Frequently Asked Questions
PrivacyGuard FAQ
Honest answers to the questions we get asked most — about pricing, performance, data collection, and how PrivacyGuard works under the hood. No marketing spin.
- Is PrivacyGuard really free?
- Yes — core protection is permanently free with no time limit. Tracker blocking, fingerprint detection, cookie analysis, real-time privacy scoring, and HTTPS enforcement are all included at no cost, with no credit card required. We offer an optional Pro plan for power users who want advanced features like breach monitoring alerts, full browsing history analysis, and multi-device sync. But the free tier gives you comprehensive privacy protection on its own, and that will never change. Privacy tools that paywall basic protection defeat their own purpose.
- Does PrivacyGuard slow down my browser?
- No. PrivacyGuard is built on Chrome's Manifest V3 architecture using the Declarative Net Request API — the method Google designed specifically for efficient, low-overhead extensions. Blocking decisions are made by the browser engine itself, not by JavaScript running in a background tab. The extension uses less than 8 MB of memory at rest and runs no persistent background service worker. In practice, blocking trackers and third-party scripts typically makes pages load 10–30% faster because those scripts never download in the first place.
- How is this different from uBlock Origin?
- uBlock Origin is excellent at ad and tracker blocking and has one of the best filtering engines available. PrivacyGuard does tracker blocking too, but adds several layers uBlock does not have: real-time detection of seven fingerprinting techniques (canvas, WebGL, audio, battery, fonts, navigator, and screen APIs), full cookie categorization and audit per site, a 0–100 privacy score calculated fresh on every page visit, automatic cookie consent banner rejection, and WebRTC leak prevention. If your only concern is blocking ads, uBlock Origin is a great choice. If you want to understand exactly how each site is tracking you and get a clear risk assessment, PrivacyGuard is built for that use case.
- Does PrivacyGuard collect my browsing data?
- No. All analysis — tracker detection, cookie scanning, fingerprint identification, privacy scoring — happens entirely inside your browser. PrivacyGuard never reads the URLs you visit, never logs which sites you go to, and never transmits your browsing history anywhere. On the free tier, the only network requests the extension makes are: weekly downloads of updated blocklists, and breach database queries when you explicitly use the Breach Checker tool. You can verify this in Chrome DevTools by watching network requests while PrivacyGuard runs — you will see nothing phoning home during normal browsing.
- Will it break websites?
- Rarely, and you are in control when it does. PrivacyGuard is tuned to block third-party trackers without affecting site functionality. Essential first-party cookies and scripts are never blocked. Occasionally a site relies on a third-party script that PrivacyGuard blocks — this can cause embedded videos, social login buttons, or comment sections to stop working. You can whitelist any site in one click from the extension popup to pause protection for that domain. We also maintain a curated compatibility list that prevents false positives on high-traffic sites like banking portals and government services.
- Does it work on all Chrome-based browsers?
- Yes. PrivacyGuard works on any Chromium-based browser that supports Manifest V3 extensions: Chrome 88+, Microsoft Edge 88+, Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi. It does not currently support Firefox (which uses its own WebExtensions API with different blocking primitives) or Safari (which requires Apple's Safari Web Extension format). Both Firefox and Safari versions are on the roadmap. For mobile, Chrome for Android supports extensions only in limited beta — a dedicated mobile privacy app is planned for 2026.
- How are the privacy scores calculated?
- Each site receives a score from 0 (worst) to 100 (best) based on four weighted factors. Trackers blocked contributes up to 40 points — more active trackers found means a lower score. Fingerprinting attempts contribute up to 30 points — active fingerprinting scripts reduce the score significantly. Cookie practices contribute up to 20 points — excessive third-party and marketing cookies lower the score. Connection security contributes 10 points — HTTP-only or mixed-content pages lose these points automatically. The score is calculated fresh on every page visit and shown in the toolbar popup instantly. A score above 80 is privacy-respectful. Below 40 means the site is aggressively tracking you.
- How often is the tracker list updated?
- The blocklist is updated automatically once a week. PrivacyGuard pulls the latest rules from our hosted blocklist server, which merges EasyList, EasyPrivacy, and our own curated additions — including trackers common in emerging markets that mainstream lists miss. Critical additions are pushed as emergency updates outside the weekly schedule when a major new tracker is detected in the wild. You do not need to take any action: Chrome delivers extension updates silently in the background. You can see the current list version in the extension settings page.
- Can I whitelist specific sites?
- Yes. Click the PrivacyGuard shield icon in your toolbar, then toggle "Pause protection for this site" at the top of the popup. This adds the domain to your allowlist and persists across browser restarts. You can also manage your full allowlist from the extension settings page, where you can add or remove domains at any time. Allowlisting is per domain — so allowlisting example.com pauses protection on all pages at that domain but not on other sites. All allowlist data is stored locally in Chrome and never sent to our servers.
- Is PrivacyGuard open source?
- The tracker blocklist tooling and filter list processing pipeline are open source and available on our GitHub. We use and contribute back to EasyList and EasyPrivacy, both licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 3.0. The full extension source code is not currently open source, but we plan to open source the core extension in 2026 as part of our long-term transparency commitment. In the meantime, all permissions requested by the extension are fully documented in our privacy policy, and the extension has passed the Chrome Web Store security and privacy review process.
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Our support team typically responds within a few hours on weekdays.
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