Affiliate disclosure and editorial standards

How Pocket Animus makes money, why it doesn't change what we write, and how to identify which links are affiliate links.

What "affiliate link" means here

Some links on Pocket Animus go through partner programs. When you click one and sign up for the platform, we earn a commission. The cost to you is the same. The platform pays us out of their marketing budget rather than charging you extra.

Which platforms pay us

As of the most recent update, we have affiliate relationships with:

• GPT Girlfriend
• SpicyChat
• Kupid AI

When we write about these platforms, the links may be affiliate links. When we write about platforms not on this list (Replika, Character AI, Nomi, Kindroid, Janitor AI, CrushOn, Candy AI, Muah, Joyland, Yodayo, Chai, DreamGen, SillyTavern, Ollama, Woebot, Wysa, etc.), we don't earn commissions from them. We may add new affiliate relationships over time and will update this list when we do.

Why this doesn't change our reviews

Our editorial verdicts are based on research, testing, and honest assessment. We've written critical things about platforms that pay us commissions. We've written positive things about platforms that don't. The affiliate relationship doesn't determine what we say; it determines whether we get paid when readers act on our recommendations.

If we couldn't write honestly about a platform that paid us, we'd cancel the affiliate relationship rather than soften the writing. That's the only sustainable model for a review site readers can trust.

How to identify affiliate links

Affiliate links on this site route through pocketanimus.com/go/{platform} before redirecting to the partner site. Hover over any link to see where it goes. Links that don't route through /go/ aren't affiliate links.

Posts that contain affiliate links display a disclosure banner at the top. If you don't see a banner, the post doesn't contain affiliate links.

What we don't do

We don't accept payment for reviews. We don't sell coverage. We don't take sponsorships from companies we cover. We don't let affiliate relationships determine ranking order in comparison posts. We don't promote platforms we wouldn't recommend on their own merits.

Questions

If you ever read something on Pocket Animus that feels like it was shaped by an affiliate relationship rather than honest assessment, we want to hear about it. The whole point of being transparent about our incentives is so readers can hold us accountable to those incentives.