Legal

Privacy policy

Last updated 7 October 2026

This policy explains what personal data v7web (“we”) collects through fastcms.net, when you buy fastCMS, and through the fastCMS update service. We are the data controller. You can reach us through the contact page or at support@fastcms.net.

The short version: this website uses simple visitor statistics (W3Counter, which sets one cookie to count visits), and has no advertising and no advertising trackers. We only collect what you send us, what we need to sell you a licence, and the domain of each site that uses your licence for updates.

1. Browsing this website

  • No advertising trackers. Pages load no third-party fonts, embeds or ad scripts.
  • Visitor statistics. To see how many people visit and which pages they read, pages load a small statistics script from W3Counter (w3counter.com). When a page loads, it sends W3Counter the page address, the page you came from and your screen size, and W3Counter sees your IP address and browser type, as any web server does. W3Counter also sets one cookie on its own domain (w3counter.com), named after our account number and ending in _visit, which lasts 30 days and lets it tell a new visit from a returning one; it holds no personal details, and you can block or delete it in your browser settings. We use the resulting totals (visits, popular pages, referring sites, countries) only to improve this website (legitimate interest), and never to identify you. W3Counter's own privacy policy covers how it handles this data.
  • Light or dark mode. If you use the light/dark switch, your choice is saved in your own browser's storage so the next page matches. It never leaves your device and you can clear it with your browser's site data.
  • Our own page view counting. Every page also tells our own server that it was viewed: the page address, the website you came from (its name only, such as bing.com), any campaign tags in the address (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term), and whether you use a phone, tablet or computer and which browser and system (worked out from your browser's standard user agent, which isn't stored). To count unique visitors without cookies, we keep a scrambled code made from your IP address and browser together with a secret that changes every day; the IP address itself is never stored, and the code can't be linked from one day to the next or traced back to you. We use these totals only to see which pages are read and where visitors come from (legitimate interest), keep them for up to 13 months, and never share them. Theme downloads are counted the same way, without any personal data.
  • Landing page click counts. On our advertising landing pages (fastcms.net/landers/) and the free niche finder, we count a few actions so we can tell which page works best: clicking a Buy button, scrolling most of the way down, using the calculator, watching the demo video, or running the niche finder and following its links. Each one is saved on our own server as a single line with the time, the page, the action, the plan clicked, and the campaign name and search keyword from the page address. No IP address, cookie, device ID or other personal data is stored, and no one is identified. When you click Buy on one of these pages, the checkout link also carries the name of the landing page, so your order shows which page it came from.
  • Blog name generator. The names it suggests are made in your browser. To show which are free, our server asks each domain registry's public lookup service (RDAP: Verisign for .com and .net, Public Interest Registry for .org, Nominet for .co.uk; for .ie, the .ie registry's WHOIS service) whether each name is registered; only the domain names are sent, nothing about you. We keep each answer for up to a day so the same name isn't looked up twice, and to stop misuse we count lookups per visitor using a scrambled (hashed) form of the IP address, deleted after an hour. What you type isn't stored. The Register buttons are affiliate links to Namecheap: we count each click in the same way as the landing page clicks above (no personal data), and once you're on Namecheap's site, its own privacy policy and cookies apply.
  • Free niche finder. To find searches for the topic you type, our server asks Google's public search suggestions (or Bing's, if Google doesn't answer) using only that topic and the country you pick; nothing about you is sent. We keep the results for each topic for a week, without anything linking them to you, so the same topic loads instantly for the next person. To stop misuse we count lookups per visitor using a scrambled (hashed) form of the IP address, deleted after an hour.
  • Server logs. Like every website, our web host automatically records technical details of each request (IP address, browser type, the page asked for and the time) to keep the site working and secure. These logs are kept for a short period set by our host and are not used to identify or profile visitors.

2. Contacting us and our newsletter

When you use the contact form or email us, we receive your name, email address, the topic and your message. We use them only to reply and to help you, because you asked us to (legitimate interest). Messages are delivered to our mailbox and also kept in our private, password-protected admin area, for up to two years after the conversation ends, then deleted, unless they are part of a licence or refund record.

Newsletter. If you sign up, we keep your email address, the page you signed up on, and when you subscribed and confirmed. We only add you once you click the link in our confirmation email (double opt-in), and we use your address only to send the fastCMS newsletter (your consent). We send it ourselves from our own server; no newsletter service receives your address. Every newsletter has a one-click unsubscribe link, and mail apps' own Unsubscribe button works too. When you unsubscribe we stop emailing you straight away and keep only the fact that you unsubscribed, so we don't email you by mistake; ask us and we'll delete that too. Unconfirmed signups are deleted after 14 days.

3. Buying fastCMS

Payments are taken by our payment provider and reseller, Dodo Payments (dodopayments.com), which acts as the merchant of record. They collect your payment details, billing address and tax information under their own privacy policy; we never see your full card or account details.

From the order we receive your name, email address, country, what you bought, the price and tax paid, and an order number. We use this to send your download and licence key, provide support and updates, handle refunds, prevent licence misuse and meet tax and accounting law (performing our contract with you, and legal obligation). We keep purchase records for as long as your licence is active and then for as long as tax law requires (typically six years).

We don't send marketing emails unless you have agreed to receive them (such as by subscribing to the newsletter), and every such email has an unsubscribe link.

4. The fastCMS update service

When a fastCMS site checks for or installs an update, it sends our update server your licence key and the site's domain name. We record the domain against your licence so we can enforce the number of sites in your plan and help you move a licence, along with the fastCMS version the site runs and when it last checked, so we can see which versions are in use. When you buy, we also note which of our landing pages the purchase came from (no personal data). Local test copies (such as localhost) are not recorded. Our server also keeps normal technical logs of these requests, as in section 1.

fastCMS does not send us your content, your visitors' data, your admin account or your AI and service API keys. Your site talks directly to the AI and image providers you choose (such as Anthropic, Google, DeepSeek, fal.ai, Unsplash and Pexels) using your own accounts; their privacy policies cover that data. You are the controller for any personal data on your own fastCMS site.

5. Who we share data with

We don't sell personal data. We share it only with the services that help us run fastCMS, and only as far as they need:

  • our web and email hosting providers, which store this website, the update server and our mailbox;
  • W3Counter, for the visitor statistics described in section 1;
  • our payment provider and reseller, Dodo Payments, for orders, tax and refunds;
  • our accountants and authorities, when the law requires it.

Some of these providers may process data outside your country, including in the United States. Where that happens, they use legal safeguards such as the European Commission's standard contractual clauses or an adequacy decision.

6. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you can ask us to give you a copy of your personal data, correct it, delete it, limit how we use it, or send it to you in a portable format, and you can object to our use of it. We may need to keep some purchase records to meet tax law. To make a request, contact us; we will reply within one month.

If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, please tell us first. You also have the right to complain to your data protection authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office).

7. Security

This site is served over HTTPS, the contact form has spam protection, and access to our mailbox and update server is restricted to us.

8. Children

fastCMS is sold to adults and businesses. We don't knowingly collect data from children.

9. Changes

If we change how we use personal data, we will update this page and the date at the top.

See also the terms of sale and licence and the refund policy.