About Smart Pick Desk
Last updated 2026-10-05
What this site is
Smart Pick Desk publishes comparison guides for the online tools people use to run a newsletter, a blog or a small online business. We started with email marketing platforms, because that is where the first decision usually sits: which tool will hold your list, and what will it cost once the list grows. We have since added two sections that read the sales pages of products sold online in the same way: Home & DIY, for building things at home, and Pets, starting with dog training courses.
Each guide is built from the tools' own official pages. Every fact carries a source and the date we read it, and every page ends with a change log. The first guide went up on 2026-09-20.
The site exists to answer one narrow kind of question well: what does this tool or product actually say it costs, what does it include at that price, and what do its own terms say about renewals, limits and refunds. Those answers are spread across pricing pages, help centres, checkouts and terms of service, and they do not always agree with each other. A guide here puts them in one place so you can see the whole picture before you sign up or pay.
Who it is for
The guides are written for people choosing a tool for the first time, or wondering whether to switch, who would rather see the numbers side by side than read a sales page. If you already know the tools well, the tables and change logs are there so you can check our reading against your own.
What the guides cover
- Comparisons — two or three tools side by side on free plan limits, automations and price at the same list size.
- Pricing — what a tool costs at each list size, in both billing modes, and what its terms say about renewals and refunds.
- Free plans — where each free plan stops, and which of its ceilings you will reach first.
- Home & DIY — what a home or woodworking product’s sales page, checkout and refund policy say about the price, later offers and refunds.
- Pets — what a dog training course’s sales page, checkout and refund policy say about the price and refunds, and what you can try or check before you pay.
We add a guide only after the facts have been collected from the official pages. We would rather publish fewer pages than pages we cannot source.
Who runs it
Smart Pick Desk is an independent publisher run by one person. Pages are signed Smart Pick Desk editors rather than with a personal name; that page explains what the editors do and which tools they have not used. We are not owned by, or employed by, any of the companies we write about.
Signing with the site's name is a choice about privacy, not a way to avoid responsibility. Every page lists its sources and the date each one was read, every change is dated in that page's change log, and the address at the bottom of this page reaches the person who writes and corrects the guides. We do not claim qualifications, certificates or years of experience, and we do not invent them.
How the guides are made
In short: we read each official page on a stated date and keep a copy; we record every step of its price slider; we draw every chart from that record; and before a page is published, scripts check that each quote appears word for word on the saved page and that each price comes from the record. The full steps are on How we check.
When a company's own pages disagree with each other — a plan card and an FAQ giving different numbers, for example — we show both, say which one our figures use, and do not guess which is right.
What we have not done matters as much. We have not used the products we compare, so there are no screenshots, star ratings or claims about how a tool feels to use or how well its emails are delivered. Each guide says this in the line under its title.
How pages are kept up to date
Each page shows its last update near the title, and ends with a sources table that gives the date each official page was read. Under that table, the change log records every edit that changed a fact, with its date, and lists what we plan to check next time.
When we re-read a page, we compare it with the copy we saved before. If nothing has changed, the change log says so. If a price, limit or rule has changed, we correct the guide, the charts are drawn again from the new record, and the change log says what changed. Where a company renames or replaces its plans, the guide adds a short note on what the page used to say, as the beehiiv guide does, so that a reader who saw the old names elsewhere is not confused.
How this site is funded
Some pages contain affiliate links. If you sign up or buy through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Affiliate links are marked (paid ad) right next to the link, and a page that has one says so at the top, before you scroll. The programmes we are in are listed on the Affiliate Disclosure. Commissions do not change which facts a page shows: quotes, prices and dates come only from the official pages.
Most guides on the site have no affiliate links at all, and say so in the box at the top. The site carries no display advertising.
We do not promise results. Nothing on this site is a prediction of what a tool will do for your list or your income.
Privacy and terms
What we collect, which is very little, is described in the Privacy Policy. The Terms of Use set out how the guides may be used and what they are not: information to help you read the official pages, not advice and not a promise about any product.
Corrections
If a price, limit or quote no longer matches the official page, tell us which page and which line. We re-open the official page, correct the guide and add a dated line to its change log saying what changed.
Contact
Email [email protected]. More ways to reach us are on the Contact page.