Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Welcome to 9bests.com ("we," "our," or "us"). We are committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and what rights you have in relation to it when you visit our website.

By accessing or using our services, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy. If you do not agree with any terms in this privacy policy, please discontinue use of our site immediately.

2. Information We Collect

We collect personal data that you voluntarily provide to us when you subscribe to our newsletter, interact with our dynamic widgets, or contact us directly. This may include:

• Contact details: Email addresses, names, or usernames.
• Usage and Device Data: IP addresses, browser types, operating systems, referring URLs, device characteristics, and pages visited (collected automatically via log files and cookies).

3. How We Use Your Information

We process your information for purposes based on legitimate business interests, the fulfillment of our contract with you, compliance with our legal obligations, and/or your consent. Specifically, we use it to:

• Deliver and optimize our website content, comparison tools, and review tables.
• Send administrative information, updates, or marketing emails (only if you have opted in).
• Protect our site from security threats, spam, and abuse.
• Analyze usage trends and visitor demographics to improve site performance and UX.

4. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like web beacons and pixels) to access or store information. These help us understand visitor behavior, save preferences, and personalize your experience.

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. However, if you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly.

5. Third-Party Links & Affiliate Partners

Our website contains links to third-party websites, applications, and services. Many of these links are affiliate links, which may drop tracking cookies on your device if you click them and transition to the vendor's page.

We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements, practices, or content. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

6. GDPR & CCPA Privacy Rights

Depending on your location (especially if you reside in the European Economic Area or California), you have certain rights under applicable data protection laws, including:

• Access and Rectification: The right to request copies of your personal data and ask us to correct inaccuracies.
• Erasure ("Right to be Forgotten"): The right to request that we erase your personal data under certain conditions.
• Data Portability: The right to request that we transfer the data we have collected to another organization.
• Do Not Sell My Info: California residents have the right to opt-out of the "sale" of their personal information (we do not sell user data to data brokers).

7. Newsletter & Email Subscriptions

If you subscribe to the 9bests newsletter, your email address is processed and stored by our email service provider Buttondown (Buttondown LLC). We use a double opt-in confirmation process: after you submit your email, you will receive a confirmation email and must click the link inside to activate your subscription.

• Unsubscribe: Every email we send includes a one-click unsubscribe link in the footer. You can also manage or cancel your subscription at any time from the Buttondown preference page.
• Data deletion: To request deletion of your email address and related subscriber data, email gyjbill@gmail.com and we will erase it from both 9bests and Buttondown within 30 days.
• Data use: Your email is used solely to send the newsletter you opted into. We do not sell or share subscriber lists, and we do not use them for third-party advertising.

Buttondown's own privacy practices are governed by its Privacy Policy. We only share the minimum data (your email address) required to operate the mailing list.

8. Mobile Application (Android)

9bests is also available as a native Android application. The app is built to be local-first and privacy-respecting:

• No account required: You can use the app without creating an account or providing any personal information.
• On-device storage only: Your preferences, selected tools, saved comparison lists, and custom stacks are stored locally on your device. This data never leaves your device and is not transmitted to our servers.
• One-way content sync: The app periodically fetches the public tool catalog (a read-only data file) from our server to keep content current. This request carries no personal data and no unique identifiers.
• No third-party SDKs: The app contains no advertising, analytics, crash-reporting, or tracking SDKs of any kind.
• Local content rendering: The app's interface is rendered from content bundled inside the app; it does not load remote web pages.

9. Data We Do Not Collect

Through our mobile application, we do not collect, store, or transmit any of the following categories of data:

• Personal identifiers (such as name, email, phone number, or postal address)
• Precise or approximate location
• Health, fitness, or financial information
• Contacts, photos, microphone, or camera data
• Any persistent identifier that could be used to recognize you across sessions or devices

Because we collect no personal data through the app, we have nothing to sell, share with, or disclose to third parties.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this policy.