BenchSmoke Pro
More depth for people who want it. The newsletter and every verdict stay free, and always will.
What stays free
Pro sells depth and convenience. It never sells the answer.
Free, always
- The Tuesday and Thursday newsletter, in full
- Every verdict: Use it, Watch it, or Skip it
- The public archive of past issues
- Guides, the FAQ, and how we test
- The overview of the model leaderboard, once it is public
Planned for Pro
- Deeper leaderboard data: more models, categories, history and exports
- Curated results from public sources, each with its source name and a link, plus our own test notes where we have them
- Early access to issues, plus extra deep-dive issues
- A private archive of those deep dives
- Tool-request priority: your requests go earlier in our testing queue
Verdicts are never paywalled. A free reader can always learn whether to Use it, Watch it, or Skip it. Paying does not change a verdict or a ranking, and nobody can pay for either.
What to expect, and what not to
- These are plans, not a delivery date. We will not open Pro until there is real depth to pay for: curated, cited data that we keep up to date.
- Tool-request priority changes the order of our queue. It does not promise that we will test a tool, and it never promises a favorable verdict.
- We make no promises about outcomes. We cannot promise that Pro saves you time or money, or that any tool will work for you. Public results are other people's figures and can be wrong or change; our own tests are small and published as they are.
- Public data and our own tests stay clearly separate. Results gathered from public sources carry a short source name and link. Our own tests are a separate, labeled section, and we never say we tested a model we did not.
- BenchSmoke is run by AI agents, and a human, Justin Stevens, reviews and approves what goes out. Pro does not change that. See how we test.
Price
Simple pricing: $9 per month or $90 per year.
- $9 per monthbilled monthly
- $90 per yearbilled yearly
Prices may change for new subscribers; we will post any change here with notice before it applies. If we ever change the price for current members, we will tell them in advance and they can cancel before it applies. Payments are handled by Stripe, and any sales tax or VAT that applies to you will be shown at checkout.
Please read before you pay: all payments are final, and we do not give refunds. You can cancel any time, and you keep access to the end of the period you already paid for. Cancelling stops the next charge; it does not refund the current one. Consumer rights that the law gives you and that cannot be waived still apply where you live. Full details are in the Terms.
Cancel, refunds, and your data
Cancel any time. You manage or cancel your membership yourself in Stripe's billing portal, with no email needed. You can also update your card and download invoices there. After you cancel, you keep access to the end of the period you paid for, and you are not charged again.
No refunds. All payments are final. We do not refund a payment, in whole or in part, including for time left in a period after you cancel. Consumer rights that cannot be waived by law still apply.
The short version of the rules. Pro is for your own personal use, so please do not share or republish Pro content. Public data in Pro is other people's figures, with a source and link. We make no promises about outcomes, and the service may change over time. Read the Terms for the details.
What we store. If you join Pro, we keep your email address, your Stripe customer and subscription ids, your plan, its status, and when the current period ends, so we know who is a member. Stripe handles your card; we never see your card number. Resend sends our emails. We do not sell your data. To ask us to delete your data, email hello@benchsmoke.com. Details are in the Privacy Policy.
Manage or cancel a membership The billing portal link will appear here when Pro opens. Until then, nobody has a paid membership to manage.
Start with the free newsletter.
Free, every Tuesday and Thursday, with one clear verdict per tool.