Privacy Policy
Who we are
CostHonest ("we", "us") operates costhonest.com from Ontario, Canada. We provide free cost calculators for consumers and rent embeddable quote-calculator widgets to local businesses. Questions and requests about your information: support@costhonest.com.
Using the free calculators: we collect nothing
The calculators on costhonest.com run entirely in your browser. What you type — project sizes, incomes, weights, balances — is not transmitted to us or anyone else. We set no cookies and run no analytics or advertising trackers. One counter (interest in a future "get quotes from pros" feature) is stored in your own browser's local storage and never leaves your device.
Like every website, our hosting provider (Cloudflare) sees standard network data when serving pages — IP address, browser type, requested URL — handled under its own policies. Our fonts load from Google Fonts, which means your browser requests font files from Google and Google sees the request's IP address. Neither of these gives us a profile of you, and we don't try to build one.
Quote requests through a business's widget
Some local businesses embed our calculator widget on their own websites. When you fill in the form there — name, email, phone (optional), plus your answers and the estimate shown — that information goes to the business you are contacting. Specifically, we:
- store the request in our database so it can't be lost in transit;
- email it to that business so they can follow up with you; and
- retain a copy (including a blind copy of the email) as a service record — it's how we prove delivery and resolve disputes.
The purpose is exactly one thing: delivering your quote request to the business you chose to contact. The business becomes the primary holder of your information from there, and what they do with it is governed by their own privacy practices. We don't use quote-request details for marketing and we never sell them.
Business subscriptions
When a business signs up to rent a widget we collect the business name, service area, lead-delivery email, and the pricing configuration for their calculator. Payments are processed by Stripe — card numbers go directly to Stripe and never touch our systems. We see subscription status (active, cancelled, payment failed) because it controls whether the widget runs.
Service providers
We use a small set of providers to run the service: Cloudflare (website hosting), Supabase (database and functions), Resend (email delivery), and Stripe (payments). Each receives only what its job requires. These providers may store or process data outside Canada, including in the United States, where it may be accessible to local authorities under local law.
Retention
Quote requests are kept while the receiving business has an active subscription, then for a reasonable wind-down period before deletion. Subscription and billing records are kept as long as tax and legal obligations require.
Your rights
Under Canadian privacy law (PIPEDA), you can ask us what personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email support@costhonest.com and we will respond within 30 days. If you submitted a quote request, we can delete our copy; the business you contacted holds theirs, and we'll tell you who that is so you can reach them too. If you're not satisfied with our answer, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Children
The service is not directed to children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect their information.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version appears here with a new effective date. Material changes affecting business subscribers are also announced by email.