Do you sell my personal data?

No. We never sell your personal information. We also never share it with third-party advertisers. Your data is only used to personalise your experience and send you the emails and alerts you've signed up for.

Is my payment information secure?

Yes. We don't handle your card details directly u2014 Stripe processes all payments and we never see your card number. We only receive transaction status and amount information.

Is my data stored in Australia?

Yes. Your database, website, and AI processing all run on Australian infrastructure that we own and operate. Your photos and garden journal never get sent to OpenAI, Google, or other third-party AI vendors.

What happens to my data when I delete my account?

When you delete your account, we delete all your personal data u2014 garden journal, photos, and history u2014 within 30 days. Server logs are kept for 90 days, then automatically rotated out.

Does Garden Buddy use tracking cookies?

No. We only use the minimum cookies needed (PHPSESSID and logged-in cookie). We don't use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or third-party tracking. Our analytics tool, Koko Analytics, doesn't set tracking cookies.

Privacy

Plain English. We collect what we need to run the service, nothing more, and we never sell it.

What we collect

If you sign up for an account: your email address, the password you choose (stored hashed, not in plain text), your postcode (used to determine your climate zone), the crops you add to your garden journal, and the photos you upload for pest identification.

If you pay us: Stripe handles the payment data and we never see your card number. We see the transaction status (paid/failed/refunded) and the amount.

If you visit any page: standard server logs (IP address, browser, page requested, timestamp). We use Koko Analytics, which is privacy-friendly and does not set tracking cookies.

What we do with it

We use your zone and active crops to personalise advice. We use your email to send the digests and alerts you signed up for, and to recover your account if you forget your password. We use server logs to fix bugs and detect abuse.

That is it. We never sell your data. We never share it with third-party advertisers. Logged-in members never see ads. We do not have a marketing relationship with any plant nursery, seed supplier, or garden product brand — though we may add affiliate links in the future, in which case we will tell you clearly which links are affiliates.

How long we keep it

While your account is active, we keep your garden journal, photos, and history. If you delete your account, we delete all your personal data within 30 days. Server logs are kept for 90 days then automatically rotated out.

Where it lives

Our database is hosted in Australia. The site runs on Australian infrastructure. The AI processing happens on hardware we own, located in Australia — your photos do not get sent to OpenAI, Google, or any other third-party AI vendor.

Stripe (which handles payments) is a US company and complies with Australian Privacy Principles. Their privacy policy is at stripe.com/au/privacy.

Your rights

Under the Australian Privacy Act, you can:

Ask us what data we hold about you (we will export it as JSON within 30 days)
Ask us to correct anything that is wrong
Ask us to delete everything (full account deletion, 30-day SLA)
Complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner if you think we have done the wrong thing

For any of the above, email support@gardenbuddy.au.

Cookies

We use the minimum number of cookies needed to make the site work. PHPSESSID and a logged-in cookie are required. We do not use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or any third-party tracking.

Last updated: 12 April 2026.