Cookie Policy

1. What this policy covers

This policy explains cookies and comparable browser technologies on vergleich-ki.de and aicompare.ninja: why we use them and how you control them. It supplements our Privacy Policy, which additionally covers the controller, recipients, retention, and your rights.

The website is operated by Martin Müller, sole proprietorship, Buttmannstraße 7A, 13357 Berlin, Germany; info@aicompare.ninja.

2. Cookies and comparable technologies

A cookie is a small text file stored on a device. Browser localStorage and sessionStorage also store and read information in a similar way without being classic cookie files. We therefore say “storage” or “technology” when a disclosure does not literally concern a cookie.

A first-party technology comes from vergleich-ki.de or aicompare.ninja itself; a third-party service connects to another provider. A session storage item ordinarily ends when the browser session closes; a persistent one remains until it expires or is deleted.

3. Legal basis

§ 25(1) TDDDG requires consent for storing or accessing information on a device, unless this serves solely to carry out the transmission or is strictly necessary to provide an expressly requested information-society service. Where the related processing concerns personal data, optional services rely on Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR. Strictly necessary processing relies, depending on purpose, on Art. 6(1)(b) or (f) GDPR, as explained in detail in the Privacy Policy. We do not use legitimate interests to bypass a required consent.

Cloudflare Web Analytics is a special case: Cloudflare states that its beacon neither sets cookies nor reads browser storage. We nevertheless require express consent because an external provider processes browser and performance data.

4. Strictly necessary storage

This storage cannot be deselected because it is required for operation, an expressly selected feature, or a login.

• vergleich-ki-consent-v1 (localStorage): stores your cookie choice. Consent is valid for no more than 180 days; a rejection remains until changed.
• vergleich-ki-price-market-v1 (localStorage): stores a manually chosen pricing region until you reset it or clear browser data.
• from-vergleich-ki (sessionStorage): remembers that you arrived from vergleich-ki.de so contact forms use the correct mailbox. Ends with the session.
• vki_ad_session (cookie, HttpOnly, Secure, SameSite=Lax): only after signing in to an advertising account, for no more than 14 days or until logout.

5. Optional statistics services

These services stay inactive until you expressly consent in the banner or through “Change your cookie settings” above. An enabled Global Privacy Control signal blocks them even if consent was previously given.

• Google Analytics 4 (Google Ireland Limited): after consent, sets _ga and _ga_<identifier> for no more than 180 days, only on www.aicompare.ninja. No ad personalization, no Google Signals.
• Cloudflare Web Analytics: cookieless performance measurement through a beacon; sets no cookies and reads no localStorage.
• Our own first-party statistics (catalog search, categories, filters, labelled ad slots): aicompare-banner-session-v1 and aicompare-journey-context-v1 (both sessionStorage), no more than 30 minutes, only on www.aicompare.ninja.

Recipients, purpose, and retention are detailed in sections 5 to 7 of the Privacy Policy.

6. Advertising and affiliate links

Partner recommendations labelled as advertising are native links in the catalog, not a display ad network. Only a click connects the browser to the provider or a partner network; those parties then set their own cookies under their own rules. A self-service product for paid placements remains publicly paused; its measurement code stays in the system but does not start.

7. Withdrawal and effect

Rejecting remains as easy to reach as accepting, and withdrawal is at least as easy as consent itself. “Withdraw consent” above immediately sets analytics and optional services to rejected, deletes the related GA4 cookies, and reloads the page. “Change your cookie settings” opens the same dialog as on a first visit and allows an individual choice. Withdrawal applies only to the future and does not undo processing that took place lawfully before it.

8. Browser controls

You can also refuse or delete cookies in your browser settings. Blocking all cookies can affect this and other websites. Deleting the stored decision removes the remembered choice, so the banner will normally appear again.

9. Changes to this policy

We update this policy when a service, purpose, recipient, or the law materially changes, and request renewed consent then where required. The date above shows the current version.