Cross Shore Tools earns money from affiliate links. This page explains exactly how, and what that does and does not change about what we publish.
We use affiliate links
Some links to products on this site are affiliate links. If you sign up for a paid plan through one of them, the vendor may pay us a commission — sometimes once, sometimes recurring for as long as you stay subscribed. You pay the same price either way.
Commission does not affect our verdict
Scores and recommendations are decided from testing, before commission is considered, and are never adjusted afterwards because of it. A product that pays well and performs badly in Japanese gets a bad review here. A product that pays nothing and performs well gets a good one.
If we ever cannot review a product honestly while holding its affiliate relationship, we drop the affiliate relationship — not the honesty.
We test what we write about
Every review is based on hands-on use. Our full process is published on the Testing Method page. We do not review products we have not used, and we do not describe untested features as tested.
Sponsored content is labelled separately
An affiliate link is not sponsorship. If a vendor ever pays us directly for a piece of content, that content will say so clearly at the top, and the same evidence rules will still apply. We will not publish paid content dressed up as an independent review.
If we get something wrong
If anything here is unclear, or you believe we have judged a product incorrectly, please tell us. We would rather correct a review than defend it.
Last updated: August 25, 2026.