Legal
Privacy Policy
Last updated: May 24, 2026 · Effective immediately upon access
This Privacy Policy is part of, and should be read together with, our Terms of Service. By using ComparEdge, you agree to both documents. If there is a conflict between them, the Terms of Service shall prevail.
ComparEdge is committed to technical privacy transparency, not just legal boilerplate. Below you will find exactly what data we collect, why, how long we keep it, and what we do not do. We do not sell data. We do not build individual profiles. We do not run ad networks.
What Data We Collect
- Analytics data: Pages visited, time on site, referral source, browser type, and device type. Aggregated and anonymized via Google Analytics.
- Cookies: Small files stored in your browser to remember preferences and enable analytics. See §5 (Cookies) for full details.
- Log data: Standard server logs: IP address, request timestamp, HTTP status. Retained up to 30 days for security. IP addresses are hashed before any storage.
- Voluntary submissions: If you contact us via our contact form, we retain your message, subject, and email address solely to respond to your inquiry.
- Search & chat interactions: Queries, session IDs, and click events logged in anonymized form. See §6 (AI Search & Chat) for full technical details.
- Outbound clicks: When you click an external vendor link, we log the destination, source page, hashed IP, and device type. See §7 (Outbound Tracking).
How We Use Your Data
- Understand which content is most useful to visitors
- Improve site performance and fix errors
- Detect and prevent abuse or malicious traffic
- Respond to inquiries you send us directly
- Measure the effectiveness of our content
- Generate anonymized aggregate statistics about software category interest
We never: sell your data, use it for ad targeting, build individual visitor profiles, share it with data brokers, or use it for any purpose not listed above.
Third-Party Services
Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics to measure traffic and user behavior. Google may set cookies and collect anonymized usage data. You can opt out via the Google Analytics opt-out add-on.
Microsoft Clarity
We use Microsoft Clarity for session recordings and heatmaps to improve UX. Clarity does not share session recordings externally. See Microsoft Privacy Statement.
Cloud Hosting Provider
Our site is hosted on a third-party cloud platform that processes standard request data (IP address, headers) to serve pages. This provider maintains its own privacy and security policies.
Database Provider
Search logs and outbound click events are stored in a secure third-party database. All stored data is anonymized (hashed IPs, session IDs).
Outbound Links
ComparEdge does not currently participate in affiliate programs. All outbound links are provided for user convenience only. When you click an external link, the destination site may set its own cookies under their own privacy policies. If we introduce affiliate relationships in the future, we will update this policy with explicit disclosure.
Your Rights (GDPR / CCPA)
Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:
- The right to know what personal data we hold about you
- The right to request deletion of your personal data
- The right to opt out of analytics tracking
- The right to data portability
- The right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority
How to exercise your rights
To exercise any of these rights, use our Contact form with the subject "Privacy Request." As we do not store persistent user accounts or directly identifiable information, we may require proof of session context to assist with your request. If you cannot provide session context, we may be unable to locate or delete specific records — this is a privacy-by-design limitation, not an evasion.
AI Search & Chat Assistant
ComparEdge operates an AI-powered search and chat assistant. We log interaction data to improve relevance and monitor for abuse:
- Search queries: Query text, hashed IP (SHA-256, irreversible), session ID (random, not linked to identity), number of results returned, and clicked result. Stored in a secure database.
- Chat messages: User messages are logged with the same session-level identifiers. No name, email, or account is required or linked.
- AI provider: Chat messages are transmitted to Groq for LLM processing. We select AI providers that do not retain, store, or use user queries for model training purposes. Groq's privacy policy applies to that transmission.
- No personal identification: Logs contain no name, email, or directly identifying information. IP hashes cannot be reversed.
- Retention: Search and chat logs are retained for up to 90 days, then deleted or anonymized in aggregate form.
- Purpose: Improve search relevance, detect abuse, understand category demand. Not sold or shared with third parties.
Zero retention commitment: We select AI providers that do not use your queries for model training. Your questions to the ComparEdge AI assistant are used only to generate your response and are not retained by the AI provider beyond the request lifecycle.
Outbound Link Tracking
When you click an external link on ComparEdge (vendor pricing page, signup page, etc.), we log the click event:
- What is logged: Destination URL, source product page, hashed IP, approximate country (IP geolocation), device/browser type (User-Agent).
- Purpose: Understand which products generate interest, measure user navigation patterns, detect anomalous traffic.
- No personal data: Click logs contain no name, email, or account information. Hashed IPs cannot be reversed.
Editorial Independence
ComparEdge does not currently participate in affiliate or referral programs. No vendor pays for inclusion, ranking position, or editorial coverage. All evaluations are based solely on our independent methodology.
Technical Integration Privacy
The following ComparEdge integrations operate under stricter-than-standard privacy practices:
MCP Server (@comparedge/mcp-server)
- No personal data collected or stored. Reads only from public JSON endpoints on comparedge.com.
- Read-only: four tools (search, profile, pricing, alternatives). No writes, no modifications.
- No authentication required. No API keys, tokens, or user accounts.
- No third-party data sharing. Query content is not logged, analyzed, or shared.
GitHub App
- Requests only Copilot Chat (Read-only) permission. Does not access repositories, issues, pull requests, code, or private user data.
- No data is stored by ComparEdge from GitHub App interactions.
Chrome Extension (ComparEdge Advisor)
- No data collection or transmission. All product data is bundled locally inside the extension.
- Local storage only: display preferences and price alert settings. Never leaves your device.
- Tab URL is processed locally to identify the current software product. Not transmitted anywhere.
- No remote code execution. No account required.
Full technical documentation for each integration: /mcp/docs · /extension/docs
Privacy Contact
For any privacy-related questions or to exercise your rights, use our Contact form. We respond within 30 days.
This policy may be updated periodically. The date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision. Continued use of the site after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.