Privacy Policy

1. Our Philosophy

GridlessLabs is built for readers, not advertisers. We do not sell, rent, or trade personal data. We collect the absolute minimum information necessary to keep the lights on, diagnose performance issues, and understand — in aggregate — which reviews and tools our audience finds most useful. If a piece of data does not directly improve your experience or our editorial output, we do not collect it.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Automatically Collected (Analytics)

When you visit GridlessLabs, our privacy-focused analytics provider records anonymized, aggregate-level data including:

• Page URL and referrer domain (e.g., a Google search result).
• Browser type and operating system (for compatibility testing).
• Approximate country-level geolocation derived from IP address.
• Page-load timing and interaction metrics.

No personally identifiable information — names, email addresses, precise GPS coordinates, or device fingerprints — is captured by our analytics pipeline. IP addresses are anonymized at ingestion and never stored in full.

2.2 Cookies & Local Storage

GridlessLabs uses a single, first‑party functional cookie to remember your calculator preferences (selected appliances, runtime hours) across browsing sessions. This cookie contains no personal data and is never shared with third parties.

We do not deploy advertising cookies, retargeting pixels, social media trackers, or any form of cross‑site tracking. There is no cookie consent banner because there is nothing to consent to — our sole cookie is strictly necessary for site functionality.

2.3 Information You Provide Voluntarily

If you contact us via the Contact page or email, we collect the information you choose to provide — typically your name, email address, and message content. This information is used solely to respond to your inquiry and is never added to a marketing list or shared with external parties.

3. How We Use Information

The limited data we collect is used for the following purposes, and no other:

• Site performance: Identifying slow pages, broken links, and browser-specific rendering bugs.
• Editorial insights: Understanding which calculator appliances, review categories, and comparison tools resonate most — so we can invest our testing budget where it matters.
• Reader support: Responding to messages sent through our Contact form or direct email.

4. Third-Party Links & Affiliate Destinations

GridlessLabs contains outbound links to third-party retailers, including Amazon, manufacturer direct stores, and specialty solar distributors. When you click one of these links and leave GridlessLabs, you are subject to the privacy policy of the destination site — not ours.

We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any retailer before completing a purchase. GridlessLabs is not responsible for the data handling practices of third-party merchants, including their use of cookies, purchase tracking, or account‑based personalization.

Our affiliate links use standard URL parameters (such as ?tag= identifiers) that allow retailers to attribute a commission to GridlessLabs. These parameters do not set client‑side cookies, do not track you across sites, and do not store any personal information on your device.

5. Data Retention & Your Rights

Anonymized analytics data is retained for 26 months to allow year‑over‑year trend analysis. Voluntary contact messages are retained for 12 months after the conversation concludes, then permanently deleted.

You have the right to request a copy of any personal data we hold, request its deletion, or ask us to clarify how a specific data point is used. Because we collect so little, most requests are fulfilled within 48 business hours. To exercise these rights, visit our Contact page.

6. Changes to This Policy

If we ever change how we collect or use data, we will update this page and note the revision date at the top. Material changes — such as the introduction of a new analytics provider — will be announced via a site-wide banner for 30 days. Because we do not collect email addresses for marketing, we cannot email you about policy updates; we recommend checking this page periodically.