Transparency report — last reviewed April 13, 2026
SubDiet tracks pricing, features, and subscription terms for over 60 AI tools. This page explains exactly how we collect that data, how we verify it, how often we update it, and where our information comes from. We believe transparency about our research process is essential — especially in a fast-moving market where prices change frequently and inaccurate comparisons can cost you money.
The AI subscription market is unusually volatile. Between January and April 2026 alone, OpenAI introduced new pricing tiers for ChatGPT Pro, Anthropic adjusted Claude's API pricing twice, and Google restructured Gemini Advanced as part of Google One. If a comparison site doesn't update its data within days of these changes, the comparisons become misleading.
We take this seriously because our core product — detecting subscription overlap and recommending cost cuts — only delivers value if the underlying data is accurate. A tool that tells you to cancel Midjourney because it's "the same as DALL-E" needs to have correct pricing for both.
Every price in our database is sourced directly from the official pricing page of each platform. We access the live pricing page, not press releases, third-party reviews, or API-returned data. For platforms with regional pricing (e.g., different USD vs. EUR tiers), we record the USD price as the baseline and note regional variations where significant.
We classify each tool's capabilities across a standardized taxonomy: text generation, image generation, code assistance, research assistance, voice/audio, video, and workflow automation. This classification determines the "overlap score" our tool uses to detect when two subscriptions serve the same need. We review these classifications whenever a platform makes a major feature announcement.
Each price record carries a last-verified timestamp. Any entry older than 90 days is automatically flagged with an amber "Verify pricing" badge on the comparison page, signaling to users that they should confirm directly with the platform before relying on that figure. This is visible in our UI — we do not hide stale data or display it without warning.
Users who spot a pricing error can submit a correction through our Contact page. We typically review and apply pricing corrections within 48 hours. We prioritize corrections from users who include a link to the platform's official pricing page as evidence.
| Category | Update Frequency | Trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing (major platforms) | Weekly check | Routine + platform announcements |
| Pricing (smaller tools) | Monthly check | Routine |
| Feature classification | Per major release | Platform announcements, product launches |
| New tools added | As discovered | AI news feed, community submissions |
| Tools removed/discontinued | Within 7 days | Shutdown announcements |
For every AI platform in our database, we collect and maintain:
The overlap score between two tools is calculated from a weighted feature matrix. Each capability (text generation, image generation, code assistance, etc.) is assigned a weight based on its typical contribution to user workflow value:
| Capability | Weight | Example overlap pair |
|---|---|---|
| Text generation / chat | 35% | ChatGPT & Claude |
| Code assistance | 25% | GitHub Copilot & ChatGPT |
| Image generation | 20% | Midjourney & DALL-E |
| Research / web search | 10% | Perplexity & ChatGPT |
| Workflow automation | 10% | Zapier AI & Make |
Two tools scoring above 60% overlap on the weighted matrix are flagged as "high overlap" in our UI. This threshold was chosen based on community feedback: users consistently reported that below 60% overlap, the second subscription still delivered meaningful unique value.
The Body Scan feature asks you to rate your usage intensity across four AI activity types: text creation, visual creation, code assistance, and research. These ratings map to a usage profile that the calculator compares against each tool's primary strength.
The recommendation engine is rule-based, not machine learning. Rules were written based on common usage patterns described in r/AIAssistants, Hacker News discussions, and our own team's experience with each tool. We deliberately chose a transparent rule-based approach so users can verify the logic themselves — it's documented in our open-source platforms.js file on GitHub.
Our AI news feed is curated using a Cloudflare Worker that fetches RSS feeds from VentureBeat AI, TechCrunch AI, Hugging Face Blog, and GeekNews. Articles are evaluated by GPT-4o mini using a scoring rubric that prioritizes:
Articles scoring below 7/10 on our relevance rubric are filtered out. Each published article includes bilingual (English and Korean) summaries and a curator insight explaining why the news matters for AI subscription decisions. The curation runs daily at 09:00 KST.
We believe in being upfront about what our data cannot do:
For major platforms (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Midjourney, etc.), we aim to update within 1–3 business days of an official announcement. For smaller tools, updates may take up to 2 weeks. All entries include a "last verified" date so you can judge freshness yourself.
No. SubDiet has no affiliate, partnership, sponsorship, or financial relationship with any AI platform we list. We do not accept payment to rank a tool higher or feature it more prominently. Our display advertising is served by Google AdSense, which shows ads based on site content, not platform relationships.
Yes. Use our Contact page to report pricing errors or suggest tools. Include a link to the official pricing page when reporting errors — it speeds up verification significantly. We add new tools when they have an established pricing page and active user base.
We use a weighted feature matrix comparing the primary capabilities of each tool pair. Tools sharing more than 60% of weighted capability overlap are flagged as high-overlap. The weights and rules are hardcoded in platforms.js, which is available for inspection on our GitHub repository.
Both. We run automated staleness checks (anything over 90 days triggers an amber badge and a human review queue). Pricing updates for major platforms are done manually by checking the official pricing page directly. We do not scrape prices from third-party aggregators.