An independent editorial project for better website-stack decisions.
Website Stack Index helps small businesses compare website platforms, hosting, ecommerce, email, forms, SEO and the software layers around them using explicit decision criteria instead of generic rankings.
How pages are researched
Research starts with primary vendor material whenever it is available, including official product documentation, pricing pages and feature pages. Material claims used by the site are recorded with checked dates in the shared evidence layer, including evidence.json, so pricing and product statements can be traced back to the source that was reviewed.
Website Stack Index also uses structured tool, plan and reference-architecture data to keep comparisons consistent across pages. The published methodology explains how business fit, technical requirements, commerce needs, budget, workflow, SEO, scalability and portability are evaluated.
AI-assisted research and drafting
Research organization, analysis and drafting are AI-assisted. AI assistance does not create a separate recommendation standard: every recommendation is required to follow the same published methodology, evidence rules and affiliate firewall. Pricing and material product claims are re-verified on a recurring review schedule and when a material change is identified.
How we make money
Website Stack Index may earn affiliate commissions when a reader buys through some outbound links. Affiliate eligibility, commission terms and tracking links are kept separate from recommendation scoring. Compensation does not increase a product's fit score, change the decision framework or prevent a non-affiliate product from being included when it is relevant. See the affiliate disclosure for the full policy.
Editorial independence
Website Stack Index is an independent editorial project. Vendors do not buy rankings, scores or favorable conclusions. Commercial relationships are disclosed, and the editorial system is designed so monetization cannot determine which product is presented as the better fit for a given use case. The editorial policy describes these standards in more detail.
Corrections and errors
If you find an outdated price, broken source, factual error or unclear claim, use the contact and corrections form. We review material corrections across every affected page.
Editorial byline
Decision pages use the organization-level byline Website Stack Index Editorial. It identifies the publication responsible for the page; it does not represent a named individual, personal credential or invented editorial team.
The Stack Index network
Website Stack Index is part of a three-site decision network with businessstackindex.com and Build Your AI Stack.