Editorial Policy

This page is our standing answer to a request we get most weeks: a vendor, an agency, or a PR firm asking to be added to an article on vetsoftwarehub.com, moved higher in one, given a fuller entry, or quoted a rate for placement. The answer is the same for everyone, so we wrote it down once.

If you were sent this link after writing to us, nothing here is about your product. It is about how the site works, and why it has to work this way to be worth reading.

Vendors don't request or shape editorial coverage, and nobody can buy a listing, a placement, a ranking, a feature, or a mention. Not for money, not as a favor, not as a trade.

VetSoftwareHub is a free, vendor-neutral resource for veterinary practices. The only reason a practice should trust a buyer's guide on the site is that the content reflects what practices are looking at, not who asked to be included. The moment a well-argued request or a check could move a product into an article, the article would start describing who wrote to us instead of what our readers are trying to learn. That is the exact outcome this rule exists to prevent.

The same independence applies to everything else we do:

This applies to every company equally, including the ones we like, the ones we have known for years, and the ones whose products we use ourselves.

What goes into an article comes from signal, not submissions. Selection is ours alone and runs on the same criteria for every product:

If a product is showing up in those places, it shows up in the content. If it isn't, it doesn't. When the signal changes, the content changes with it, and that does not require anyone to ask.

Two criteria get applied before any of the above:

Audience fit. Our readership today is overwhelmingly North American, so our comparisons are written for that reader. A product that only serves another market may be a strong product and still not belong in a piece our readers use to shop. As the site expands internationally, the readership changes and so does what belongs in each comparison. Products are assessed on the same criteria at that point, without needing to ask.

Category fit. A guide to choosing a practice management system is about practice management systems. An AI scribe, a payments tool, or a client communication app does not belong in it, even as an add-on, because putting it there would confuse the practices the article is written for. Products appear in the categories they actually compete in.

Featured listings on the directory follow a stated threshold rather than editorial judgment: a product needs a 4.5 rating or better on an independently verifiable review site such as Capterra or G2. As VetSoftwareHub's own verified review system matures, those reviews carry the most weight for featured placement and influence the annual "Best of" articles. Reviews cannot be purchased, requested from us, or substituted with testimonials a vendor supplies.

There is plenty a vendor can do on VetSoftwareHub. None of it is a route to placement, and we would rather say that plainly than have you spend effort on a different assumption.

You can:

You can't:

If your product starts appearing in the signals we track, it will start appearing in our content. That is the whole mechanism, and it is the same for everyone.

We're happy to pay. What's the rate?There isn't one. Nothing editorial on the site is for sale, at any price, to anyone.

Our competitor is in the guide and we aren't. Why?Because practices are searching for, viewing, shortlisting, and talking about them, and not yet about you. It is not a judgment on the product. It is a description of where the signal is today.

We're only mentioned briefly. Can we get a fuller entry?Check the article first. In most of our guides every product gets the same depth, often one sentence apiece in a paragraph that sorts the market. There is usually no fuller format to move you into.

We just published our pricing. Can you add us to the pricing comparison?Not on request. If the product meets the audience and category criteria and is showing up in the signals, it will be assessed the same way as the products already there. Send the pricing anyway. It goes on file and gets used when the piece is next revised.

Can we send a press release or a product announcement?Yes. We read them. They are not a path into an article, and we do not publish them.

Will you review a demo or write about a product you've seen?Seeing a product can inform our understanding of the market. It never obligates coverage, and coverage never follows from a demo.

We found a mistake in an article about us.Thank you. Send the article URL and the correction, and it will be fixed.

If we build a listing and get reviews, are we guaranteed to appear?No. Those are the things practices respond to, and practices are what we respond to. There is no guarantee because there is no mechanism to guarantee it.

Corrections, product updates, and listing questions: vendors@vetsoftwarehub.com. Include the article or listing URL and the specific change.

If you want to walk us through your product for our own understanding of the market, we offer one 30-minute call. It is not a demo and it has no bearing on coverage. Before the call, send a one-page overview, a 3 to 4 minute recorded product tour, and a line on what you hope to get out of it. Email the address above to ask.

We don't make referrals or introductions to practices, investors, or other software companies.

Thank you for reading this far. The rule above is why the guides are worth reading in the first place, and every vendor on the site benefits from that, including you.