Privacy
We check the link, not you.
url.vet needs the link you paste to check it. That's it. Here is exactly what happens to it, in plain words. And because the code is open source, you don't have to take our word for any of this.
- Accounts
- None
- Cookies
- None
- Analytics & ads
- None
- Data sold
- Never
- Your IP in our logs
- Never
- Cached scan results
- Up to 24 hours
What we'll never do
- Sell your data
- Show you ads
- Ask you to sign up
- Build a profile of you
When you scan a link
The link goes to our server, which runs the checks and sends back the result. Like any website, our server can see your IP address while it answers you. We use it for one thing: limiting how many requests one address can make per minute, so the service stays up. Even then we don't store the address itself, only a scrambled version that can't be turned back into it, and the key used to scramble it is replaced every day. That counter is deleted after a minute.
Our logs never contain your IP address or the link you scanned. They record one line per request (which page, whether it worked, how long it took), and if an error mentions a web address, everything after the ? is removed before it's written, since that's where links hide things like password-reset tokens.
What we keep, and for how long
- Scan results
- Cached by link for up to 24 hours, so a link that's checked twice (or shared) loads instantly. Individual checks expire sooner, some after 3 hours.
- Page screenshots
- Stored on our server for up to 24 hours, then deleted automatically.
- Recent activity
- The last 100 scans (link, verdict, score, time) are held in the server's memory for the maintainer's dashboard. Never written to disk; gone whenever the server restarts.
- Reports you send
- If you report a wrong verdict, we keep the link, our verdict and score, your suggestion, your comment and the time. It's kept until the issue it points to is fixed, then deleted. No IP address, no account.
Who else sees the link
This website runs on Vercel, and some checks need outside help. These are the only parties involved:
- Vercel, our host
- Hosts this website. Like any host, it handles your visit, so it sees your IP address and the address of the page you open (for a share link, that includes the scanned link). It keeps its request logs briefly. See Vercel's privacy policy.
- The website you scan
- Our server visits it to check redirects, certificates and content, and takes a screenshot. The site, and any trackers on it, see our server, not you.
- PhishTank
- Receives the link, to check it against its database of reported phishing.
- DNS resolvers
- Receive the domain name only, to find the servers behind it (as any lookup on the internet does).
- Domain registries
- The public record of who registered a domain. They receive the domain name only, so we can look up its age.
Everything this website loads (fonts, images, code) comes from url.vet itself. No trackers, no ad networks, no font or analytics services watching your visit.
Sharing a result
A share link contains the scanned link, the verdict and the score, so anyone you send it to (and any app that shows a preview of it) can see those. Nothing about you is in it.
In your browser
We don't set cookies. Your browser's local storage remembers your light or dark theme and whether you've met or hidden Vetty. It never leaves your device, and clearing your site data removes it.
Your rights
url.vet is run by abhizaik. There are no accounts, so we hold nothing tied to you by name. To ask what we hold about a link you scanned or reported, or to have a report deleted, email [email protected].
Verify it
Everything above is in the source code, and you can run your own copy if you'd rather not use ours. Every change to this page is public too, in its history on GitHub.
Got a link you're unsure about?
Check it on url.vet