SourceSwap exists to help people find open-source and self-hosted software that genuinely respects their data. Every policy decision below exists to protect that goal — including the way the site makes money.
Guiding principles
Three rules sit behind everything on this site:
- Recommendations reflect actual use. Tools are installed, evaluated, and used before they're listed. Nothing gets added because a marketing page said it was good.
- The trade-offs get named. If a tool has rough edges, high memory use, or a clunky mobile app, that goes in the review — not buried in the fine print.
- Money never decides coverage. Advertising and affiliate links help fund the site. None of them get input into what's tested, listed, ranked, or recommended.
How tools get tested
SourceSwap is a one-person project, and the review process reflects that honestly. There's no lab, no benchmarking rig, and no panel of testers. What there is:
- Real installs on real hardware. Tools are installed on the machine I use every day — a Dell Latitude 5320 with 16 GB of RAM — under normal working conditions. Not a benchmark rig, not a server rack. If a tool needs more power than that to be usable, it gets documented as a trade-off.
- Practical checks. Does it install without needing a cloud account? Can you get your data out in a standard format? Does it stay running for a week without drama?
- Documented trade-offs. Where a tool falls short of alternatives, that gets written down. Reviews aim to be useful, not flattering.
What this policy doesn't claim: that every tool has received weeks of exhaustive testing, that every edge case has been explored, or that the testing is more thorough than it currently is. As the site grows, so will the depth of the testing — and this page will be updated to reflect it.
Editorial independence
These commitments apply to every piece of editorial content on the site:
- No sponsored reviews. No company can pay to have a tool reviewed, written about, or featured in a blog post.
- No paid directory placements. Directory listings can't be purchased. A listing is either earned through the testing process or added because it fits the criteria — never bought.
- No vendor-supplied rankings. Scores, categories, "top picks," and editorial judgments are made independently and are not negotiable with the projects being covered.
- No advance review by vendors. When a tool is written up, the write-up isn't shown to the maintainers before publication — except to fact-check specific technical claims, and only when necessary.
- Advertisers get no input. No advertising partner — direct or via ad networks — has any involvement in editorial decisions.
These commitments don't change based on how the site is funded. They're the reason the site exists.
How the site is funded
SourceSwap is a one-person project. Running it costs money — hosting, a domain, and the time it takes to test tools and write reviews. To keep the site sustainable, three funding mechanisms may be used:
Display advertising
Ads served through an established advertising network. Ads are visually separated from editorial content, labeled as advertising, and never placed inline inside an article in a way that could be confused for a recommendation.
Affiliate links
Some outbound links — particularly to hosting providers, VPS services, or the paid tiers of tools with a managed cloud option — may include an affiliate identifier. If you click through and sign up, SourceSwap may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Affiliate links never appear in the directory itself, in comparison tables, or in "top pick" sections. Where they're used, they're disclosed on the page where they appear.
Reader support
If the site eventually offers a direct support option — donations, a paid newsletter tier, or similar — editorial content will remain free and unsupported content will not be reduced.
What we will never sell
These commitments don't change regardless of how the site is funded:
- Paid directory listings. A tool can't be added to the directory in exchange for money. If it's listed, it earned a place through the testing process.
- Sponsored reviews. No company can pay to have a tool reviewed, written about, or featured in a blog post.
- Paid rankings or "top pick" positions. Categories, top picks, and editorial placements are decided independently. No advertiser or affiliate partner has input.
- Removal of criticism. If a tool has flaws, they get written up. Money doesn't change what goes in a review.
- Advance approval of coverage. Advertisers and affiliate partners don't see reviews before they're published. Vendors may be contacted to fact-check technical claims, but they don't get editorial control.
- Sponsored content disguised as editorial. If sponsored content ever exists, it will be clearly labeled as sponsored, styled distinctly from editorial, and excluded from directory listings, comparison posts, and "top picks."
Disclosure practices
When ads or affiliate links are present on a page:
- Ads are clearly labeled as advertising and separated from editorial content. Never placed inside an article body where they could be mistaken for a recommendation.
- Affiliate links are disclosed at the top of the page where they appear. On individual blog posts where only some links are affiliate, a small inline notice is used near the link.
- Sponsored content (if it ever exists) is marked in a way that cannot be missed — a "Sponsored" label at the top of the page and a distinct visual treatment from editorial reviews.
The reasoning is simple: readers should be able to tell at a glance whether they're reading editorial content or commercial content. If that ever becomes ambiguous, the site has failed.
Corrections
If something on the site is wrong — an outdated version number, a license change, a broken benchmark, a claim that doesn't hold up — it gets corrected. Corrections are made directly to the page, and the "Last updated" date reflects when the change happened.
If a correction is significant enough to change the substance of a review — for example, if a tool changes its license or adds telemetry — the listing is re-evaluated and either updated with a warning or removed entirely.
To report an error, use the contact form and select "Tool update," or email the address on that page directly.
Contact
Questions about this policy, requests for clarification, or disagreement with a call: use the contact form. All messages are read.