What data ToolScanner does — and doesn't — collect.
ToolScanner has no sign-up, login, or user accounts, and it doesn't keep server-side profiles of visitors — nothing you do on this site is tied to an identity stored by ToolScanner. Our hosting provider does process standard web request logs to keep the site running and secure (see 'Server logs' below), but ToolScanner never uses them to build profiles of individual visitors.
Local storage (never sent to our servers, readable only by your own browser):
Cookies used: (1) toolscanner_lang — a first-party cookie holding only your language code (e.g. ko) so pages render in your language immediately; no identifier, expires after about a year. (2) Google Analytics cookies such as _ga and _ga_* — set by GA4 to distinguish browser sessions; their behavior is governed by Google's policies. ToolScanner itself sets no other cookies.
You can clear any of this anytime via your browser's site settings. The tools you're currently comparing (the Compare page selection) aren't saved at all — that resets on page refresh. As for search: ToolScanner's own servers keep no record of what you search for. Recent searches stay in your browser only (see above), and since searching takes you to a results URL, the search term is handled like any other page address (analytics page paths and hosting logs).
To keep tool preview screenshots and a few operational counters (like daily capture limits) working reliably, ToolScanner's server stores this data in Upstash Redis, a managed database service.
This data is about tools, not about visitors: cached homepage screenshots of listed AI tools, when they were last captured, and internal counters used to stay within external screenshot providers' usage limits. It is not used to identify or track individual visitors.
ToolScanner uses Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to understand how the site is used — which pages are viewed, which features (search, compare, AI Finder, AI Stack) are actually used, and where to improve the service. GA4 may process: the pages you view, feature-click events, device and browser information, approximate region, and identifiers that GA generates through its own cookies. Our feature events carry only usage context — a page slug, a tool slug, the section that was clicked, and the UI locale. We do not intentionally send names, email addresses, phone numbers, or other directly identifying information to GA4.
Analytics (GA4) currently runs without a consent banner. Before personalized advertising launches — and wherever regional law requires consent for analytics — a consent mechanism (CMP) will be introduced, and this page will be updated. You can block or delete cookies in your browser at any time; the site keeps working (your language preference simply resets).
A few features work by having our server fetch public information about a tool, not about you:
These requests are keyed by a tool's public website domain, not by anything about you as a visitor, and results are cached and reused rather than requested fresh on every visit.
ToolScanner currently shows no ads. The Google AdSense loader script is installed site-wide because it is required for AdSense's site review — but no ad units are rendered anywhere on the site today.
If ads go live in the future, they will be clearly recognizable as ads, this page will be updated, and where regional law requires it a consent mechanism will be introduced before personalized advertising is served. From that point on, third-party vendors including Google would use advertising cookies to serve ads based on your visits to this and other websites.
You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings (adssettings.google.com), and opt out of some other third-party vendors' advertising cookies at aboutads.info/choices.
Some outbound links to AI tools may be or may become affiliate links, meaning ToolScanner can earn a commission if you sign up or purchase through them, at no extra cost to you. This never affects how tools are ranked or described.
This site is hosted on Vercel. Standard hosting/CDN request logs (IP address, user agent, requested path) may be processed and retained by Vercel for operational and security purposes, under Vercel's own policies. ToolScanner does not build user profiles from these logs.
This policy may change as ToolScanner evolves. Meaningful changes will be announced on this page, and the effective date below is kept up to date.
This version of the policy is effective as of August 3, 2026.