Is that comparison site comparing everything?
Usually not. Most cover part of the market, rank sponsored results first, and are paid a commission when you buy. Some sell your details on top.
Not all
most comparison sites do not cover everything available, and are paid by the providers they list
What this is
A comparison site looks like a survey of the market and is usually a shelf of the providers who pay to be on it. Moneysmart names the mechanisms plainly: sponsored links shown ahead of everything else, commission paid by the provider when you buy through the site, and in some cases the collection and sale of your personal information. None of that makes the sites useless. It means the result is an answer to 'who pays us and suits you' rather than 'what is best', and the gap between those is where the money goes.
Does it apply to you?
- Anyone about to buy insurance, energy, a loan or a phone plan through a comparison site
- Anyone who assumed a comparison site covers the whole market
- Anyone who has handed over an email address to see results
How to do it
- Look for how the site makes money. Moneysmart lists the three ways: sponsored links shown before other results, commissions when you buy, and collecting and selling your personal information.
- Check what is missing. A provider that refuses to pay commission simply does not appear, and nothing on the page says so.
- Use the government comparison tools where they exist: Energy Made Easy or Victorian Energy Compare for power, and PrivateHealth.gov.au for health cover. They list every provider and take no commission.
- Compare on the thing that matters to you rather than the headline price, and check the site is comparing that feature at all.
Where people lose the money
Treating the top result as the best result.
Sponsored links are shown before non-sponsored ones. Position is a purchase in some cases, not a verdict.
Assuming everything is listed.
Most sites cover part of the market. Check whether a provider you know of appears at all.
Giving your phone number to see results.
Some sites make money by collecting and selling personal information. Ask why a comparison needs your contact details.
Questions
Are comparison sites a scam?
No. They are advertising businesses that provide a genuinely useful service, and the problem is only that they look like something else. The result is filtered by who pays them, and the site rarely says which providers are absent.
How do they make money?
Moneysmart lists three ways: showing sponsored links before non-sponsored ones, commissions paid by the provider when you buy through the site, and collecting and selling your personal information.
What should I use instead?
For energy, Energy Made Easy or Victorian Energy Compare. For health insurance, PrivateHealth.gov.au. Both are government-run, list every provider and take no commission. For other categories, use a comparison site and then check directly with a provider it did not list.
Does this apply to Income Lab?
Partly, and we would rather say so. Our deals list is not a comparison of the market: it is the offers we have read on the brand's own page. A brand can pay us when an offer is used, and no brand can pay for a better position.
Where these numbers come from
- Moneysmart (ASIC), Using comparison websites · read 2026-09-23
Last gone over 2026-09-23. Figures change; the link above is always the current one.
Published by Income Lab, Melbourne. Responsible for this page: Jarred Krowitz.