Privacy Policy

Quick Summary

• Calculations stay on your device: the values you type into our tools are processed in your browser and are never sent to or stored by us.
• No accounts: you can use every calculator without registering or logging in.
• Email only if you ask: we hold your email address only when you choose to subscribe or contact us.
• Ads & analytics: third-party services such as Google may set cookies; you can opt out (details below).

Introduction

At PhDGrind (“we,” “our,” or “us”), we build free calculators and plain-language guides for the practical side of graduate school — stipends and cost of living, funding runway, dissertation writing pace, time to defense, conference budgets, and citation metrics. This Privacy Policy explains what information is and isn’t collected when you visit phdgrind.com and use those tools.

We designed the site to need as little of your data as possible. The calculators run entirely in your browser, so the figures you enter — stipend amounts, living costs, savings, word-count targets, deadlines, defense dates, conference expenses, citation counts — never leave your device.

This policy applies to all visitors regardless of location and is written to align with applicable privacy laws, including the GDPR, the CCPA, and other regional regulations.

Information We Do NOT Collect

By default, using the calculators involves no personal data at all:

• No calculator inputs: the values you enter and the results shown are never transmitted to us or saved on our servers.
• No accounts or profiles:we don’t require registration and don’t build a profile of your activity.
• No cross-session tracking by us:we don’t follow your browsing from one visit to the next.
• No location or device fingerprinting:we don’t collect precise location data or device fingerprints.

Information We DO Collect

We collect limited information only in specific situations:

Email subscriptions: if you sign up for updates, we store the email address you provide, along with the date and a signup source, so we can send what you asked for and honour unsubscribe requests. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in every email.

Messages you send us: when you email us or use the contact page, we receive your email address and message so we can reply. These are kept only as long as needed to handle your enquiry.

Technical information: like most websites, our hosting automatically logs basic technical data such as browser type, operating system, referring page, and a truncated IP address, used for security and to keep the site running.

How We Use Your Information

• To respond to your messages and support requests
• To send email updates you have explicitly subscribed to
• To keep the website secure, functional, and performant
• To understand, in aggregate, which tools and guides are useful
• To comply with legal obligations where required

We do not sell your personal information.

Privacy of Our Calculators

Every calculator on PhDGrind — the stipend vs cost-of-living calculator, the funding runway calculator, the dissertation writing-pace planner, the time-to-defense countdown, the conference budget calculator, and the citation & h-index estimator — runs client-side. The numbers you enter (stipend and income figures, rent and living costs, savings, monthly spending, word counts and deadlines, defense dates, conference costs and reimbursements, per-paper citation counts, and so on) are used only to display a result in your browser and are never sent to us.

Cookies and Third-Party Services

Essential Cookies

We use only the cookies needed for the site to function, such as basic session and security cookies. See our Cookie Policy for details.

Google AdSense

We use Google AdSense to display advertisements, which is how the tools stay free. Google and its partners may use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites. You can opt out of personalized advertising at Google Ads Settings.

Analytics

We may use privacy-respecting analytics to understand aggregate, anonymous traffic trends. This does not identify individual visitors.

Information Sharing

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information. We share information only when required by law, to protect our rights, or with service providers (such as our email delivery provider) who process it on our behalf under confidentiality obligations.

Your Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you
• Request correction or deletion of that information
• Object to or request restriction of its processing
• Withdraw consent, including unsubscribing from email at any time

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at support@phdgrind.com.

Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect the limited information we hold. No method of transmission or storage is ever completely secure, however, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Children’s Privacy

Our services are not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided us information, please contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes are posted on this page with a revised “Last updated” date.

Contact Us

• By email: support@phdgrind.com
• Via our contact page