AnswerScout (“AnswerScout,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates AnswerScout, an AI brand visibility monitoring service accessible at answerscout.ai and app.answerscout.ai (the “Service”). This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and your rights regarding it.
By using the Service you agree to the practices described here.
1. Information We Collect
1.1 Account and Profile Information
When you create an account we collect:
- Name and email address (via Clerk authentication)
- Password (hashed and managed by Clerk — we never see it)
- Organization/workspace name
1.2 Service Data
Data you input while using AnswerScout:
- Brand names, website URLs, and descriptions you track
- Competitor names you monitor
- Search prompts (the queries we submit to AI engines on your behalf)
1.3 AI Query Results
When we run visibility scans on your behalf:
- The raw text responses returned by third-party AI engines (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Grok)
- Structured analysis derived from those responses (brand mentions, sentiment, position rankings, citations)
- Scores and recommendations computed from that analysis
Important: Your brand names and search prompts are transmitted to third-party AI providers in order to perform the Service. See Section 3 for the full list of providers.
1.4 Billing Information
Payment processing is handled entirely by Stripe. We store only what Stripe provides us: a customer ID, subscription status, plan name, and the last four digits of a card for display purposes. We never receive or store full card numbers, CVVs, or bank account details.
1.5 Usage and Technical Data
- Log data: IP addresses, browser type, pages visited, timestamps, HTTP status codes
- Error and diagnostic data (via Better Stack error monitoring)
- Product analytics events: the pages and features you use, clicks, referring source, and anonymized device/browser information (via PostHog — see Section 6 and the sub-processor list in Section 3.1)
- Rate-limiting counters keyed to your IP address or organization ID (stored in Upstash Redis, auto-expiring)
2. How We Use Your Information
| Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Providing and operating the Service | Performance of contract |
| Running AI visibility scans on your behalf | Performance of contract |
| Processing payments and managing subscriptions | Performance of contract |
| Sending transactional emails (run results, billing receipts, digest reports) | Performance of contract |
| Detecting and preventing fraud or abuse | Legitimate interest |
| Monitoring service health and fixing bugs | Legitimate interest |
| Improving the Service | Legitimate interest |
| Product and website analytics (understanding usage and conversion) | Legitimate interest |
| Complying with legal obligations | Legal obligation |
We do not sell your personal information. We do not use your Service Data to train our own models or to improve third-party AI models.
3. How We Share Your Information
We share data only as necessary to provide the Service:
3.1 Third-Party Service Providers
We engage the following sub-processors, each contractually bound to protect your data and use it only for the services they provide to us:
| Provider | Purpose | Data shared |
|---|---|---|
| Clerk | Authentication & user management | Name, email, session tokens |
| Supabase | Database (Postgres) | All Service Data |
| Stripe | Payment processing | Email, billing info |
| Resend | Transactional email delivery | Email address, run report summaries |
| Vercel | Application hosting & CDN | All request data (logs) |
| Upstash | Job queue (QStash) and rate-limiting (Redis) | Brand names, prompt text (in job payloads); IP addresses |
| Anthropic | Claude AI engine | Brand names, search prompts |
| OpenAI | ChatGPT AI engine | Brand names, search prompts |
| Gemini AI engine | Brand names, search prompts | |
| Perplexity | Perplexity AI engine | Brand names, search prompts |
| xAI | Grok AI engine | Brand names, search prompts |
| Better Stack | Error tracking and uptime monitoring | Error messages, stack traces, request context |
| PostHog | Product & website analytics | Usage events, pages visited, anonymized device info, account/organization identifiers |
3.2 Legal Requirements
We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of AnswerScout, our users, or the public.
3.3 Business Transfers
If AnswerScout is acquired or merges with another company, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you via email and/or a prominent notice on the Service before your information is transferred.
3.4 International Data Transfers and Data Residency
AnswerScout is operated from the United States, and the sub-processors listed in Section 3.1 store and process your data primarily in the United States (our database, job queue, rate-limiting, and analytics run in the US-East region). Some AI engine providers may process individual requests in other regions depending on their own infrastructure.
If you access the Service from the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States. Where required, these transfers are carried out under appropriate safeguards — including the Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission — incorporated into our agreements with the sub-processors named above. By using the Service you consent to this transfer.
4. Data Retention
| Data type | Retention period |
|---|---|
| Account and organization data | Until you delete your account, or 30 days after account closure |
| Service Data (brands, prompts, competitors) | Until you delete the item, or until account closure |
| AI run results and analysis | Until account closure |
| Billing records | 7 years (tax and legal compliance) |
| Server logs | 90 days |
| Rate-limit counters | 1 hour (auto-expiring) |
You may request deletion of your account and associated data at any time by contacting us (see Section 9).
5. Data Security
We use industry-standard safeguards including:
- TLS encryption in transit for all Service communications
- Encryption at rest for database storage (via Supabase)
- Row-level security (RLS) policies on the database so each user can only access their own organization's data
- Authentication tokens managed by Clerk with short expiry windows
- Access to production infrastructure restricted to authorized personnel
No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure. If you believe your account has been compromised, contact us immediately.
6. Cookies and Tracking
AnswerScout uses cookies and similar local storage mechanisms to:
- Maintain your login session (Clerk session cookie)
- Remember your active brand selection within the app (first-party cookie)
- Measure product and website usage — pages viewed, features used, and referring source — through PostHog, our first-party analytics provider. These analytics requests are proxied through our own domain.
On our marketing website (answerscout.ai), we measure anonymous, cookieless usage from your visit (no identifiers are stored on your device). Analytics cookies — which enable persistent and cross-site measurement — are set only after you accept them via our cookie banner; if you reject, we stop collecting analytics entirely. Within the authenticated app (app.answerscout.ai), product analytics run as part of providing and improving the Service, as disclosed here and agreed to when you accept these terms at sign-up.
We do not use third-party advertising cookies, and we do not sell your data or participate in cross-site behavioral advertising. PostHog is a first-party analytics tool, not an advertising network.
7. Children's Privacy
The Service is intended for business use and is not directed at children under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such information, contact us and we will delete it promptly.
8. Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. When we make material changes we will notify you by email and update the “Last updated” date above. Continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
9. Contact Us
Questions, requests for data access or deletion, or privacy concerns:
Email: privacy@answerscout.ai
Company: AnswerScout
Website: https://answerscout.ai