Start here
The free tool below runs entirely in this browser — no account, nothing stored or transmitted. Redact anything you would not want kept before you type it.
Open the companion tool →Why 'free' deserves a written analysis
The price is invisible, so it is never weighed. Writing down what the service receives in exchange makes the decision reviewable — and sometimes revisable.
This is not an argument against free tools; several are genuinely generous. It is an argument for knowing which one you are using.
The protocol
- List the free AI tools you use weekly.
- For each, write what it collects, what it says about training on your content, and what it reserves.
- Note what a paid alternative costs and what it would change about your data.
- Note what you would lose by using the tool less, and what you would gain.
- Choose per tool and record the decision, with a review date.
What the tool does
Build a free-tool trade-off record It runs locally in this browser and sends nothing.
Limit first: This is a literacy and record-keeping aid, not legal advice. It cannot tell you what a company will do with your data, only what its own disclosures say.
Open the companion tool →Cost and free path
Cost: Free: one complete run in this browser, no account. Optional $4 one-time unlock allows unlimited runs of this tool on this browser. The free path and safety guidance never require payment.
Free path, in order (no cost):
- FTC privacy and advertising complaint routes
- Your state attorney general's consumer division
- NIST Privacy Framework for a plain-language map of the trade-offs
What this cannot do: It cannot tell you what a company will do with your data, only what its own disclosures say.
Sources checked 2026-10-03 · source bank reviewed against the live pages listed in metadata.
One human next step
If a tool's practice contradicts what it told you, that is a deception issue for the FTC and your state attorney general — the recorded comparison is the evidence.
Research log and safety checks
AI-assist path: not used for a verdict. This builder organises the reader's own documents and names an independent source; it does not infer authenticity, eligibility, or legal rights. §6.9/§6.10/§6.11 disclosed in the batch report; §6.12 status line carried in metadata as `status_line`.
§0.5 protection result: category is informed-consent-literacy; crisis-adjacent: no; fear/urgency/scarcity toolkit used: no. The protective function is free and the paid feature is convenience only.