Privacy Policy

Last updated: 10 October 2026

At ToolWise, accessible from https://www.freetoolwise.com, one of our main priorities is the privacy of our visitors. This Privacy Policy document contains types of information that is collected and recorded by ToolWise and how we use it. ToolWise is a free website with no account system — you never need to sign up or log in to use any tool.

Browser-Local Tools vs. Server-Backed Tools

We pride ourselves on privacy, and we do not make one blanket claim for every tool. 228 of our 258 tools (as of the date above) run entirely in your browser using JavaScript and WebAssembly — for these browser-local tools, the text, files or images you provide are processed on your own device and are never transmitted to us or anyone else. Every tool page carries a “Privacy & data handling” panel stating whether that specific tool is browser-local or server-backed, so you never have to guess.

About 30 tools are server-backed: they need a server to produce their result. When you use one, what you submit is sent over an encrypted connection to our server, which forwards it to a third-party AI provider that generates the result. We currently use OpenRouter and NVIDIA(integrate.api.nvidia.com) for this. Server-backed tools include the AI Summarizer, Grammar Checker, Paraphraser, Translator, Essay Writer, Cover Letter Generator and most other AI writing tools, along with the Watermark Remover (which sends your image and mask to NVIDIA’s image-editing API).

What you submit to server-backed tools is used only to generate your result. We do not store, log, or use your prompts, inputs, images or outputs for training AI models, and there is no account, profile or history attached to them on our side. The AI provider processes the request on our behalf, and its own privacy policy governs its handling — see the OpenRouter privacy policy and the NVIDIA privacy policy. Please do not submit passwords, government identifiers, medical details or other sensitive data to any AI tool, and remember that anything you type into a prompt may be included in the request sent to the provider (for example, a cover-letter tool sends the name, job title and experience you enter).

A few tools use our server for non-AI lookups as well. The Link Analyzer, Open Graph Tester and Redirect Checker send the URL you enter to our server, which fetches that page on your behalf — the target website sees a request from our server, not from your browser. API requests are rate-limited per IP address: the IP is held in memory for up to one hour to count requests, is never written to a profile or database, and is discarded automatically. There is also third-party fetch tooling on the HTML-to-PDF page (URL mode), which we disclose in the third-party services section below.

Log Files

ToolWise follows a standard procedure of using log files. These files log visitors when they visit websites. The information collected by log files include internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP), date and time stamp, referring/exit pages, and possibly the number of clicks. These are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable. Our hosting and CDN provider processes these standard request logs to deliver the site and protect it against abuse, and retains them under its own policies; we do not build user profiles from them.

Cookies, Local Storage and Similar Technologies

We do not use our own tracking cookies to follow you around the web. We do use a small number of first-party cookies and browser storage entries, which fall into these categories:

• Strictly necessary: toolwise_region — a first-party cookie set at our edge network that records only whether you are in a regulated region (see the advertising section). It contains no identifier of you and expires after one year.
• Consent record: toolwise_cookie_consent (localStorage) — stores the cookie choices you make in our banner so that we do not ask again.
• Preferences and locally saved content: localStorage keys such as tw:theme, tw:favorites and tw:recent, plus per-tool keys that save what you create (to-do lists, budgets, journals, trackers, timers, notes, and game progress/scores such as ttt-scores). This data stays in your browser, is never uploaded, and disappears when you clear your browser storage.
• Online game identity: sessionStorage keys such as tw:pid:<game> (a random per-tab player ID) and tw:join:<game> (a pending room invite), plus tw:player-name (localStorage), which holds the display name you choose for multiplayer games. Session storage is cleared when you close the tab.

Third-party cookies are set by Google for advertising and analytics, as described in the next two sections. You can block or delete cookies and site data at any time in your browser settings — browser-local tools keep working, though saved preferences and game progress may reset.

Google AdSense & Advertising Cookies

We use Google AdSense (publisher ID ca-pub-6269181815365492) to display the ads that keep ToolWise free. Ad slots appear on our content pages — tool pages, category hubs, topic hubs, the tool directory, guides and the home page — and not on this or other policy/contact pages. Ads load for every visitor, whichever consent choice you make; the choice changes personalization, not whether ads are shown.

Where personalized advertising is permitted, Google and other third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies — including DoubleClick and other Google advertising cookies — to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites. Non-personalized ads are not selected using your prior browsing history, but Google may still use cookies or device identifiers for frequency capping, aggregated ad reporting and fraud prevention. You can decline personalized advertising, review Google’s advertising-cookie practices, and manage your ad personalization settings at the following pages:

• Google Ads Settings (opt out of personalized ads) — https://adssettings.google.com
• Digital Advertising Alliance opt-out (industry-wide) — https://www.aboutads.info
• Google advertising-cookie policy — https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads

For visitors in the EU/EEA and the UK (GDPR/ePrivacy) and for all visitors in the United States (we treat all US visitors conservatively under CCPA — not only California), we show non-personalized (NPA) Google ads by default: ads still load so the site stays free, but Google will not use prior browsing to personalize them. After you accept advertising in our cookie banner, Google may show personalized adsbased on your interests and prior visits; if you reject or dismiss the banner, you stay on non-personalized ads. Visitors outside those regions receive personalized ads by default and see no banner. Even when you opt out of personalized ads you will still see ads on ToolWise, but they will be less tailored to you. To withdraw or change a consent choice you have already saved, see “Withdrawing Consent” below.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how the site is used in aggregate — page views and coarse actions such as “tool run”, “copy”, “download” or “error”, labelled with the tool’s slug. We never send the text, files, passwords or other content you enter into a tool to Analytics, and the analytics code is written to avoid collecting user input. The Analytics library (gtag.js, loaded from googletagmanager.com) loads only when your consent record permits analytics: visitors in the regions above get no Analytics at all until they accept analytics in our banner, declining keeps it off, and non-regulated visitors receive it by default. You can additionally opt out of Google Analytics across all websites with Google’s opt-out browser add-on.

Third-Party Services That May Receive Data

The services below can receive data when you use the relevant feature. We do not sell personal information. Each provider handles data under its own privacy policy:

• OpenRouter and NVIDIA — the AI providers that generate results for our server-backed tools (text prompts for writing tools, image and mask for the Watermark Remover). We do not keep your input or output; provider handling is governed by their own policies.
• Supabase— real-time multiplayer features in some games. When you play online, your chosen display name, the room code, live game events, in-room chat messages and (for games with a global leaderboard) your score are transmitted from your browser to Supabase’s servers. Rooms are ephemeral and chat history is not persisted by us; leaderboard entries (display name and score) are stored until removed. Solo and pass-and-play modes use no server at all.
• Formspree — our contact form. The name, email address and message you submit are sent to Formspree, which forwards them to us so we can reply.
• Cloudflare R2 and Hugging Face — the Background Remover downloads its open-source AI model (about 44 MB) from one of these hosts. Your image is processed locally in your browser and is not sent to them; the hosts see only the model download request, which includes your IP address like any download.
• api.allorigins.win — a public third-party CORS proxy used by the URL mode of HTML-to-PDF. The URL you paste and the page content returned pass through this proxy, so its operator can see them. The HTML mode of that tool is fully browser-local; use it for sensitive content.
• ExchangeRate-API (open.er-api.com) — the Currency Converter loads exchange rates directly from this API, which receives the request (including your IP address) but none of your input.
• Google-hosted content: some tools load media directly from Google servers (for example, the YouTube Thumbnail Downloader requests thumbnail images from Google for the video ID you enter).

International Transfers

Our service providers (including OpenRouter, NVIDIA, Supabase, Google, Formspree, Cloudflare R2 and Hugging Face) are based in the United States and may process data there or in other countries where they operate. If you are in the EU/EEA, the UK or another region with transfer restrictions, this means your data may be transferred outside your country when you use a server-backed tool, play an online game, submit the contact form, or see ads. Those countries may have data-protection laws that differ from your own. Browser-local tools involve no transfer at all, because nothing leaves your device.

Data Retention

We do not retain what you submit to server-backed tools after your request has been answered. Standard server and CDN request logs are retained by our hosting provider for a limited period for security and operations. Multiplayer rooms are ephemeral (they expire within hours), while leaderboard entries and contact-form messages are kept only as long as needed and deleted on request. The consent record and preferences described above remain in your browser until you clear them.

Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to the processing of your personal data, and to receive a portable copy. Because we have no accounts and do not store tool inputs, we usually hold no directly identifying data about you at all; where we do — for example a leaderboard display name and score, a contact-form message, or a multiplayer room entry — we will act on a verified request. To exercise any of these rights, email us at [email protected] or use our Contact Page, and we will respond without undue delay. You can also erase most locally stored data yourself by clearing your browser’s cookies and site data. If you are in the EU/EEA or UK, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your national data-protection supervisory authority.

Children’s Privacy

ToolWise is a general-audience website and is not directed to children under 13 (or under 16 where a higher age applies), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has submitted personal information to us — for example through the contact form or a game leaderboard — email [email protected] and we will delete it.

Withdrawing Consent

Where we rely on consent (personalized advertising and analytics), you can withdraw it at any time, and consent is never required to use the site. If you have not yet chosen, our banner lets you accept or reject each category. If you have already saved a choice, the banner no longer appears by itself, so clear this site’s cookies and local storage in your browser settings (the toolwise_cookie_consent and toolwise_region entries) — it will then reappear and you can choose again — or email [email protected] and we will help. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing carried out beforehand, and it does not remove ads: it returns you to non-personalized ads and turns Analytics back off.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy or want to exercise a privacy right, contact us at [email protected] or via our Contact Page.

Consent

By using our website, you acknowledge this Privacy Policy and agree to our Terms and Conditions. Where consent is legally required for advertising or analytics, we ask for it separately through the cookie banner, and you can withdraw it as described above.