Privacy Policy

What Townleap Is

Townleap is a free web tool that helps people decide where to relocate. It shows city data, runs a preference quiz, and lets you compare cities. There are no user accounts, no logins, and no payments.

Data Controller

The data controller for Townleap is Daring Internet. For privacy-related questions, reach us through the contact information at daringinternet.com.

Data We Collect

Analytics

We use PostHog (EU-hosted) to understand how people use the site — which pages are visited, how far people get in the quiz, and whether shared links bring new visitors. PostHog is loaded through a same-origin proxy so requests come from townleap.com, not a third-party domain. Auto-capture is disabled; only specific events we define are recorded.

We also use Vercel Speed Insights to measure page load performance. This collects anonymous timing metrics (how fast pages render) with no personally identifiable information.

Country-Level Location

Vercel derives your country from your IP address for request routing. We may use this country-level information to set sensible defaults (such as your passport country). We do not collect or store more precise location data (city, coordinates, or street-level).

Cookies & Local Storage

PostHog sets cookies to distinguish returning visitors (persistence mode: localStorage + cookie). In addition, Townleap sets its own first-party cookies to remember your preferences across sessions — including your selected passport country, household size, school type, and nomad-mode toggle. These cookies expire after one year and are not used for advertising or shared with third parties.

We also use your browser's local storage to remember quiz answers, your shortlisted cities, dark-mode preference, and reactions to city pages. This data stays in your browser and is not sent to our servers unless you explicitly submit feedback.

Feedback & Reactions

If you react to a city page (Maybe / Skip / Flag) or leave a comment, that reaction is sent to a Cloudflare Worker (serverless function) via our /api/feedback endpoint, along with a random session identifier stored in your browser's localStorage. Cloudflare Workers execute at the nearest Cloudflare edge location to you. We do not collect your name, email, or any other personally identifiable information with feedback submissions.

Server Logs

Our hosting provider (Vercel) automatically logs IP addresses and request metadata for every page load. On our current plan, these logs are retained for up to 30 days and are used only for debugging and abuse prevention — not for analytics or profiling.

Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we process your data under the following legal bases:

• Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR) — for analytics (PostHog), speed insights, server logs, and country-level location derivation. Our legitimate interest is understanding how the site is used and keeping it running reliably. You can opt out of analytics at any time (see "Your Rights and Choices" below).
• Consent — for any non-essential cookies. PostHog respects the browser's Do Not Track signal. You can block analytics cookies via your browser settings or a standard ad blocker.
• Performance of a service (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) — for preference cookies (passport, household size) that are necessary for the site to function as expected.

Data We Do Not Collect

• Email addresses
• Names or usernames
• Payment or financial information
• Precise location data (city-level, coordinates, or street-level)
• Device identifiers or advertising IDs

Third Parties

Your data is processed by:

• PostHog — analytics, hosted in the EU. Their privacy policy.
• Vercel — hosting, serverless functions, edge network, and speed insights. Every page request passes through Vercel's infrastructure. Their privacy policy.
• Cloudflare — feedback is stored via a Cloudflare Worker (serverless function). Only feedback submissions touch Cloudflare; regular page loads are served by Vercel, not Cloudflare. Their privacy policy.

We do not sell, rent, or share your data with advertisers or data brokers. Fonts are self-hosted — no requests to Google Fonts or other font CDNs.

Your Rights and Choices

Depending on where you live, you may have specific rights regarding your personal data:

For Everyone

• Clear local data: Open your browser's developer tools, go to Application → Local Storage → townleap.com, and delete all entries. This resets your quiz answers, shortlist, and preferences. Clear cookies in the same panel to remove preference cookies.
• Block analytics: A standard ad blocker will prevent most tracking. PostHog also respects the browser's Do Not Track signal when enabled.

EEA, UK, and Swiss Residents (GDPR)

Under the GDPR you have the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict processing of, and port your personal data, as well as the right to object to processing. Because we do not maintain user accounts and collect minimal personal data, exercising these rights may be limited in practice — for example, we cannot identify which analytics records belong to you. The pseudonymous session identifier attached to feedback reactions is technically personal data; if you want your feedback deleted, contact us with enough detail for us to locate the records.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

California Residents (CCPA/CPRA)

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. Under the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the CPRA, you have the right to know what personal information we collect, request its deletion, and opt out of its sale (which we do not engage in). To exercise these rights, contact us using the details above.

Children

Townleap is not directed at children under the age of 16 (or the applicable minimum age in your jurisdiction). We do not knowingly collect data from children.

Changes

If this policy changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top. For material changes, we will display a notice on the site for at least 30 days. The updated policy will apply to your use of the site from the date it is published.

Contact

Townleap is a project of Daring Internet. For privacy-related questions, reach us through the contact information on that site.