Privacy Policy
Last updated: March 5, 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how CostZap ("we," "us," "our") collects, uses, shares, and protects your information when you visit costzap.com. By using our website, you agree to the practices described in this policy.
If you are a resident of the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, or California, please see the dedicated sections for your rights at the end of this policy.
1. Who We Are
CostZap operates costzap.com, a website providing free online calculators and SEO tools. For GDPR purposes, CostZap is the data controller for personal data collected through this website.
Contact: [email protected]
2. Information We Collect
2.1 Information You Enter Into Our Tools
All calculators and SEO tools on CostZap process data entirely within your browser. Numbers, text, or URLs you enter are never transmitted to our servers and are never stored, logged, or shared. This is a core design principle of our service.
2.2 Automatically Collected Information
When you visit our website, certain information is automatically collected:
- Log data: IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URL, pages visited, time and date of visits, and time spent on pages.
- Device information: Browser type and version, device type, screen resolution, and preferred language.
- Cookies and tracking technologies: See Section 4 for full details.
2.3 Information You Provide Voluntarily
If you contact us via email, we collect your email address and the content of your message. We use this solely to respond to your inquiry.
3. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect for the following purposes:
- Website operation: To deliver and maintain the website and its functionality.
- Analytics: To understand how visitors use our site, which pages are most popular, and where we can improve. We use aggregated, anonymized data for this purpose.
- Advertising: To serve relevant advertisements through Google AdSense and other ad networks. See Section 5 for details.
- Security: To detect, investigate, and prevent technical issues, abuse, or fraudulent activity.
- Legal compliance: To comply with applicable laws and regulations.
Legal bases for processing (GDPR):
- Legitimate interests — Website analytics and security (Article 6(1)(f)).
- Consent — Advertising cookies and non-essential tracking (Article 6(1)(a)). You may withdraw consent at any time.
- Legal obligation — Where required to comply with law (Article 6(1)(c)).
4. Cookies and Tracking Technologies
We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to improve your experience and serve relevant advertising. Below is a full breakdown of the cookies used on this site:
4.1 Essential Cookies
Required for the website to function properly. These cannot be disabled.
- Session cookies: Temporary cookies that expire when you close your browser. Used to maintain basic site functionality.
4.2 Analytics Cookies
Used to understand how visitors interact with our site. Data is aggregated and anonymized.
- Google Analytics (_ga, _gid, _gat): Set by Google Analytics to track page views, session duration, and user behavior. Data is processed by Google in accordance with their privacy policy. IP addresses are anonymized. Retention: 2 years (_ga), 24 hours (_gid).
4.3 Advertising Cookies
Used to serve personalized or contextual advertisements and measure ad performance.
- Google AdSense / Google Ads: Google uses cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to our website and other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on your visit to our site and other sites on the Internet. You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ad Settings.
- DoubleClick (DSID, IDE): Used by Google for ad targeting and frequency capping across websites in the Google Display Network.
- Advertising partner cookies: Our ad management partners (which may include Mediavine, Ezoic, or similar networks) may set cookies to serve ads, measure performance, and provide audience insights. Each partner operates under their own privacy policy.
4.4 Cookie Control
You can manage or disable cookies in several ways:
Note: Disabling certain cookies may affect website functionality or result in less relevant advertising.
5. Google AdSense and Advertising
We participate in Google AdSense and may participate in other advertising programs. Here is what this means for you:
- Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to our website or other websites on the internet.
- Interest-based advertising: Google may use your browsing history across websites that use Google services to show you relevant advertisements.
- No personally identifiable information: CostZap does not share any personally identifiable information with Google AdSense or other advertising partners.
- Opt-out: You can opt out of personalized advertising at any time. Doing so will result in generic, non-personalized ads being shown instead.
- EU/UK users: In the EEA and UK, personalized advertising is only served to users who have given explicit consent. Users who decline consent will see non-personalized ads (based on page context only, not personal data).
For more information about how Google collects and uses data, see Google's Privacy & Terms.
6. Third-Party Services
Our website uses the following third-party services, each governed by their own privacy policy:
7. Data Retention
We retain personal data only for as long as necessary:
- Server logs: Up to 30 days, then deleted.
- Analytics data: Up to 26 months in Google Analytics (configurable).
- Email correspondence: Up to 2 years from the date of your last contact, then deleted.
- Advertising cookies: As specified in Section 4.3 above.
8. Data Sharing and Disclosure
We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal data to third parties. We may share data in these limited circumstances:
- Service providers: Third-party companies that help operate our website (hosting, analytics, advertising) under strict data processing agreements.
- Legal requirements: If required by law, court order, or governmental authority.
- Business transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, data may be transferred to the successor entity.
9. Data Security
We implement industry-standard security measures including HTTPS encryption, security headers (HSTS, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options), and access controls. Since our tools process data locally in your browser, your inputs are never transmitted to our servers.
No method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security.
10. Children's Privacy (COPPA)
Our website is not directed at children under the age of 13 (or 16 in the EEA). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us personal data, please contact us at [email protected] and we will delete it promptly.
11. Your Rights Under GDPR (EEA & UK Residents)
If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA) or United Kingdom, you have the following rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and UK GDPR:
- Right to access — Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Right to rectification — Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
- Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten") — Request deletion of your personal data in certain circumstances.
- Right to restriction of processing — Request that we limit how we use your data.
- Right to data portability — Request your data in a machine-readable format.
- Right to object — Object to processing based on legitimate interests, including direct marketing.
- Right to withdraw consent — Where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.
- Right to lodge a complaint — You have the right to complain to your local data protection authority. In the UK, this is the ICO (ico.org.uk). In the EU, contact your national supervisory authority.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days.
12. Your Rights Under CCPA (California Residents)
If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) grants you the following rights:
- Right to know — The right to know what personal information is collected, used, shared, or sold about you.
- Right to delete — The right to request deletion of your personal information.
- Right to opt-out of sale — We do not sell personal information. However, sharing data with advertising partners for interest-based advertising may constitute a "sale" under CCPA. You may opt out via the ad choices links in Section 4.4.
- Right to non-discrimination — We will not discriminate against you for exercising your CCPA rights.
To submit a CCPA request, contact us at [email protected].
13. International Data Transfers
Our website is hosted and operated in the United States. If you are accessing our website from outside the US, your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country. Third-party services we use (such as Google) may process data in multiple countries. Google's data transfers are covered by Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission.
14. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make significant changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Your continued use of the website after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
15. Contact Us
For any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your data, please contact us: