Independence.
How vendor relationships are kept out of the index.
A single, simple rule.
No vendor can buy inclusion, a higher rank, a better capability score, a "verified vendor" badge, or amplified framing. The selection, categorization, and ordering of tools are entirely at the maintainer's discretion and informed only by what is useful to people evaluating the data stack. If revenue ever enters the picture, it stays walled off from all of that — see § 04.
None.
The maintainer holds no employment, advisory role, equity, or paid contract with any tool indexed in this catalog or with any vendor whose product competes with an indexed tool. There are no current conflicts of interest to disclose.
Activity, scope, documentation.
The selection criteria for inclusion are described on the methodology page, §01. In short: tools are added when they meet the activity, scope, and documentation thresholds — not when their vendor reaches out.
Vendors are welcome to send factual corrections via the corrections page. Corrections are evaluated against the same sourcing rules as any other update; a correction is not a request for placement.
Visible, and walled off.
The catalog may one day carry sponsorship, advertising, or affiliate links. If it does, two things hold. First, any such arrangement will be described plainly on this page and flagged in the corrections log — no quiet changes. Second, and non-negotiable: money never touches the index. Sponsorship cannot buy inclusion, move a tool up a ranking, change a capability score, or soften a verdict; it can only ever appear as clearly-labelled placement that sits outside the editorial data. The moment that line is crossed, this page and the independence claims across the site come down with it.