This Cookie Policy explains what cookies and similar technologies Ghost uses on our website and inside the dashboard, why we use them, how long each one persists, who controls it, and how you can change your preferences at any time. It is part of, and should be read alongside, our Privacy Policy.
What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small text file that a website places on your device to store information across page loads or visits. Similar technologies — local storage, session storage, pixels, and SDK identifiers — do the same job in different ways. For the purposes of this policy we treat them all together as "cookies". Cookies set by Ghost are first-party; cookies set by a third party (e.g. our payment processor) are third-party. We label each one accordingly below.
Strictly necessary cookies
These cookies are required for the service to work. They authenticate you, remember your session, protect your account from cross-site request forgery and other security attacks, and route your traffic through our content delivery network. They cannot be disabled because the service would not function without them. Typical cookies in this category include the Clerk session cookie (first-party, session duration up to 7 days), an anti-forgery token (first-party, per-session), and a region-routing cookie (first-party, 30 days). No consent is required under EU/UK law for strictly necessary cookies.
Functional cookies
These cookies remember your preferences so the service feels consistent across visits. They are first-party and last for up to 12 months. We use them to remember the theme you chose, the dashboard view you last opened, your onboarding progress, your timezone, and your language. Functional cookies are optional and can be disabled from the consent banner. Disabling them does not break the service; it just resets your preferences each visit.
Analytics cookies
We use privacy-preserving analytics from Vercel that operate without third-party tracking cookies and without fingerprinting. Where you opt in to additional analytics, we record anonymised usage events — which pages were visited, which features were used, which buttons were clicked — to understand how the product is used and to fix broken paths. Identifiers are pseudonymised within 24 hours and aggregated within 30 days. IP addresses are truncated at intake. We never sell analytics data and we do not combine it with your identified account data without a legal basis.
Marketing and measurement
On our marketing pages (not inside the dashboard), where you opt in, we set cookies from Meta and Google to measure the effectiveness of our advertising. These cookies persist for up to 90 days. They allow us to attribute a sign-up back to the campaign that prompted it. If you reject them, you may still see Ghost ads — we just will not be able to tell whether they worked. You can opt out at any time from the footer banner.
Third-party cookies we use
- Stripe — payment fraud prevention and billing session continuity (third-party, up to 12 months).
- Clerk — authentication and identity (first-party, via our domain; session-scoped).
- Vercel Analytics — anonymised performance and usage metrics (no cross-site cookies).
- Meta Pixel — marketing measurement, optional and consent-gated in EU/UK (third-party, up to 90 days).
- Google Ads / GA4 — marketing measurement, optional and consent-gated in EU/UK (third-party, up to 24 months).
Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control
Ghost honours the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal as a valid opt-out of sale and sharing under California law and as a withdrawal of consent under EU/UK law where applicable. We treat a browser-level Do-Not-Track header as a strong preference signal and apply it to analytics and marketing categories by default.
Managing your preferences
You can change your cookie choices any time from the footer of any page. You can also clear all Ghost cookies via your browser's settings — most browsers also allow you to block specific categories of cookies before they are set. If you clear cookies you will be signed out and may need to reconfirm your consent choices.
Updates to this policy
When we add or remove a cookie that is material to your privacy, we update this page and re-prompt you for consent where required. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent change.