1Introduction
GhostChat ("we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our live chat widget service.
2Information We Collect
2.1 Information You Provide
When you sign up for GhostChat, we collect:
- •Email address
- •Password (encrypted)
- •Website domain(s)
2.2 Chat Messages
We store chat messages exchanged between website visitors and site owners. Messages are stored securely and are only accessible to the site owner who created the account.
2.3 Technical Information
We automatically collect certain technical information, including:
- •IP addresses (used transiently for security and abuse prevention; stored only as salted hashes in authentication logs, kept for 180 days, never in raw form)
- •Approximate location (country) and network provider, derived from your IP address
- •Browser type and version
- •Session identifiers: a session ID and its key, plus the name or email a visitor types (stored in localStorage, not cookies, and only once the visitor opens the chat)
- •Page history on a customer's website: the pages a visitor views before and after they open the chat, as URLs with timestamps (including any query string), capped at the most recent 50, for as long as the conversation stays in their browser. Pages viewed before the chat is opened are held in the page's memory only (the page the visitor came from on the same site, the current page and, on single-page sites, this visit's route changes), never written to the browser, and reach us only if the visitor opens the chat (for a chat embedded in the page, when they send their first message); on sites with privacy mode on they are not kept at all
- •If you turn on push notifications: the browser's push subscription (endpoint and keys), and which team member it belongs to, so notifications to that device stop when they log out or are removed from the team
- •Which team member a conversation is assigned to, and when it was assigned, so the right person is notified
- •If you connect a site to the GhostChat app on Shopify: that store's myshopify.com domain and which GhostChat plan its Shopify subscription covers
- •If your account was created through, or connected to, the GhostChat app on Shopify: a timestamp recording when that happened, used to bill your account through Shopify instead of directly
- •If you add GhostChat to a Webflow site through the GhostChat app on Webflow: that site's Webflow ID and the access Webflow grants the app, stored encrypted and used only to add, change or remove the chat script and to publish when you ask; and a one-way hash of the email address of the Webflow account that connected it, made with a secret key and used only to recognize that person when they ask for a sign-in link by email (the address itself is not stored). All of it is deleted when you remove GhostChat in the app, or within a day of uninstalling the app in Webflow
- •If you upload a logo for your chat widget: the image file. It is shown publicly in your widget on your website and deleted when you remove it or delete the site
- •If the AI assistant answers on your site: a record of each AI conversation (which site and chat it was in, when it started and was last active, whether and when it was billed, the spending limit in force when it started, and a one-way hash of the visitor's IP address made with a secret key, used only to limit how many AI conversations one visitor can start in a day, and deleted after 30 days), used to count and bill AI usage. It holds no message text or raw IP address and is deleted when you delete your account
- •If you turn on AI billed per conversation: when you turned it on (your agreement to usage billing), the monthly spending limit you set, the day your subscription renews (when the limit resets), and which spending-limit email (50%, 80% or 100%) we last sent you in that billing period
3Zero Tracking, Zero Cookies
Widget: no cookies
The widget loaded on your site uses localStorage for session management only — never cookies — and writes nothing until the visitor opens the chat
Widget visitors: not tracked
Visitors to your site are never analyzed, fingerprinted, or tracked across sites by the widget
Dashboard analytics (logged-in customers only)
When you log into our dashboard at app.ghostchat.dev, we use PostHog (configured cookieless, with passwords and sensitive inputs automatically masked) to record interaction sessions — clicks, page views, scroll behavior. This helps us understand which features paying customers actually use so we don't waste development time on dead weight. This applies only to the dashboard. The widget on your site is never tracked.
GhostChat app on Webflow (signed-in users only)
The app at connect.ghostchat.dev sets one signed, HTTP-only cookie so your browser stays signed in to the sites you connected, plus a 10-minute one that protects the install step. Neither holds personal data or is read by your Webflow site or the widget; the sign-in one is cleared when you sign out.
4Lawful Basis for Processing
We process personal data on the following legal bases under GDPR Article 6:
- •Contract performance — account data (email, password, domain) and chat messages are necessary to provide the Service you signed up for; so are, if you use the GhostChat app on Webflow, the site connection, its encrypted access and the hashed sign-in email.
- •Legitimate interest — IP addresses and session identifiers are processed for security, abuse prevention, and service operation. These interests are not overridden by your privacy rights given the minimal data involved.
- •Consent — visitor email addresses are only collected if the visitor voluntarily provides them through the chat widget.
5How We Use Your Information
- •To provide and maintain the Service
- •To send email notifications when visitors message your site (via Resend)
- •To email a sign-in link for the GhostChat app on Webflow when you ask for one (via Resend)
- •To process payments (via Stripe — we do not store credit card details)
- •To respond to support requests
- •To detect and prevent abuse or fraud
6Third-Party Services
We use the following third-party services to operate GhostChat:
- •Supabase — database hosting (PostgreSQL). Stores account data and chat messages.
- •Cloudflare — edge network. Hosts the widget, the chat API and WebSocket connections.
- •Vercel — hosts the marketing site, the dashboard and the GhostChat app on Webflow.
- •Stripe — payment processing. Handles all billing; we never see or store card numbers.
- •Resend — transactional email. Sends chat notification emails and sign-in links.
- •Google Cloud Translation — auto-translate (Team plan). Translates chat messages between visitor and agent languages. Message text is sent to Google's API for translation; no other data is shared.
- •Anthropic — AI assistant (optional on paid plans, billed per conversation; can be turned off per site) and the dashboard knowledge-base preview on paid plans. When the AI assistant is enabled on a site, visitor messages, recent conversation history, and that site's FAQ content are sent to Anthropic's Claude API to generate replies. Anthropic does not use this data to train its models; no other data is shared. Sites without the AI assistant never send visitor messages to Anthropic; the dashboard preview only sends the questions you type and your own FAQ content.
- •PostHog — product analytics on our dashboard only (not the widget). Configured cookieless, routed through our own domain to respect ad blockers, with passwords and sensitive inputs automatically masked.
- •Ahrefs Web Analytics — cookieless, privacy-focused visitor analytics on our marketing site (ghostchat.dev) only. No cookies, no cross-site tracking, no personal profiles. Never loaded by the widget or the dashboard.
- •Vercel Web Analytics — cookieless page-view counts on our marketing site (ghostchat.dev) only, aggregated by page, referrer, browser and approximate location (country/city). No cookies, no cross-site tracking, no personal profiles. Never loaded by the widget or the dashboard.
We do NOT use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or any advertising trackers.
7Data Storage and Security
- •Data is stored in Supabase (PostgreSQL) hosted on AWS in N. Virginia (us-east-1), United States
- •Chat sessions use Cloudflare Durable Objects (edge-distributed)
- •Passwords are hashed with bcrypt
- •All connections use HTTPS/WSS encryption
- •We implement reasonable security measures but cannot guarantee absolute security
8Data Retention
- •Free plan: conversation history available in your dashboard for 30 days
- •Starter plan: conversation history available for 1 year
- •Team plan (and retired plans that included it): conversation history available indefinitely
- •Conversations older than your plan's window are no longer shown in the dashboard. Account data, including all conversations, is kept until you delete your account, and is then deleted
- •You can request deletion of all your data by contacting us
9Visitor Data (Widget Users)
- •The widget does NOT set cookies
- •A session ID and its key, plus the name or email a visitor types, are stored in localStorage only once the visitor opens the chat (browser-local, not sent to third parties)
- •Site owners can see which pages a visitor viewed on their own site before and after opening the chat (the page journey), with timestamps. It covers only that site, and nothing is sent for visitors who never open the chat
- •Visitor email addresses are only collected if the visitor voluntarily provides them
- •Visitor IP addresses are used transiently for rate limiting and abuse prevention; they are not stored with conversations or shown to site owners. Only the country derived from the IP is kept with a chat
- •We do NOT build profiles, fingerprint browsers, or track visitors across sites
10Your Rights
- •Access: Request a copy of your data
- •Correction: Request correction of inaccurate data
- •Deletion: Request deletion of your account and all associated data
- •Portability: On Starter and above, export your contacts as a CSV from the dashboard. On any plan, ask us via the contact page and we will send you a copy of your contacts and conversation history, free of charge, within one month
- •Complaint: If you are in the EU/EEA, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority (e.g. the ICO in the UK, CNIL in France) if you believe we have not complied with applicable data protection laws.
To exercise these rights, please contact us via our contact page.
11Children's Privacy
The Service is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will promptly delete it.
12Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. We will notify registered users of material changes via email. Continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us through our contact page.