that hides on scroll.

Payment, refunds and records

• Makers apply on the site; nothing is charged then. If we approve it, we email a link to pay through our payment provider, and it goes live once it's paid.
• Full refund if a paid booking is cancelled before it starts. If the tool's free offer ends while a placement is live, we pause it and refund the unused time. If our site fails to show a placement, we add the lost time back.
• Before anything goes live we confirm who the payer is and that they can promote the tool, review the copy against this policy, and keep the evidence for every claim it makes.
• We keep a record of each booking: who paid, the product, the dates, the eligibility checks, and any complaints.
• To complain about a sponsored item, email ankit@sproutdesign.ai with the subject "Ad complaint". We acknowledge within 24 hours and remove misleading items promptly.

Changes

We'll update this policy and our Disclosure & how we rank page before any change to how paid listings or sponsorship work takes effect.