The short version
- You can take any test and see your free result without an account or email address.
- Your individual answers are stored only if you tick the optional research consent box. It is unchecked by default.
- We never sell your answers, your results or your email address.
- Shareable result links and share images contain your scores only, never your answers or who you are.
- Email, accounts, group maps, the extra questions about you and paid reports are all optional.
- An account never makes anything public. A result is linked to your account only when you press save for it.
What we collect when you take a test
When you finish a test, we record your axis scores, the test you took, your language, when you started, how long it took, your country (see Cloudflare below) and basic referral information such as the page or campaign that brought you here. This lets us show your result and understand how the site is used. It is not linked to your name or email.
This applies to all our tests: the Political Compass Test, the Political Values Test and the 12 Axes Political Test. For the 12 Axes test we record your 12 axis scores and the length you chose (Quick, Standard or Deep). Your closest ideologies, parties and historical figures are worked out from those scores when the page loads and are not stored. The short quizzes work the same way: we record the quiz score (for the "Which ... are you?" quizzes, the axis scores and the closest figure), not who you are.
If you opt in to research, we also store your answer to each statement. We use these answers only in aggregate, to check that questions are clear and balanced and to improve the tests. You can say no and still get your full result.
Optional questions about you. We may ask for an age band and gender after the test. Both are optional, have a "prefer not to say" choice, and are used only for aggregate statistics such as "how results differ by age".
Public statistics. Our live stats page publishes totals only: no group with fewer than 50 people is shown, nothing is broken down by more than one detail at a time, and no single result can be picked out.
Special category data
Under the GDPR, political opinions are a special category of personal data. We only store your individual answers, and any result linked to your email address, on the basis of your explicit consent. You can give or refuse it, and withdraw it at any time by writing to privacy@politicaltests.org.
If you ask us to email you your result, we store your email address, the result you asked for and when you asked. We use Resend to send email.
- Transactional email: the result you requested. Sending it is the reason you gave us your address.
- Marketing email: occasional new tests and quizzes, only if you tick the separate, unticked opt-in box.
- Every marketing email has a one-click unsubscribe link. Unsubscribing stops all further marketing email straight away.
Group maps
Group maps work with the Compass and Values tests. When you join one, the nickname you choose and your position on the map are visible to anyone who has the group link. Pick a nickname that does not identify you if you prefer. Group pages are not listed in search engines. The person who created the group can close it to new members. You can ask us to remove your dot, or a whole group you created, at privacy@politicaltests.org; include the group link.
Paid reports
If you buy a detailed report (available for the Compass and Values tests), payment is handled by Dodo Payments, which acts as the merchant of record: they process your payment details, handle tax, and send the receipt. We do not see your full card details. To build your report we store the answers from that test together with your order and email address, with your consent, so we can deliver the report and let you download it again later. We also keep your country and, if you gave one, your age band with the order, so the report can compare you with others. Refunds are covered on the refund policy page.
Accounts
An account is optional. It lets you keep your results in one place and see how your views change over time. Every test and every result works without one. There are no public profiles, usernames, avatars, followers or feeds: nothing on your account is ever shown to anyone else.
- What we store: your email address, your name if Google sends one, when you signed up, and your sign-in sessions. We do not store your IP address or your browser details with a session.
- Saved results: a result is linked to your account only when you press "Save this result to my account" (or tick it in the list of results taken in your browser, which are all unticked at first). We record when you gave that consent. If you save a result from a shared link, we store its scores only. Answers to each statement are only there if you ticked the research box when you took the test. The same applies to quick quiz results: they are linked to your account only when you save them, and deleting your account deletes them.
- Sign-in by email: we email you a link that works once and expires after 15 minutes. We use Resend to send it.
- Sign-in with Google: Google tells us your email address and your name. Nothing else: no contacts, no profile picture, no access to your Google account. We do not keep Google's access tokens.
- Cookie: signing in sets one cookie that keeps you signed in for up to 30 days. It is only set when you sign in. Pages stay the same for everyone; your account data is loaded separately and never cached.
- Reports and group maps: reports you buy while signed in, or with your account's email, and group maps you created in your browser are listed on your account page.
- Export: one click on your account page downloads everything linked to your account as a JSON file.
- Deletion: one click (and typing DELETE) deletes your account, your sessions, your sign-in methods and every saved result, for good. Report orders are kept for accounting and refunds, without the link to your account; the report link in your email keeps working. Group maps stay up for their members. You choose whether your address also leaves the email list.
Cloudflare and share images
Our site runs behind Cloudflare, which protects it and caches pages so they load fast. Cloudflare tells us which country a visit comes from; we store the country with a result, never your IP address. Cached pages are the same for everyone and contain no personal data.
Share images (the result posters) are created from your scores and kept in Cloudflare R2 storage so they do not have to be drawn again. They contain only the scores and the result name, and are the same for everyone with the same scores.
Cookies, analytics and ads
The site works without cookies. The only cookie we set ourselves is the sign-in cookie, and only if you sign in to an optional account. We count visits with privacy-respecting analytics. We may show Google AdSense ads on some free pages (never inside a test, never above your result). Google may use cookies or similar technology to show and measure ads. Visitors in the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland will be asked for consent first; until a consent tool is in place, we do not show ads there. You can manage Google ad personalization in your Google account settings.
The mini political compass test that other websites embed from us works the same way: no cookies, no ads, no third-party scripts and no IP addresses, and a finished test saves only the scores, the embedding site's hostname and coarse context such as country and device type.
How long we keep data
- Anonymous results and research answers: kept for research while the tests run, never linked to your identity.
- Email address and email preferences: until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete them.
- Accounts and saved results: until you delete your account (one click on the account page). Sign-in links expire after 15 minutes, sessions after 30 days.
- Group maps: until the group is deleted at your request or the creator's request.
- Orders and invoices: as long as tax law requires.
- Server logs: a few days, for security and fixing errors.
Your rights
You can ask to access, correct or delete personal data we hold about you, to withdraw consent, and to object to how we use it. Write to privacy@politicaltests.org. Because results without an account are not linked to your identity, we may need the result link, the group link or the email address you used to find them. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.
Changes
We will update this page when our practices change, and note the date of the latest revision here.