How ThatMy.com Makes Money
We earn affiliate commissions when you buy hosting through our links. We also turn down commissions from providers our testing says are bad. Here is the complete picture — no legal jargon, no fine print.
What You Need to Know in 60 Seconds
FTC Disclosure (Required by Law): ThatMy.com participates in affiliate marketing programs. When you click on links marked with an affiliate relationship and make a qualifying purchase, we may earn a commission from the hosting provider. This comes at no additional cost to you — in fact, using our affiliate links often gives you access to exclusive discounts. The FTC requires this disclosure under 16 C.F.R. Part 255.
Now here is what that actually means in plain language:
You read a review on ThatMy.com
We test the hosting, write the review, and include a link to the provider's website
You click the link and purchase hosting
The provider's cookie identifies that you came from ThatMy.com during your session
ThatMy.com earns a commission
The hosting company pays us a referral fee — typically $50–150 per signup. You pay the same price (or less, with our discount codes).
That is the complete money flow. No hidden fees passed to you. No secret surcharges. The hosting company pays us from their marketing budget — it is like a referral program that costs you nothing.
The Non-Negotiable Rules That Govern Every Affiliate Relationship
Affiliate marketing can be done honestly or dishonestly. Most hosting review sites do it dishonestly. These are the rules we have committed to publicly — and by publishing them here, we hold ourselves accountable.
We buy every plan we review
Every hosting provider we recommend has an active paid account associated with it. No free press accounts. No sponsored trials. Real customer experience only.
Rankings based on data, not commissions
Our #1 ranked hosting provider is determined by TTFB, load test results, uptime data, and value analysis. Commission size has no influence on position. We can prove this.
We blacklist bad providers
Several high-commission hosting providers are on our blacklist. We refuse to recommend them despite the significant revenue we leave on the table. Bad hosting hurts real people.
Full renewal price disclosure
We always show the renewal price prominently alongside the introductory price. We calculate the real total cost of ownership over the full subscription period.
No paid placements — ever
Hosting companies cannot pay for a higher ranking, a featured spot, a "recommended" badge, or any other form of editorial influence. This line does not move.
No undisclosed relationships
Every affiliate relationship we have is either disclosed on this page or with inline disclosure text near affiliate links. There are no hidden financial arrangements with any hosting company.
No display advertising
We do not run banner ads, pop-ups, or autoplay video ads. Advertising revenue creates conflicts of interest. Affiliate-only revenue keeps us focused on recommending quality products.
No free products for reviews
We decline all offers of complimentary hosting accounts. Press accounts get different server resources than paying customers. Only a paying customer experience is worth reviewing.
What the Affiliate Model Does and Does Not Incentivize
I want to be direct about the incentives created by affiliate marketing, because a lot of disclosure pages gloss over this part. Understanding the incentive structure helps you evaluate how much to trust our recommendations.
What affiliate commissions DO incentivize on ThatMy.com
- Publishing content about popular hosting categories — more content means more search traffic means more affiliate clicks. This is why we cover shared hosting, cloud, WordPress, WooCommerce, game hosting, and more. The incentive to be comprehensive is real.
- Being accurate and honest — if our recommendations are wrong and readers have bad hosting experiences, they stop trusting our links. Long-term, dishonesty kills affiliate income. Honesty is the best business model.
- Regular content updates — current information keeps readers coming back and keeps search rankings. We update pages because it is good for business, not just because it is the right thing to do.
What affiliate commissions COULD (but do not) incentivize on this site
- Ranking high-commission providers above better-performing ones — this is the core corruption in the review industry. We combat it by publishing our testing methodology and data publicly. If you can see the data, you can verify the ranking.
- Ignoring problems with providers we earn from — we explicitly point out renewal price increases, TOS traps, and support failures even for providers we recommend and earn commissions from. Bad news about a product we recommend is included in that product's review.
- Recommending plans that are more expensive than necessary — since we earn a percentage or flat rate regardless of which plan tier you choose, we have no incentive to upsell. If a $6/mo plan meets your needs, we tell you the $6/mo plan.
Hosting Providers We Have Affiliate Relationships With
In the interest of full transparency, here are the types of hosting providers ThatMy.com has affiliate arrangements with. Note that having an affiliate relationship does not guarantee a recommendation — several providers below receive mixed or negative coverage because our testing data requires it.
| Provider Type | Affiliate Status | Our Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudways | Active affiliate | Recommended — top performer in cloud hosting tests |
| Hostinger | Active affiliate | Recommended — best value shared hosting in our tests |
| SiteGround | Active affiliate | Recommended with caveats — high renewal prices noted |
| A2 Hosting | Active affiliate | Recommended for specific use cases — detailed in review |
| DreamHost | Active affiliate | Recommended — strong uptime, honest pricing |
| InMotion Hosting | Active affiliate | Mixed coverage — performance inconsistencies noted |
| Bluehost | Blacklisted | Not recommended — on our blacklist despite highest commissions |
| GoDaddy | Blacklisted | Not recommended — pricing practices and support quality fail our criteria |
| HostGator | Blacklisted | Not recommended — poor performance in our testing |
This list is not exhaustive. We have tested providers not listed here. The absence of a provider from this list does not indicate recommendation or blacklisting — it may simply mean we have not yet published a full review.
Our Legal Obligations and How We Meet Them
FTC Guidelines (United States)
The Federal Trade Commission requires that material connections between endorsers and companies be clearly disclosed. A material connection exists when an endorser (ThatMy.com) receives something of value — like an affiliate commission — from a company they review. We comply with FTC guidelines under 16 C.F.R. Part 255 by:
- Maintaining this disclosure page, linked from every page of the site
- Including inline disclosure statements near affiliate links in our content
- Not making false or misleading claims about hosting products we review
- Ensuring our reviews reflect honest assessments based on actual testing
ASA Guidelines (United Kingdom)
For UK visitors, ThatMy.com follows the Advertising Standards Authority's guidelines on affiliate marketing disclosure. Affiliate relationships are clearly identified and do not influence our editorial rankings or content.
GDPR and Privacy
ThatMy.com is a static website. We do not collect personal data from site visitors. When you click an affiliate link, the destination hosting company's website may set cookies to track the referral — that data collection is governed by their privacy policy, not ours. Our Privacy Policy explains our data practices in full.
Accuracy of Information
We make every effort to ensure pricing, feature, and performance information is accurate and current. Hosting companies change their plans and pricing regularly. If you find information on ThatMy.com that appears outdated or incorrect, please email mangesh@thatmy.com with the details. We will investigate and update within 72 hours of a verified correction.
Affiliate Disclosure FAQ
Does using your affiliate links cost me more money?
No. Affiliate commissions are paid by the hosting company from their marketing budget — not added to your purchase price. In most cases, using our affiliate links gets you the same price you would pay going directly to the hosting company's website. For some providers, our links provide access to exclusive discount rates not available on their main site.
If I use your link but do not buy immediately, do you still get credit?
It depends on the affiliate program. Most hosting affiliate programs use a 30-60 day cookie window — meaning if you click our link today and buy within 30-60 days, we get credit for the referral. If you clear your cookies before buying, or use a different device, the attribution may be lost. This is standard practice across the affiliate marketing industry.
How does earning commissions not create a bias toward recommending everything?
Because our commission on a bad recommendation is a one-time payment, while the cost of a bad recommendation is permanent loss of reader trust. If someone buys Bluehost because we recommended it and then has a terrible experience, they will never read or trust ThatMy.com again — and they will tell others. Long-term, honest recommendations are worth far more than the extra commission from recommending bad hosting.
Do all links on ThatMy.com earn commissions?
No. Links to our own pages, links to testing tools we reference, links to research sources, and links to community resources like Reddit are non-affiliate. Only links to hosting company websites and checkout pages may be affiliate links. These are typically identified with disclosure text near the link or section.
What should I do if I think a recommendation is biased by affiliate income?
Email mangesh@thatmy.com directly with the specific recommendation you are questioning. I will share the underlying test data that justifies the ranking. If you can demonstrate that the data does not support the recommendation, I will update the page. I welcome this kind of accountability — it keeps us honest.