Affiliate Disclosure
FrankVPN earns money when you buy a VPN through certain links on this site. This page explains how that works, who currently pays us, and how our rankings stay independent of who pays.
The Short Version
Some links on FrankVPN are affiliate links. When you click one and buy a subscription, the VPN provider pays us a commission. You pay the same price you'd pay going directly to their site — sometimes less, because affiliate links often include negotiated discounts.
Our active affiliate partners right now are Surfshark, NordVPN, PureVPN, and BlancVPN. All are disclosed on every page where they appear.
Who Pays Us (and Who Doesn't)
| Provider | Affiliate Relationship |
|---|---|
| Surfshark | Active partner — we earn a commission |
| NordVPN | Active partner — we earn a commission |
| PureVPN | Active partner — we earn a commission |
| BlancVPN | Active partner — we earn a commission |
| CyberGhost, IPVanish, and others | None — no commission, no paid placement |
Surfshark ranks #1 on our best cheap VPN list — and it held that rank before it became one of our affiliate partners. Becoming a partner didn't move it; the rank is set by score. The clearest proof that commissions don't buy rankings runs the other way: CyberGhost and IPVanish rank where they do with no affiliate relationship at all, and we'd drop any partner whose product got worse.
How Commission Affects Our Rankings: It Doesn't
Every VPN we review gets scored on six criteria — Privacy & Security, Speed, Streaming, Price & Value, Usability, and Transparency — with fixed weights that don't change based on who pays us. The full methodology is on our How We Test page.
A VPN provider can't improve their ranking by offering us a higher commission rate, sending us promotional materials, or asking for a placement. Our partners — Surfshark, NordVPN, PureVPN, and BlancVPN — go through the same scoring process as providers we earn nothing from, weaknesses included.
If a highly-ranked VPN launches an affiliate program tomorrow, their score doesn't change. If an existing partner's product gets worse, their ranking drops.
How We Label Affiliate Links
Every affiliate link on FrankVPN is marked. Specifically:
- Buttons labeled "Get Deal" or "Visit [Provider]" on pages where we have an active affiliate relationship are affiliate links.
- A disclosure note appears near each call-to-action where an affiliate link is present.
- Affiliate links use the
rel="sponsored"attribute in the HTML, following Google's guidelines. - Provider comparison tables show which brands carry affiliate links.
If you're ever unsure whether a link is an affiliate link, check the page's disclosure note or write to us at contact@frankvpn.com.
What This Means for You
Nothing changes about your purchase. The price, the subscription terms, the refund policy — all identical to buying direct. In some cases, our affiliate link gets you a better deal than the provider's own homepage shows.
What you do get: a site that stays online and keeps testing VPNs because it can fund itself. Affiliate commissions are how FrankVPN pays for VPN subscriptions, testing infrastructure, and the time it takes to keep reviews current.
FTC Compliance
This disclosure follows the Federal Trade Commission's guidelines on affiliate marketing (16 CFR Part 255). We disclose material connections clearly and on every relevant page — not buried in a footer, not hidden behind a privacy policy link.
If you have questions about how we handle affiliate relationships, our testing methodology is at /how-we-test/ and our editorial team is at contact@frankvpn.com.