Privacy Policy
Last updated: July 18, 2026
NewsGrade, a service of Editorial Style LLC ("we," "us," "our"), provides automated website assessment reports (the "Services"). This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and disclose personal information when you use the Services.
Personal information we collect
- Contact details: name, email address.
- Account information: username, password (encrypted), sign-in method (including Google OAuth data if you use that option).
- Financial information: payment is processed by Stripe; we do not directly store your full card details. We retain transaction records (amount, date, payment status).
- Usage information: the websites you submit for analysis, your Report history, retest usage, and how you interact with the Services.
- Communications: any messages you send us, such as support requests.
- Device information: IP address, browser, and similar technical data collected automatically.
Information about third-party websites we analyze
When you submit a website URL for analysis, NewsGrade collects and processes publicly accessible information about that website — its page content, structure, metadata, and technical configuration (such as its robots.txt file) — in order to generate your Report. Report text (summaries, recommendations, and scores) is deliberately structured to avoid naming specific individuals: it references publication names, generic roles (e.g., "Editor-in-Chief," "Digital Editor"), and general characterizations rather than named people, even when the underlying page content includes bylines or a masthead. One exception: the name of the analyzed publication itself may include a person's name where that is the publication's own brand (for example, a named individual's newsletter or column) — in that case, the personal name appears only as the publication's title, as supplied by the person requesting the analysis, not as information extracted from the site's content. NewsGrade does not access private or password-protected areas of any analyzed website.
Sources of personal information
We collect personal information: directly from you (account creation, purchases, communications); automatically through your use of the Services; and from service providers who help us operate the Services (e.g., our hosting/application platform, our payment processor).
How we use your personal information
- •To provide the Services: create and manage your account, process payments, generate and deliver Reports, track your retest window, and send related notifications (purchase receipts, retest reminders).
- •To communicate with you: respond to support requests, and — for users who complete a free evaluation without upgrading — send a follow-up email about the paid upgrade. You may opt out of non-essential marketing emails at any time; we may still send essential account/transaction emails.
- •For security and fraud prevention: authenticate accounts, detect and prevent fraudulent or abusive use, and enforce our Terms of Service.
- •For legal reasons: comply with applicable law or valid legal process.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use your information for behavioral or targeted advertising. As confirmed above, NewsGrade does not use analytics, advertising, or tracking cookies or pixels of any kind — the infrastructure targeted advertising would require simply isn't present in the Services. If this changes in the future, we will update this Privacy Policy and the "Your Rights and Choices" section below to include applicable opt-out mechanisms.
We may use aggregated or de-identified information for product research, improvement, and features such as peer benchmarking. Aggregated or de-identified data — information that does not identify you, your organization, or any specific website — is not subject to this Privacy Policy and may be used without restriction. For example, NewsGrade calculates and displays category-level and overall average scores across groups of evaluations (such as "Daily News average: 2.4") to help users understand how their site compares to similar publications.
How we disclose personal information
We disclose personal information to:
Service providers who help operate the Services:
- Base44 — our application hosting platform, which also manages user authentication, our database, scheduled automations, and transactional email delivery (purchase receipts, retest reminders, follow-up emails).
- Stripe — payment processing. Stripe may set its own cookies during checkout, governed by Stripe's privacy policy.
- Anthropic — the AI provider used to generate Report scores, summaries, and recommendations. Content from the analyzed website is sent to Anthropic as part of generating your Report.
- Scrapfly — captures screenshots of analyzed website pages as part of generating your Report.
- Zenrows — renders JavaScript-heavy analyzed websites when needed to capture their content accurately.
- AllOrigins — a fallback service occasionally used to retrieve analyzed website content when a direct connection isn't possible.
Your personal information (account, payment, and usage data) passes through Base44, Stripe, and Anthropic. Content from websites you submit for analysis may pass through Anthropic, Scrapfly, Zenrows, and AllOrigins in order to generate your Report.
- As required by law, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of NewsGrade, our users, or others.
- In connection with a business transaction, such as a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
We do not share personal information with third parties for their own independent marketing purposes.
Cookies and similar technologies
NewsGrade uses only essential technologies necessary to operate the Services:
- Authentication: your login session is maintained via a token stored in your browser's local storage, so you stay signed in as you use the Services.
- Session continuity: if you start an analysis before creating an account or logging in, we temporarily store your in-progress inputs in your browser's session storage so you don't lose your place after registering or signing in. This is cleared automatically once used or when you close your browser tab.
- Hosting platform: our application platform (Base44) may set its own essential session or operational cookies as part of hosting and authentication infrastructure. Questions about platform-level cookies can be directed to us and we will route them accordingly.
- Payment processing: when you complete a purchase, checkout takes place on Stripe's own hosted payment page. Stripe may set its own cookies there, including for fraud prevention, governed by Stripe's privacy policy. NewsGrade does not set or have access to these cookies.
NewsGrade does not use analytics, advertising, or marketing cookies or tracking pixels of any kind. Because we do not use non-essential cookies, we do not currently operate a cookie consent banner.
Data retention
Reports and account data are retained indefinitely to provide permanent access to purchased Reports, unless you request deletion (see Your Rights, below) or applicable law requires a different retention period. If you delete your account, we will delete or de-identify your personal information within 30 days of a verified deletion request, except where we are required to retain records (e.g., transaction/payment records for tax or legal purposes).
Children's data
The Services are not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13 (or the relevant age of digital consent in your jurisdiction). If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us to request deletion.
Do-Not-Track signals
Some web browsers transmit "do-not-track" signals. Because of inconsistencies in how browsers implement this feature, we do not currently take action in response to these signals.
Security
We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information, but no method of transmission or storage is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.
Your rights and choices
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to: access the personal information we hold about you; request correction of inaccurate information; request deletion of your information; and receive a copy of your information in a portable format. To exercise these rights, contact us using the details below. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling a request.
International transfers
We primarily maintain and process information in the United States, in accordance with U.S. law, which may not provide the same level of protection as the laws of your jurisdiction. By using the Services, you understand and agree that your information may be transferred to and processed in the United States. If we determine we have a meaningful volume of users located in the EU, UK, or other jurisdictions with specific cross-border transfer requirements, we will implement appropriate safeguards (such as Standard Contractual Clauses) and update this Privacy Policy accordingly.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the revised policy here with an updated "Last updated" date.