Why this site is short
OSI Affiliate is a software directory built on the opposite bet from the big ones. They win by listing everything. We are trying to be useful by listing almost nothing.
- 5categories
- 15picks in total
- 3head-to-heads
Who it is for
Someone running a small business who needs to pick a CRM, an email platform, a website builder, a project tool or an SEO tool — this month, once — and get back to work.
That includes solopreneurs buying their first proper tool, owners replacing something that has stopped fitting, and in-house marketers who have been handed the decision and a browser full of tabs. It is not built for procurement teams running a formal evaluation, and it is not built for people who enjoy comparing software.
The assumption behind every page is that you want a defensible answer and a reason, not a filterable database.
What is actually different here
Search “best CRM” and you land on a marketplace with over a thousand listings under that one category. It is an impressive asset and a terrible answer to the question you asked. Sorting it requires you to already know what matters, which is the thing you came to find out.
- Two to four picks per category. The shortlist is the product. If a tool no longer earns its slot it comes off, rather than being kept for the extra link.
- Every pick carries a reason to skip it. Written by us, in the entry, not buried in a pros-and-cons vote count. A recommendation with no stated limit is an advert.
- No ratings, no review counts, no testimonials. This site is new and has none that are real, so it has none at all.
- The business model is on the page. Not in a footer line in grey six-point type — at the top of every page that carries a vendor link.
How this site makes money
Affiliate commission. If you follow a link from here and sign up with a vendor, they may pay us a share of what you pay them, at no extra cost to you. That is the same mechanism the large directories use, and on its own it is fine. What is not fine is the arrangement we refuse: nobody can pay to be on a shortlist here, pay to sit higher on one, or pay to soften what an entry says.
The full version, including exactly where the site stands today on which links earn anything, is on the disclosure page, and the rules that decide the picks are on how we pick.
Where the site is today
New, and saying so. 5 categories are live, with 15 picks between them and 3 head-to-head comparisons where the “X or Y” question is common enough to deserve its own page.
The picks come from research rather than from running every tool in a live business, and the entries say so where it matters. Categories and comparisons get added when real reader demand shows up, not to fill out a sitemap — so if a comparison you want is missing, asking for it is the fastest way to make it exist.
One note on voice: “we” here means whoever wrote and checked the page you are reading. Entries carry the site’s name rather than personal bylines, because the judgement being offered is the site’s and the site is what you should hold to it.
Tell us what we are missing
The two most useful messages we get are “this pricing line is out of date” and “you have left the obvious tool off this list”. Both change the site.