Privacy Policy

The Free Tools Directory (“we,” “us”) is operated by InventiveHQ. This policy explains what information we collect when you use thefreetoolsdirectory.com, how we use it, and the third-party services that process it on our behalf. The site is free to use, and we don't ask you to sign up or create an account.

• Server access logs. When your browser requests a page, our hosting provider (Cloudflare) records the request URL, your IP address, browser user agent, and referring page. These logs are used to operate the site, prevent abuse, and diagnose problems.
• Anonymous voting and click tracking. If you vote on a tool listing or click through to a tool, we may record an anonymized signal (no account, no cookie that identifies you) so we can rank tools by popularity. We rate-limit these by IP to prevent ballot-stuffing.
• Tool submissions. If you submit a tool through the “Submit a Tool” form, we store the project name, URL, category, and any contact email you choose to provide.

• To operate, maintain, and improve the directory.
• To review tool submissions and decide whether to add them to the directory.
• To detect and prevent abuse, fraud, and security threats.
• To respond to inquiries you send us through the submission form or by email.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share your data with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

• Cloudflare — hosting, CDN, DNS, and database. The site runs entirely on Cloudflare infrastructure. See Cloudflare's privacy policy.
• GlitchReplay — browser-side error monitoring (see §6 below).
• Google Analytics — we use Google Analytics to understand aggregate, anonymized traffic patterns (such as which pages are popular). Google Analytics sets cookies and collects usage data on our behalf. We load it through Cloudflare Zaraz.
• Google AdSense — we display advertisements served by Google. Google and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites. We deliver the AdSense tag through Cloudflare Zaraz, a server-side tag manager. See How Google uses information from sites that use its services for details on the data Google processes and how to opt out.

Essential cookies. We use cookies needed for the site to function (e.g., session and CSRF tokens). Cloudflare may set its own technical cookies for security and bot mitigation; see Cloudflare's privacy policy linked above.

Advertising cookies. This site is supported by advertising served through Google AdSense. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies (such as the DoubleClick / Google ad cookie) to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites, and to measure ad performance. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to our site and/or other sites on the internet.

You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings, or opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalized advertising at aboutads.info/choices. If you are in the European Economic Area, the UK, or Switzerland, you will be asked for consent to the use of these cookies before any personalized ads are shown.

We use GlitchReplay, an error-tracking service operated by InventiveHQ, to capture browser-side errors so we can identify and fix bugs.

When an uncaught JavaScript error, unhandled promise rejection, or failed resource load occurs in your browser, we send GlitchReplay:

• The error message and stack trace
• The URL of the page where the error happened
• Browser, operating system, and rough geographic region (country)
• A timestamp

We do not send: form input, cookies, localStorage, auth tokens, or any directly identifying personal information.

Data is stored on Cloudflare infrastructure in the United States and retained for up to 30 days.

Server access logs are typically kept for around 14 days, then purged. Tool submissions are kept indefinitely as part of the public directory listing once approved. Aggregated, anonymized analytics may be retained indefinitely for trend analysis.

If you submitted a tool listing and want it removed, or if you believe we hold information that identifies you and you'd like it deleted, email us at privacy@thefreetoolsdirectory.com and we'll respond within 30 days.

We may update this policy as the site evolves. The “last updated” date at the top reflects the most recent revision. For privacy questions, contact privacy@thefreetoolsdirectory.com.