Data & Privacy

VitalSentinel is designed with privacy in mind. This page explains what data we collect, how we handle it, and how to maintain compliance.

Privacy by DefaultCopy Anchor Link

VitalSentinel's tracking scripts are privacy-focused:

• No cookies in the default storage mode - the default none mode writes no cookie, localStorage or sessionStorage on your visitor's device. The session and persistent modes do store data on the device, and require visitor consent before you enable them.
• Pseudonymous, not anonymous - visitor data is pseudonymous. The pages one visitor viewed on one of your sites are linked together.
• No cross-site tracking - Each domain is isolated
• IP addresses are not stored - a visitor's IP address is processed in memory to work out their country, to protect the service from abuse, and as one input to the short-lived identifier that links a visit together. It is then discarded, and is not written to our analytics databases.

The default storage mode stores nothing on your visitor's device. That is not the same as recording nothing: we still count the page view, and our servers still compute an identifier so that the pages of one visit hang together. That identifier is derived with a secret that is replaced every day and is scoped to a single domain, so it cannot link a visitor across days or across sites.

What Data is CollectedCopy Anchor Link

VitalSentinel App UsersCopy Anchor Link

When you create a VitalSentinel account, we collect:

Account Information:

• Email address (used for login and notifications)
• Password (securely hashed, never stored in plain text)
• First and last name
• Timezone preference
• Profile picture (generated from your name - no third-party avatar service is used)
• Two-factor authentication settings (if enabled)

Workspace Data:

• Workspace name and configuration
• Team member emails, roles, and invitation status

Billing Information:

• Subscription plan and status
• Usage metrics (page views, events, domains against plan limits)
• Payment methods and invoices (processed and stored by Stripe, not VitalSentinel)

Third-Party Services:

• Stripe - Handles all payment processing. We don't store credit card numbers.
• Google OAuth - Used only if you connect the Google Search Console integration.

App Analytics:

• We use our own RUM and Web Analytics scripts on the VitalSentinel dashboard
• The same storage modes apply to our own site. Our scripts store nothing on a visitor's device unless they accept our cookie bar, and the data they collect is pseudonymous rather than anonymous
• We also use Ahrefs Web Analytics on this documentation site to see which pages get read. It is a cookieless third-party script that is not part of the application, so it receives nothing about your account or any website you monitor with us
• We do not sell or share your account data with third parties

For complete details, see our Privacy Policy.

Website Visitors (Tracking Scripts)Copy Anchor Link

The following data is collected about visitors to your website when you install our tracking scripts.

RUM ScriptCopy Anchor Link

The Real User Monitoring script collects:

Performance Data:

• Core Web Vitals (LCP, CLS, INP, TTFB, FCP)
• Navigation timing metrics
• Resource loading times
• JavaScript errors

Session Data:

• Session ID (pseudonymous, regenerated per page load)
• Page URLs visited (sanitized)
• Timestamps

Device Data:

• Browser type and version, operating system and device type - worked out on our servers from the User-Agent request header your visitor's browser sends with every request, not read from their device
• Viewport size, rounded to the nearest 50 pixels
• Screen size and pixel ratio, device memory, processor and connection speed - only when you declare consent on the script tag

Engagement (optional):

• Scroll depth
• Time on page
• Click count, and a rage-click signal that records the CSS selector of the element clicked repeatedly. Ordinary clicks are counted only - no coordinates and no element text

Web Analytics ScriptCopy Anchor Link

The Web Analytics script collects:

Traffic Data:

• Page views
• The address of the page viewed - both its hostname and its path. The fragment (#...), any credentials embedded in the address, and the query parameters we drop or mask are excluded
• Referring domain (the hostname only, such as google.com). The full referring address is sent to our servers so they can classify the traffic source, and is not stored
• UTM parameters
• Traffic source classification
• The article author, on pages that publish a byline in their own structured data. This is the one thing our scripts collect that is not about the visitor: it names whoever wrote the page, usually your own staff or your masthead. It is stored by default and can be switched off per domain

Session Data:

• Session ID (pseudonymous)
• Pages per session
• Session duration

Device Data:

• Browser type and version, operating system, device type and browser language - worked out on our servers from the User-Agent and Accept-Language request headers your visitor's browser sends with every request, not read from their device
• Screen resolution, window dimensions, device pixel ratio, touch capability and connection type - only in the persistent storage mode, or after your consent banner calls grantConsent('persistent')

E-commerce (if applicable):

• Product views
• Cart actions
• Purchases (no payment details)

What We Don't Collect (By Default)Copy Anchor Link

• Names, emails or other personal identifiers - our scripts do not read them from your pages or your forms. The one exception is the article byline described above, which the Web Analytics script reads from the structured data your pages already publish, and which you can switch off per domain
• IP addresses - processed in memory to work out the visitor's country, to protect the service from abuse, and as one input to the short-lived identifier that links a visit together. They are then discarded and are not written to our analytics databases.
• Passwords or sensitive form data
• Payment card information
• Health or financial data - our scripts do not read it from your pages or your forms
• Location beyond the country - we do not derive or store a region, state, city or street from a visitor's IP address

Server LogsCopy Anchor Link

Server Log Monitoring reads your server's access logs, through the Cloudflare Worker or log files you connect. It is built to store crawler traffic, not people:

• Only search engine and AI crawler requests are stored. Every other request in your logs, including requests from your human visitors, is dropped before storage and only counted as excluded traffic.
• Query-parameter names are stored, never their values.
• Unverified and spoofed requests have their IP address redacted when they are stored, and are grouped by network (AS number) instead. IP addresses are never shown for them.
• Credentials for log-file sources and the Cloudflare API token are stored encrypted. Disconnecting Cloudflare deletes VitalSentinel's copy of the token; deleting a log-file source deletes its stored credentials.

Site Health Monitoring and Page MonitoringCopy Anchor Link

Site Health Monitoring and Page Monitoring use the VitalSentinel crawler.

• The crawler fetches only public pages of your verified site.
• For each page, the crawler stores the HTML and the page after JavaScript runs.
• When the crawler renders a page, it blocks analytics and ad beacons. Thus crawler visits do not send hits to your analytics or ad tools.

Sitemap MonitoringCopy Anchor Link

Sitemap Monitoring stores the URLs in your sitemaps and the dates that your sitemaps give for them. It does not store page content.

Domain VerificationCopy Anchor Link

When you verify a domain, VitalSentinel stores the verification method and the result. It never stores credentials.

Data HandlingCopy Anchor Link

TransmissionCopy Anchor Link

• All data is encrypted in transit (TLS)
• Your visitors' data is not shared with advertising networks, data brokers, or other analytics providers

StorageCopy Anchor Link

• Encrypted at rest
• Stored in secure cloud infrastructure
• Access controlled and audited

RetentionCopy Anchor Link

Retention is the same on every plan, with one exception. How long we keep something depends on what the data is, not on what you pay. Your plan changes how much you can monitor - domains, URLs, page views, events - never how long we keep what we already collected. The exception is the change history of Page Monitoring and Site Health Monitoring: 14 days on the Free plan and 12 months on paid plans.

Each record of Page Monitoring and Site Health Monitoring change history keeps the window of the plan in force when VitalSentinel wrote it. A downgrade does not shorten history that VitalSentinel already stored. An upgrade does not make it longer.

Some detail tiers inside a module are kept for a shorter period than the module headline above, because they hold raw, staged or cached rows that the long-range charts do not read:

After the retention window for a given kind of data, those rows are automatically deleted.

DeletionCopy Anchor Link

You can delete data by:

• Removing a domain (deletes all associated data)
• Canceling your workspace subscription (data deleted after a grace period)
• Requesting account deletion (removes your account, your workspaces, your domains and their monitoring data). Invoices already issued stay with Stripe, because accounting law requires them to be kept.

GDPR ComplianceCopy Anchor Link

VitalSentinel is designed for GDPR compliance.

The Default Storage ModeCopy Anchor Link

With default settings:

• No cookies
• No persistent identifiers
• Pseudonymous data, not anonymous
• Intended to be usable without a consent banner, though whether you need one depends on your jurisdiction, your regulator's position and the rest of your tooling

With Consent (Enhanced Features)Copy Anchor Link

If you want returning visitor tracking:

1. Get user consent
2. Call grantConsent('persistent')
3. Persistent visitor IDs enabled
4. Call revokeConsent() when a visitor refuses, or later changes their mind
5. Follow your consent requirements

Withdrawing consent is prospective: it changes what is collected from that point on, not what was already collected.

A browser privacy signal outranks your banner. If the visitor's browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control, grantConsent() is refused for them, no device details are collected however your banner is wired, and the page view is still counted so the cohort does not disappear from your reports.

Data Subject RightsCopy Anchor Link

Under the GDPR you can exercise any of the following over the personal data we hold about you as an account holder, at no cost:

• Access - ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Rectification - ask us to correct anything that is inaccurate or incomplete
• Erasure - ask us to delete your personal data
• Portability - ask for your data in a structured, machine-readable format
• Objection - object to processing we carry out on the basis of legitimate interests
• Withdraw consent - at any time, without affecting processing carried out before you withdrew it

Email privacy@vitalsentinel.com and say which right you want to exercise, from the address on your account. We respond within 30 days of receiving your request.

Visitor data collected by our tracking scripts is pseudonymous, not anonymous, so these rights can apply to it. Your visitors' requests reach you first, and we act on them for you. A visitor identifier has to come from you or from your visitor - we cannot work out which rows belong to a named person - and a search that returns nothing is not proof that we hold nothing about that person.

Data Processing AgreementCopy Anchor Link

A DPA is available for custom packages. Contact legal@vitalsentinel.com to discuss your requirements.

Other Privacy RegulationsCopy Anchor Link

CCPA (California)Copy Anchor Link

VitalSentinel does not:

• Sell personal information
• Share data for cross-context advertising
• Ask your pages or your forms for sensitive personal information

PECR (UK/EU Cookie Law)Copy Anchor Link

In the default storage mode the scripts set no cookies. Whether that removes your PECR consent obligation is a question for you and your legal counsel - we do not draw that conclusion on your behalf.

Other RegionsCopy Anchor Link

Our privacy-by-default approach is designed to help you meet:

• Brazilian LGPD
• Canadian PIPEDA
• Australian Privacy Act

Best PracticesCopy Anchor Link

For Maximum PrivacyCopy Anchor Link

1. Use default configuration (no storage)
2. Don't enable persistent tracking
3. Use lower sample rates to reduce data collection
4. Mask text and selectors if needed

For GDPR ComplianceCopy Anchor Link

1. Use default (no-cookie) mode
2. Only enable persistent storage with consent
3. Provide an opt-out mechanism
4. Update your privacy policy

Privacy Policy UpdatesCopy Anchor Link

Add to your privacy policy:

We use VitalSentinel, a web analytics and performance monitoring service, to understand how our website is used and how quickly it loads for real visitors. In our configuration it does not set cookies and stores nothing on your device. The data it collects is pseudonymous rather than anonymous: it links together the pages you viewed on this site. For more information, see VitalSentinel's privacy documentation.

If your page URLs or page titles can carry anything that identifies a person, say so in your policy, or change them so they do not.

Script Configuration for PrivacyCopy Anchor Link

Maximum PrivacyCopy Anchor Link

<script
  src="https://rum.vitalsentinel.com/rum.js"
  data-key="YOUR_ID"
  data-mask-text="true"
  data-mask-selectors="true"
  data-filter-query-params="true"
  async
></script>

Standard (Default)Copy Anchor Link

<script
  src="https://rum.vitalsentinel.com/rum.js"
  data-key="YOUR_ID"
  async
></script>

With Consent ManagementCopy Anchor Link

<script
  src="https://analytics.vitalsentinel.com/analytics.js"
  data-key="YOUR_ID"
  data-storage="none"
  async
></script>

<script>
  // Option 1: Call grantConsent when your cookie banner fires
  document.addEventListener('your-cookie-consent-event', function() {
    window.VitalSentinelAnalytics.grantConsent('persistent');
  });

  // Call revokeConsent when the visitor refuses, or later changes their mind
  document.addEventListener('your-cookie-reject-event', function() {
    window.VitalSentinelAnalytics.revokeConsent();
  });

  // Option 2: Dispatch the built-in event (handled automatically)
  // window.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent('vs-analytics-consent', {
  //   detail: { level: 'persistent' }
  // }));
  // Pass level: 'none' to withdraw.
</script>

Opt-Out for VisitorsCopy Anchor Link

Provide an opt-out mechanism for Web Analytics tracking:

// Opt out of Web Analytics tracking
window.VitalSentinelAnalytics.optOut();

// Resume tracking
window.VitalSentinelAnalytics.optIn();

Opt-out applies to the current page load and is not persisted across page loads. If you need to remember a visitor's choice, store your own flag (for example in localStorage) alongside calling optOut(), and call optOut() again on each page load when that flag is set.

You do not need to wire up Do Not Track yourself. Both scripts check the browser's Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control settings, and our servers check the matching DNT and Sec-GPC request headers.

For a visitor who sends one of those signals:

• No durable visitor identifier is created for them, and Web Analytics writes no session record
• No engagement measurement runs - no scroll depth, no active time, no rage clicks
• grantConsent() is refused, so your consent banner cannot raise the storage mode for them
• Web Analytics reads no device details at all; RUM reads nothing beyond the window size, rounded to the nearest 50 pixels
• The page view is still counted, so the cohort does not disappear from your reports

SecurityCopy Anchor Link

Our Security PracticesCopy Anchor Link

• Encrypted data at rest and in transit
• Access logging and monitoring
• Incident response procedures

Reporting VulnerabilitiesCopy Anchor Link

If you discover a security issue:

• Email: security@vitalsentinel.com
• Do not publicly disclose until resolved
• We'll acknowledge within 24 hours

ContactCopy Anchor Link

For privacy questions:

• Email: privacy@vitalsentinel.com
• DPA requests: legal@vitalsentinel.com

RelatedCopy Anchor Link