I tried every top email marketing tool

I appreciate that the author disclosed it, but the reason they went to all this effort is likely that they expect to make money as an affiliate for the platforms that they recommended.

Affiliate-driven reviews introduce a major bias into the author's opinion, as they have incentive to speak more positively about platforms that are likely to pay the most.

And email marketing platforms pay a lot in affiliate fees. Just scanning some of the recommendations, if someone signs up for MailerLite through this reviewer's link, they'll pay the reviewer 30% of that subscriber's fees forever.[0] I wouldn't be surprised if the reviewer's top pick is coincidentally the platform with the highest-paying affiliate program.

The thing that really woke me up to affiliate-influenced reviews was the 2017 article, "The War To Sell You A Mattress Is An Internet Nightmare."[1] The reporter figured out that top YouTube mattress reviewers just gave positive reviews to whichever company paid the most in affiliate fees, and when one company lowered their fees, the reviewers retroactively downranked them for contrived reasons.

[0] https://www.mailerlite.com/affiliate

[1] https://www.fastcompany.com/3065928/sleepopolis-casper-blogg...

Op here. I sort of agree but all these tools offer affiliate programs and I can assure you we chose MailerLite because we think it’s a tool we can use for 5-10 years.

That being said: besides running a startup (Atlist.com) I also run an affiliate site (it’s how we funded Atlist) and I would agree there is good reason to read affiliate websites skeptically. I regularly receive offers from website builders to “buy” the top spot in my best website builder roundup. https://www.sitebuilderreport.com/best-website-builder

This is completely ridiculous dude, Op you are so critical of everyone else trying to make a buck don't you think there should be a bloody big disclaimer/ acknowledgement about your own twisted incentives there.

Ohhhh and on this step we eliminated all the companies that don't have an affiliate program.. hmm but we'll say it's because they don't have feature x....

ITS THE FIRST LINE OF THE PAGE!

Don't pretend that the positioning and font aren't both chosen to minimize the likelihood that people see and read that line. At least without violating legal disclosure requirements.