Short version: we don’t sell your data, we don’t do creepy ad retargeting, and the only thing we actively track is whether our articles are any good. Long version below.
Last updated: April 14, 2026
Who we are
HonestlyRanked (“we”, “us”, “our”) is an editorial website that publishes ranked product reviews. The site is at honestlyranked.com. For any privacy question, email privacy@honestlyranked.com.
What information we collect
We try to collect as little as we can get away with. Here’s the full list:
Information you give us directly
- Your email address, if you subscribe to our newsletter. That’s the only required field.
- Your message and contact details, if you email us (through the address on our contact page or any reply-to chain we start).
Information collected automatically
- Standard server logs — your IP address, browser type, device type, referrer, and the pages you visit. Our web host keeps these in its access logs for security and troubleshooting.
- Analytics data — we use a privacy-respecting analytics tool to understand which articles are helpful. It records anonymized page views, approximate country, and referrer. It does not track you across other websites and does not build an advertising profile about you.
- Essential cookies — a small number of cookies are set by WordPress (our publishing software) to remember things like whether you’ve dismissed a banner. These are not shared with third parties.
What we don’t collect
- We do not collect your name unless you give it to us in an email.
- We do not fingerprint your browser.
- We do not run third-party ad networks that follow you across the internet.
- We do not sell, rent, or trade your information. Ever. To anyone.
Why we collect it
In plain English:
- To send you the newsletter, if you asked for it. You can unsubscribe from any email we send, and the unsubscribe link works on the first click.
- To answer your emails, if you write to us.
- To understand which articles are landing, so we know which categories to write more of.
- To keep the site secure, so we can spot abuse, scrapers, and broken things.
Affiliate links
This is the important one, so we’ll be blunt:
HonestlyRanked earns commissions through affiliate programs, including the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. When you click a product link on our site and buy something from the retailer, we get a small cut of the sale at no extra cost to you.
These commissions are how we pay for hosting, writers, and the 11pm pizza when a ranking is due the next morning. They do not influence our rankings. A product with a higher commission rate does not get a better place in the list. If a product we love doesn’t have an affiliate link available, we still recommend it — we just link to the manufacturer’s site directly.
Every article with affiliate links says so near the top. This is the site-wide version of the same disclosure.
Who we share information with
We share information only with the services that help us run the site, and only what they actually need:
- Our web host, which stores the website files and logs.
- Our email service provider, which sends the newsletter you subscribed to.
- Our analytics provider, which processes anonymized page views.
- Retailers you click through to (like Amazon) — when you follow an affiliate link, the retailer’s own privacy policy takes over. We don’t see what you bought or how much you spent. We only see, in aggregate, how many people clicked a given link.
We do not sell your data. We do not share it with advertisers, data brokers, or any other third parties for marketing purposes.
How long we keep it
- Newsletter subscribers: until you unsubscribe. After you unsubscribe, we retain a hashed version of your address long enough to honor the unsubscribe and then delete it.
- Email correspondence: typically 24 months, unless you ask us to delete it sooner.
- Server logs: up to 90 days, then rotated out.
- Analytics data: up to 24 months in aggregate form.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:
- Ask us what information we have about you
- Ask us to correct it
- Ask us to delete it
- Ask us to stop using it for a particular purpose
- Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority
To exercise any of these, email privacy@honestlyranked.com. We’ll respond within 30 days. We may ask you to confirm your identity before handing over information — not because we’re being difficult, but because we don’t want to give your data to the wrong person.
Children
HonestlyRanked is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them. If you’re a parent and you think your child has sent us information, email us and we’ll delete it.
Cookies, in more detail
A cookie is a tiny text file a website asks your browser to remember. We use as few as we can. The ones we do use fall into three buckets:
- Essential — cookies WordPress sets to make the site function (e.g. remembering that you dismissed a notice). These are always on.
- Analytics — anonymized counters for understanding which pages people read.
- Third-party — set only when you interact with embedded content, like clicking through to Amazon. These are controlled by the third party, not by us.
You can clear cookies in your browser settings at any time. We won’t hold it against you.
Changes to this policy
We update this page whenever we change a tool, a process, or a partner. When we do, we bump the Last updated date at the top. If it’s a meaningful change (like adding a new analytics tool), we’ll also flag it in the newsletter so you can re-read it.
Contact
Questions about this policy, or anything privacy-related:
We know nobody reads privacy policies. If you read this one, email us the word “crown” and we’ll send you back a mildly embarrassing thank-you.