Independent. The Top 3 is never paid.

Editors choose the weekly three. A sponsor cannot buy that list, a softer verdict, or the cover. The build refuses an issue whose Top 3 tool is marked sponsored or carries an affiliate URL.

Commercial work, when we run it, is separate and labeled:

• A directory row paid for by a company says Sponsored and sorts above the editorial shelf.
• A paid story says Partner content — paid by the sponsor, at the top of the page, and cannot be the cover.
• An affiliate link, when one exists, says Affiliate and uses rel sponsored nofollow. The page carries a disclosure.
• MODEL Launch packages are sponsored end to end.
• Shop goods are products, not reviews. Coming soon means they are not for sale.
• The jobs board is not open. When it is, a listing will be a paid placement, labeled, and kept out of the Top 3.

MODEL Pro is a membership for a longer notebook. It does not buy a ranking.

News stories attribute claims to the source. If we did not test a tool, the piece says so. The method is written out in how we test. A correction is dated and logged. Write to the desk from the contact page.