How we make money
Last updated: October 14, 2026
The short version
Datelyst is free to read, and you never pay us anything. We earn money in three ways:
- Affiliate links. Some services pay us a commission when someone joins or pays through our link.
- Sponsored placements. A service can pay for a clearly labeled spot on a listing page or in our Sunday letter.
- Our parent company's matchmaking service. Spark Twice is run by Datelyst's parent company, so that company earns money when people join it.
Every link that earns us money is labeled right next to it, in plain words. None of this changes what we recommend.
What you'll see next to a link
| What the link is | What you'll see beside it |
|---|---|
| A link that pays us nothing | No label |
| An affiliate link | "We may earn a commission if you join through this link." |
| A sponsored placement | A "Sponsored" badge, plus a line saying who paid |
| Spark Twice, run by Datelyst's parent company | "Run by Datelyst's parent company." |
The label always sits beside the link or button itself, on every page and in every email where the link appears. It's never only in the footer or on this page. Under quiz results you'll also see: "Some links pay us a commission. It never changes what we recommend."
Affiliate links
Many dating apps and sites run affiliate programs. Most of these run through affiliate networks, companies that track referrals and pay commissions. We work with networks such as CJ Affiliate and FlexOffers. When you click one of our affiliate links and then join or pay, the service may pay us a commission. How much, and for how long after your click, depends on each program.
In most programs the price you pay is the same whether or not you use our link. If a service ever offers a different price through our link, we'll say so next to it.
Commissions never decide what we recommend. We also recommend services that pay us nothing, including free ones, and we'll tell you when a free option is enough. The quiz chooses picks from your answers using the same points for every service, whether it pays us or not.
When you click a recommendation, the link passes through a Datelyst address (it starts with datelyst.com/go/) so we can count clicks and, where there's a program, add our partner code. We don't pass along your email address, name or quiz answers. Our privacy policy has the details.
Sponsored placements
We sell a small number of sponsored spots: at most one on each listing page and one in each Sunday letter. A sponsored spot always shows a "Sponsored" badge and says who paid for it. It runs between set dates and switches off on its end date.
A sponsor buys a labeled spot, never an opinion. Sponsors can't change:
- quiz points or quiz results;
- our reviews, "our take" or ratings;
- what we write in articles or the Sunday letter;
- which reader stories we publish.
We turn down sponsors we wouldn't be comfortable putting in front of our readers, such as services with a pattern of safety complaints or renewal terms that are hard to understand. We don't publish sponsored articles. If that ever changes, a sponsored article will say "Sponsored" at the top, with the sponsor's name.
Our parent company's matchmaking service, and why we tell you every time
Spark Twice is a matchmaking service run by Datelyst's parent company. That gives us a stake in it that we don't have in any other service, and you deserve to know it every time you see it.
Here's how we handle it:
- The note is always there. Every mention, on any page or in any email, carries the note "Run by Datelyst's parent company." right beside it.
- "Our pick", clearly marked. It has an "Our pick" spot in our matchmaker section and on some pages for people looking for a serious relationship. It's there because we own it, not because it beat anyone in a ranking, and the ownership note sits beside it.
- Never ranked or scored. It's never given a number, a score, a star rating or a place in a ranking against other services.
- The quiz plays fair. It appears in quiz results only when a matchmaker is one of your top three ways to meet, and it gets the same points as any other matchmaker. Ownership and money never move it up.
- Check before you apply. Its card is the same for every reader. It may not be matching in every area yet, so its own site is the place to check whether it fits where you live.
- Your data stays here. Your email address, quiz answers and stories aren't handed to it. When you click through, the link only says that you came from Datelyst, which page sent you and, if you took the quiz, a random ID for your result. That lets us count how many people Datelyst sends.
What we never do
- Sell your personal information.
- Accept money for a positive review, a better rating or a higher place in the quiz.
- Pay readers for stories, or reward positive ones.
- Hide a paid link or leave off its label.
Questions, or want to work with us?
If you run a dating service or event and want to talk about affiliate links or sponsorship, email [email protected]. Everything above applies to every partner, without exceptions.
If you think we've missed a label or a link isn't marked properly, tell us at [email protected] and we'll fix it.