A clear view of your data.
What distro.watch collects, why, and how to opt out. Last updated Oct 7, 2026.
Who we are
distro.watch is an independent website about Linux distributions. For any privacy question or request, email contact@distro.watch.
The short version
- You can read the whole site without an account.
- We use Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages are useful.
- We show, or may show, ads served by Google AdSense, which uses cookies.
- We never sell your personal information.
Analytics
We use Google Analytics, provided by Google LLC, to understand how the site is used: which pages are visited, how visitors arrive, and general device, browser, and approximate location information. Google Analytics sets cookies (such as _ga) to distinguish visits. Data is kept according to the retention setting of our Analytics account. You can block it with the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on or your browser’s cookie settings. Google explains its practices in how Google uses information from sites that use its services.
Advertising
distro.watch shows, or may show, advertising served by Google AdSense to cover running costs. Ads never influence our rankings, recommendations, comparisons, or articles.
- Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites.
- Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and/or other sites on the Internet.
- You can opt out of personalized advertising from Google in Ads Settings. You can opt out of some other vendors’ use of cookies for personalized advertising at aboutads.info.
- If you opt out, you may still see ads, but they will not be personalized.
Visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland are asked for consent before personalized ads or non-essential cookies are used, through a consent message provided with Google’s tools. Learn more in how Google uses cookies in advertising.
Cookies and local storage
- Analytics cookies from Google Analytics, described above.
- Advertising cookies from Google and its partners, when ads are shown.
- Sign-in and poll storage from Firebase Authentication, used when you vote in the visitor poll or sign in.
- A local “already voted” marker in your browser, which makes repeat poll votes less likely.
- Support-strip markers in your browser: a visit counter, when you hid the support strip, and, for 30 minutes after you choose an amount, that amount, so the battery on /support can thank you when it lands. They never leave your device.
You can delete cookies and site data at any time in your browser settings.
Distro finder, comparisons, and package search
Your distro finder answers are processed in your browser and are not stored. Comparison choices can appear in the page address when you share a link. Package names you search for are sent to our server and then to Repology to look up versions. External links take you to other sites, which have their own privacy policies.
Visitor poll
The visitor poll uses anonymous Firebase Authentication. A response stores only the distributions you picked, the poll version, and the time. The public results show counts and percentages, never who voted.
Donations
Donations on the support page are paid on Ko-fi, which processes the payment through PayPal or Stripe under its own privacy policy; we never see card or bank details. Ko-fi notifies our server of each donation. We store only the amount, currency, time, and Ko-fi transaction ID, to charge the public battery and avoid counting a donation twice. We do not store donor names, emails, or messages, and the public battery shows only the time added and when.
Hardware reports and sign-in
If you submit a hardware report, Firebase Authentication handles sign-in, and Firestore stores the report with your Firebase user ID so it can be moderated. Published reports do not include that ID. Do not include serial numbers, network addresses, passwords, or other personal details in a report.
Hosting and service providers
The site runs on Cloudflare, and Firebase (from Google) provides sign-in and the database. These providers process technical information such as IP addresses and request logs to deliver and protect the service, under their own policies.
Your choices and rights
You can ask to see, correct, or delete personal information we hold about you, such as a hardware report, by emailing contact@distro.watch. Depending on where you live, you may have further rights under laws such as the GDPR or the CCPA, including the right to object to processing and to complain to your data protection authority.
Children
distro.watch is a general-audience technology site and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
Changes to this policy
We update this page when our services or practices change, and the date at the top shows the latest version. Questions? Contact us.