Privacy Policy

LanguageTool is a proofreading software. It works by sending the text to be checked to our servers over an encrypted connection. This policy describes what kind of data we store.

The processing of personal data on this website and in our add-ons is carried out in accordance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the German Federal Data Protection Act, Bundesdatenschutzgesetz (BDSG 2018).

Here's how you can contact us.

Have you given us permission to use your data, e.g. by subscribing to the newsletter? You can revoke this permission at any time as described below.

  • We don't store the text that you submit for style and grammar checking on languagetool.org, with the following exceptions:
    • When you use our online editor at https://languagetool.org/editor, your texts are stored on our server. They will be deleted once you move them to the recycle bin and then delete them there.
    • If you explicitly submit feedback, for example about false alarms or undetected errors, we store that feedback.
    • If you accept corrections, we log the internal rule id of that error (this is something like ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_RULE for word repetition errors).
    • If you explicitly ignore corrections, we log the internal rule id of that error and the text fragment marked as incorrect (i.e. the small part of the sentence that was underlined as an error) and 15 characters to the left and to the right of the fragment. This enables us to analyze and avoid false alarms.
    • In case of an internal software error (which is extremely rare), we log the sentence that caused the error so we can reproduce and fix the error. The sentence can be stored for up to 14 days.
    If you do not have a user account, we can no longer assign your data to you and therefore cannot delete it.
  • To turn off tracking in the browser add-on, activate "Do Not Track".
  • All of our servers are hosted in Germany.
  • If you contact us via a contact form, your data will be transferred via an encrypted connection and stored in one of our databases.
  • To improve our proofreading service, we keep a log of the following information:
    • Date and time, length of submitted text, text language, processing time on server, number of detected errors, type of detected errors (e.g. "uppercase sentence start" or "confusion of 'piece' and 'peace'"),
    • The page on which you submitted the request (e.g. languagetool.org),
    • Only for the browser add-on: add-on version; date of installation; random id of the text field that is being checked. Password fields are ignored by the add-on and are not transmitted to our servers.
    • Only transferred when you uninstall the browser add-on: The number of times you used the add-on and the URL of the page where the add-on was last used. This way we can see which web pages cause problems with our add-on.
    • Only transferred when you have an account on languagetool.org and when you're logged in with that account in the add-on: the add-on regularly (about once a day) contacts our servers to let us know that you're an active user. This includes your browser (Firefox/Chrome/...) and your email address (which we already know because you already have an account on our system), but not any text you have written.
  • To improve the speed of our software, we store analyzed sentences and the errors found in them for up to 15 minutes on our servers in main memory (not on a permanent storage medium). The storage is done without IP address or any other information that would allow the sentences to be attributed to a person.
  • If you send feedback directly via the "feedback" function integrated in the browser add-on, the following information will be transferred so we can better analyze the problem: premium account (if set), add-on version, languages accepted by the browser and language of the browser interface, the user's country as determined by the IP address, the currently visited website, HTML of the current text field without its text content, number of CPU cores, date of first use, rating of the add-on (thumbs up/down), activation status of the synonym feature, duration of add-on usage in days, address of the LanguageTool API server used (e.g. api.languagetool.org), status of the "Do not track" setting, internet connection speed, rules deactivated by the user
  • Login: You need to sign up at this site in order to use some features. When signing up, your username and email are stored in our database. If you want to modify this information or delete your account, please contact us.
  • In our web server log files, your IP address is stored in an abbreviated form (like 192.168.xxx.xxx) so it cannot be used to identify you. Error messages like for exceeding the query limit are stored with the full IP for up to 48 hours so we can prevent abuse.

  • We send emails using the following services:

    • Mailjet SAS, 13 - 13 bis Rue de l'Aubrac, 75012 Paris
    • SendGrid, Inc, 1801 California Street, Suite 500, Denver, CO 80202, USA
    • Sendinblue GmbH, Köpenicker Straße 126, 10179 Berlin

    Sending via service providers is necessary to ensure the delivery of emails and to reduce the likelihood of emails being classified as spam. We have a contractual agreement with SendGrid a for the processing of data according to GDPR article 28. The appropriate level of data protection is ensured by using the EU standard contractual clauses. Data processing agreements are in place with Sendinblue and Mailjet. The legal basis for sending these emails is article 6 para. 1 lit. b) GDPR.

  • For accesses from web browsers and browser add-ons, this website uses Matomo (formerly Piwik) for web analytics. We're shortening your IP address (to a form like 192.168.xxx.xxx) to protect your privacy. If you don't want your visit to be recorded at all by Matomo, you can opt out here:

  • This website uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google LLC ("Google"). The use includes the "Universal Analytics" operating mode. This makes it possible to assign data, sessions and interactions across multiple devices to a pseudonymous user ID and thus analyze a user's activities across devices. The part of this data protection notice that deals with Google Analytics is provided by www.intersoft-consulting.de.

    Google Analytics uses "cookies", which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users interact with the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. However, if IP anonymisation is activated on this website, Google will reduce your IP address within Member States of the European Union or in other states party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area beforehand. We would like to point out that on this website Google Analytics has been extended to include IP anonymisation in order to ensure anonymous collection of IP addresses (so-called IP masking). The IP address transmitted by your browser in the context of Google Analytics is not merged with other Google data. For more information on terms of use and data protection, please visit https://www.google.com/analytics/terms/gb.html or https://policies.google.com/?hl=en.

    Purposes of the Processing
    On behalf of the operator of this website, Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity and to provide the website operator with other services related to website and Internet use.

    Legal Basis
    The legal basis for the use of Google Analytics is your consent in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR.

    Recipients or Categories of Recipients
    The recipient of the collected data is Google.

    Transfer to Third Countries
    Personal data will be transferred to the USA under the EU-US Privacy Shield on the basis of the European Commission's adequacy decision. You can download the certificate here.

    Duration of Data Storage
    The data sent by us and linked to cookies, user-identifiers (e.g. User-IDs) or advertising-identifiers are automatically deleted after 14 months. Data whose retention period has been reached is automatically deleted once a month.

    Rights of the Persons affected
    You can revoke your consent at any time with effect for the future by blocking the storage of cookies by setting your browser software accordingly; however, we would like to point out that in this case you may not be able to use all functionalities of this website to their full extent.

    You can also prevent Google from collecting the data generated by the cookie and relating to your use of the website (including your IP address) and from processing this data by Google by downloading and installing the Browser Add-on. Opt-out cookies will prevent future collection of your data when you visit this website. To prevent Universal Analytics from collecting data across different devices, you must opt-out on all systems used. If you click here, the opt-out cookie will be set: Disable Google Analytics

  • In case you order a premium subscription, your order will be processed by our reseller fastspring (Bright Market, LLC d/b/a FastSpring. 801 Garden St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101). The data at fastspring is protected under the EU-US Privacy Shield, additionally fastspring has committed to follow all EU privacy laws starting 2018-05-28. Your data will be kept at fastspring after you cancel a subscription for tax reasons. See their privacy policy for details. Your credit card information - if you use a credit card to purchase the premium product - is transmitted to fastspring, we do not know your credit card data.
  • You have the right, upon request and free of charge, to receive information about your personal data we store.
  • If you believe that the processing of your personal data is unlawful, you have the right to complain to a regulatory agency.

Microsoft Word Add-in from appsource.microsoft.com

This is our privacy policy for users of the Microsoft Word add-in from appsource.microsoft.com:

  • The texts you check in the add-in are sent to our servers for automatic proofreading via an encrypted connection.
  • We don't store your text, with the following exceptions:
    • In case of an internal software error (which is extremely rare), we log the sentence that caused the error so we can reproduce and fix the error. The sentence can be stored for up to 14 days.
    As we cannot identify you and your data, it's also not possible to delete your data.
  • To improve our proofreading service, we keep a log of the following information for up to 14 days:
    • date and time, length of submitted text, text language, processing time on server, number of detected errors, type of detected errors (e.g. "uppercase sentence start" or "confusion of 'piece' and 'peace'"), version of MS Word and your operating system
    None of this information can be used to identify you.
  • If you are logged in in the add-in, we also store this information for your proofreading requests for up to 14 days, so we can provide better support in case of software issues:
    • your email address
  • See above for privacy information about registering on this website and for ways to contact us.