Affiliate disclosure
How affiliate links work here, the rules we hold ourselves to, and why the providers that pay us nothing still win rounds.
TunnelClash is reader-supported, and honesty about that is central to a privacy site. This page explains exactly how affiliate links work here and the rules we hold ourselves to. Last updated September 2026.
How affiliate links work
Some outbound links to VPN providers are affiliate links. If you subscribe after clicking one, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you — you pay the same price you would otherwise. Every affiliate link on the site routes through a /go/ redirect and carries a 'sponsored nofollow' attribute, so it's clearly marked as commercial.
What commissions never do
Commissions never change a verdict, a matchup result or the order of the tale of the tape. Our winners are chosen on jurisdiction, audits, protocols, devices and price — the evidence — not on who pays. To make that concrete, we recommend Mullvad and Windscribe where they honestly win, even though they run no affiliate programs and pay us nothing. If our judgement were for sale, we wouldn't do that.
Which providers pay us
Where a program exists and we've joined it, links to NordVPN, Surfshark, ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, Proton VPN, IPVanish and Private Internet Access may be commissioned. Mullvad and Windscribe do not run affiliate programs, so any mention of them is unpaid by definition. Prices and program terms change, so treat pricing on the site as directional and confirm the current rate on the provider's own site.
See how we reach a verdict on our how-we-judge page, or jump into the matchups from our VPN comparisons hub.