Running a successful business means always coming clean before the law with no room for oversight and negligence. That’s why you need to protect yourself with a legal document for all of your operations. And chances are you are going to need such protection in any event.
This document is the privacy policy page – a landing page dedicated to explaining how a certain website handles the personal data its visitors leave behind when browsing that site. It helps customers trust that website and be confident about their actions when they visit it.
However, you must be asking yourself tons of questions. How do I come up with a privacy policy? Are privacy policy generators worth it? Should I hire an attorney to create my privacy policy?
In this article, we’ll provide you with detailed answers to all these questions and further discuss the importance of a privacy policy. While doing so, we’ll list the 5 best privacy policy generators that you can use to acquire your privacy policy.
We categorized our picks by overall ranking, pricing, self-sustainability, and other factors. However, they all share the features we think are most important in a privacy policy generator: affordability, time-saving, and high legal protection.
Do I Need a Privacy Policy Template?
The bottom line is- YES. If you own a website that collects any personal data from visitors then yes, you definitely need a privacy policy.
Chances are you will even need a terms and conditions policy, and you can check out our article on the topic if you don’t know how to get one.
Which privacy policy template you use mainly depends on the type of business you have and your budget.
Do you only collect personal data such as names, email addresses, and profile pictures? Or do you gather more sensitive details like account information, shipping addresses, and credit cards?
These are all indicators you need to consider while choosing a right privacy policy generator.
What Kind of Privacy Policy Generator Do I Need for My Website?
Let us first dive into the key elements every privacy policy page should have:
- Disclosure about how the website gathers visitors’ information;
- An explanation behind the reason why this request of personal data happens;
- Description of the kind of personal data your site collects. This can include contact information, billing and shipping addresses, sensitive credit card and PayPal info, phone numbers, etc;
- Information about how you protect and store the collected data;
- Details about who is approved for accessing the data provided by the visitors;
- Means of updating the users about any future updates of the privacy policy.
When choosing a privacy policy generator, you need to look for all of these elements. Omitting some of them can result in distrust by your visitors or misappropriation of potential loopholes, and this can have crippling consequences. Some of the outcomes are loss of leads and even some existing customers who might look for better alternatives where they will be better protected.
But, navigating the sea of available options to check whether they have all these elements we discussed checked off can be time-consuming. That’s why we did the legwork for you with our list of the 5 best privacy policy generators available on the market.
The 5 Best Policy Privacy Generators
With a privacy policy generator, you can get your own privacy policy within 10 minutes and have it up and running on your website in half that time. Keeping in mind that privacy policy pages are full of legal information and can be up to 3000 words long, 10 minutes should be a no-brainer for you.
All of the generators that we will cover in this article produce privacy policies with appropriate COPPA, CalOPPA, or GDPR clauses. Take into consideration that lawyers cost much more than these generators, for roughly the same end result.
*Note: We recommend consulting a legal professional if your company is a large venture or a corporation that performs complex operations. If you feel like you need more protection and services, feel free to browse our collection of legal tools.
1. TermsFeed – The Best Overall Privacy Policy Generator
Let’s start our list with the best generator out there – TermsFeed, as it simply outdoes the rest of its competition. It’s the best privacy policy generator on the market, coming very close to having a lawyer on your team.
We recommend TermsFeed for those who’re looking for a hassle-free service that has a one-time fee.
Pros:
The amount of detail this tool goes into is unmatched, and it does so in an extremely simple way. During the set-up process, TermsFeed asks you key questions, like those about social network information or whether there are any analytics tools installed on your site that collect data, which is extremely important.
The service’s usability, accuracy, and legal compliance are on another level. This ensures no information is neglected so that the tool’s mechanism works flawlessly.
What we really loved about TermsFeed is their transparency. All of their packages have clear visible prices so you won’t be surprised at checkout with hidden fees and provisions. Their model is a one-time payment type, which is amazing. You pay once for your document and from that point on, it’s completely yours – something you rarely find with other services that charge monthly.
Cons:
The only downside to this generator is that it’s not free. You have to pay for the product that you get and the more complex requests you have, the costlier it becomes.
Pricing
If you collect social media information from your visitors, that request costs $9. Additionally, if your site is an e-commerce site that would be $12 extra. However, we find that TermsFeed completely makes up for this with the fact it only charges a one-time fee.
If you want to learn more about TermsFeed, head over to our dedicated TermsFeed Review.
2. GetTerms.io – The Best Affordable Privacy Policy Generator
Our runner up is GetTerms.io. It’s a fantastic tool that could have certainly taken TermsFeed’s spotlight if the latter didn’t have such an intuitive setup process. GetTerms.io is for those who want a cheap and fast privacy policy generator.
All you need to do is fill in all the details that match your business and you’re ready to go. They have fields for the most crucial data activities, such as:
- Log data
- Third-party options
- Cookies
- Device data
Pros:
Really simple to navigate, this platform has one of the best user experiences out there. And it only takes 5 minutes to go through the process of generating your policy, so you could get it on your site in 10 minutes tops.
Cons:
One drawback GetTerms.io has is that it makes you manually pick the clauses your business needs, and that could be a potential vulnerability. For instance, TermsFeed would ask questions if you’re using a certain product and then include that in your document. GetTerms.io, unfortunately, forces you to tick that box manually.
Pricing:
Compared to TermsFeed (and the rest of the paid privacy generators), GetTerms.io is cheaper, making it the most affordable service in our list. It includes 3 tiers. While one of those is free and another is only $25, you will most likely need the $49 option. That is the “Comprehension Pack” and it’s the only option that includes every necessary clause that your business requires, and is fully compliant.
3. Termly – The Best Startup Privacy Policy Generator
Your business is still under development and you have a full list of priorities that come before your privacy policy documentation. This is where Termly comes in. It’s most suitable for startups and cash-strapped firms in the need of a basic policy they can upgrade later down the line.
Pros:
Fast, free, and straightforward. This is very important for startups as the business is constantly changing and Termly’s policies are readily modifiable. You can simply access the policy’s generator and include or exclude clauses. This will keep your policy up-to-date while reflecting your company’s current legal situation.
Another key feature of Termly’s generator is that it supports multiple platforms in a single policy. Whether you have a blog, an online store, iPhone, or Android apps – Termly keeps all the related clauses in one concise privacy policy.
Generating your privacy policy with Termly takes about 10 minutes without much thinking. The attention to detail is superb and you get a fully compliant document with all the essential elements. The best thing about it is that it has a free plan. But, of course, there’s a catch.
Cons:
If you decide to go for the “Basic” tier, which is free, you cannot actually host your own privacy policy. You are going to have to have it linked to Termly and you will also have their watermark on the document. If you want to avoid this, you need to pay for the “Pro+” plan.
Likewise, you will have to go for the “Pro+” if you want the cookies clause included in your policy. This clause is mandatory for apps and websites in the European Union.
Lastly, the final disadvantage to Termly is having to insert information by hand. Unlike TermsFeed, which has the questions ready for you, you need to have good knowledge of your company and the GDPR itself to input that information.
Pricing
Termly Pro+ costs $18/month, but you can get a great deal with annual billing for only $9/month, which comes at $108/year.
4. Iubenda – The Best Corporate Privacy Policy Generator
Finally an option for large organizations with a network of elaborate activities. Iubenda is the best attorney-level generator that features 1300+ clauses for any type of business scheme. They are all drafted by an international team of attorneys which gives confidence that you are getting the top-notch product in the industry.
Pros:
Again, Iubenda is a high-end privacy policy generator that removes the necessity of hiring a legal professional to perform the same task.
That being said, one of the fantastic features of Iubenda is that it is self-updating. Staying up to date with your policy is incredibly important. It never leaves you vulnerable to liabilities when you drop the ball on keeping track of ever-changing laws and regulations. This can be a money-saving situation for your enterprise, as you don’t have to constantly keep your eye on the changes happening in international regulations. Even more important – it removes the need of hiring a professional to update the documentation for you.
Ultimately, similarly to TermsFeed, Iubenda asks questions while generating your policy, sparing you from having to mull over before you tick off each box manually.
Cons:
We’re going to be honest with you: all of those amazing benefits cost a pretty penny, but for a self-upgrading attorney-level privacy policy, the price is worth it. Especially for a large enterprise with high growth potential.
Pricing:
Iubenda offers several pricing options depending on your preferences. It has preset bundles for personal and business needs with tons of add-ons that cost extra. Starting with a free plan (which comes with heavy limitations) prices go from $29/year for a basic plan for personal use and up to $979/year for corporations with millions of users. These annual plans include the first month for free.
5. Privacy Policy Generator – The Best Basic Privacy Policy Generator
We reserved the last spot on our list for the only free privacy policy generator – Privacy Policy Generator, as we know it will come in handy for those readers interested in a solid free tool, no matter what. Our recommendation is to use it when a free generator is the only option for the moment and comes as a quick solution.
Pros:
It costs $0! For this “price” you get a straightforward mechanism that only asks you nine questions. It includes third-parties, cookies, and some other information, which are necessary if you want to generate at least a basic privacy policy.
When you’ve filled out this information, hit download, and you’re ready to host the policy on your website. It’s that easy.
Cons:
You can expect that a service that is ultimately free, would not be fully compliant. Keep this in mind if you need a completely comprehensive document, and consider going for the alternatives we detailed above.
On that premise, if you choose to go for Privacy Policy Generator, remember that you need to fill some important information yourself. If you lack the knowledge, you would still need to hire someone to do the work for you. Bottom line – obtaining a decent policy can still cost you some money.
Pricing:
Free
Honorable Mention – Shopify’s Privacy Policy Generator
For all the eCommerce business people out there. Shopify’s free privacy policy generator could be a quick and easy solution for your company’s necessities.
Shopify is the world’s leading eCommerce platform, thus instilling trust while providing a privacy policy that protects your visitors and your website from liabilities.
Pros:
The company recently updated their generator with the latest GDPR compliances. They also take great care in constantly informing their users with frequent newsletters. Those emails contain useful recommendations on what information website owners need to include in their privacy policies in order to make them more compliant.
Additionally, we feel it’s important to mention that their generating process is quite easy and super-fast. It’s all done through an interface that everyone in the eCom space will already be familiar with.
Cons:
The privacy policy generator by Shopify is included with Shopify’s platform. But, Shopify is free only on a 14-day trial, which means that, if you want to use the generator on a long-term basis, you need to obtain a monthly or an annual subscription.
Furthermore, make note that their privacy policy is not fully compliant yet, but they are updating it with new clauses regularly.
Pricing:
Shopify’s generator comes free with any Shopify plan.
Conclusion
We hope we delivered you useful information on how to pick the most suitable privacy policy generator that meets all your needs. Go through the list again and choose wisely. And remember: think of it as an investment – something that will give people trust in your business and protect you from severe penalties.
To wind-up, let’s have a quick breakdown of all the generators we discussed in this article:
TermsFeed is our top recommendation as it combines simplicity and intuitiveness while providing you with a fully compliant privacy policy. Every legal agreement is custom made, quickly delivered, with high quality, and a cost-effective price. Furthermore, TermsFeed notifies their customers when it’s time to upgrade their policies – free of charge.
GetTerms.io is the most affordable privacy policy generator on our list, taking about 5 minutes to generate the policy you need. The service is very comprehensive and offers customizations for user-generated content, GDPR disclosures, device data, etc. It comes with 3 pricing plans, the first of which is free, so you can easily find something for your needs.
Termly is the best privacy policy generator suited for startups. Startups can experience rapid growth pretty quickly, so they need a service that offers privacy policies that can be easily modified for an insignificant additional cost. Termly is cheap and upgradable, therefore, really suitable for startups.
Large companies should take a serious look into Iubenda – our fourth choice on the list. They offer attorney-level solutions that make websites and apps compliant with the law across multiple countries and legislations. It’s definitely the priciest option on our list, but large networks find this solution most valuable as Iubenda’s policies are comprised of 1300+ customizable clauses, some of which cater only to big corporations. Moreover, Iubenda’s policy is self-updating as well.
Privacy Policy Generator made it into our list mainly because it’s very quick and it’s free. It qualifies well enough for when you’re in a rush and need a fast solution. But, please note that this should be only a temporary deliverable, as the service provides policies with serious limitations.
Last on our list is Shopify’s Privacy Policy Generator – perfect for those who already use Shopify’s platform on their eCommerce websites. It’s still not completely developed, but shows great promise in becoming a solid solution for documentation requirements.
We’re wrapping things up here! Hope you will return to us to discover more of our helpful resources at StartupResources.io. Also, make sure to sign up for our newsletter to receive the weekly dose of startup tools and articles.
F.A.Q.
What is the best privacy policy generator?
The best privacy policy generators on the market are TermsFeed for small and medium businesses and Iubenda for large and complex organizations.
Is TermsFeed legitimate?
Yes! TermsFeed is impressively capable of creating attorney-level privacy policies, and is trusted by thousands of customers.
Why do companies have privacy policies?
Companies need to have privacy policies because it is required by law that they protect the personal information that they collect from their visitors. That’s best done with a privacy policy. This way the company is also protected by third-parties misusing the collected information.
Do I need a GDPR privacy policy?
You are required to have a GDPR privacy policy if your website/app is under the jurisdiction of the European Union and if it collects visitors’ data.
Can I copy a privacy policy?
No two businesses are identical and when it comes to privacy policies, each one is custom made to suit a specific business. The policy should reflect the data your company collects and the instances it shares it with, as well as include your business’ ownership information. Short answer: we do not recommend copying an existing privacy policy.
Can you create your own privacy policy?
Yes, you are free to create your privacy policy if you feel knowledgeable enough to do so. However, this is a complex legal matter and it’s best done by a legal professional or a service that generates legal agreements.
What should my privacy policy say?
The privacy policy should always be clear, concise, and written in plain language so that the customers understand how their information is handled. Keep it real. Say what you do and do what you say. Or rely on professional services to do it for you.
How long should a privacy policy be?
The average length of a privacy policy is 2500 words and requires an average of 10 minutes to read. It contains complex legal information, and as a consequence, it’s hard to read, and is read very rarely.