Privacy Policy

Overview

This Privacy Policy explains what information AdvPulse collects, how we use and share it, and the choices you have. It covers three kinds of information: what we receive when anyone uses our free public tools (the public adviser search and the ChatGPT plugin); the account and usage data of our customers; and the publicly-sourced professional data we process about personnel in the financial services and investment industry.

Information we collect from you

When you sign up for and use the Service, we collect:

• Account data from your Google profile when you sign in with Google — your name, email address, and avatar image.
• Session data — your IP address, browser user agent, and cookies used to keep you signed in and to secure the Service.
• Chat content and uploads — the messages, prompts, and files you submit to the Service.
• Usage and billing data — how you use the Service and your subscription and payment records, with card payments processed by our payment provider, Stripe.

Information we collect before you have an account

Your first visit. The first time your browser opens one of our public pages, we set one first-party cookie named advpulse_visitor and record that visit. The cookie holds a random identifier, lasts up to one year, cannot be read by scripts on the page, and is used only by us — we use no third-party analytics or advertising trackers. The record holds the time, the page you opened, the address of the site that sent you there without its query string, any campaign tags in the link you followed (the utm_ parameters, such as the newsletter or post it came from), your browser’s user agent, and the country our network reports for your connection. We do not record a visit from a browser that already carries the cookie, from a search engine’s crawler, or to a page whose address carries a private code.

Invitation links. If you open a personal invitation link we sent you, we set the same cookie and record that the invitation link was opened, that you saw the preview of the workspace we prepared and clicked through from it, that an account was created from it, and that the workspace was claimed. We recognize the account you create from the invitation by that cookie or, where it does not identify one, by matching the address you sign up with to the address we sent the invitation to. Each record holds the time and which invitation it belongs to (and so the person we addressed it to), and, where the request gives them to us, the kind of page visited (never the link’s secret code), your browser’s user agent, the country our network reports for your connection, and the address of the referring page without its query string.

Once you have an account. We also record that your account was created, the first time you view each research run, each run you start, and each purchase. These records hold the same details as above (the time, the page, your browser’s user agent, the country our network reports and the address of the referring page without its query string) and, for a run, its identifier and kind, and for a purchase, its kind and amount. The cookie identifies a browser, not a person, and it grants no access to anything. Once you create an account, the records above can be linked to it and to your workspace. We use them to learn which of our pages, posts and invitations bring people to AdvPulse, whether they are useful, and to improve the first minutes of the product.

Product updates. If you ask for product updates on our website, we keep your email address to send them, and stop when you unsubscribe — every message carries a one-click unsubscribe link. You may also tell us which features you want to hear about; we keep that choice with your subscription. We also record that the request was made and the features you chose (never your address), linked to our cookie if your browser already carries it. That record holds the same details as above (the time, the page, your browser’s user agent, the country our network reports and the address of the referring page without its query string).

This section was updated on October 11, 2026.

Public search and the ChatGPT plugin

AdvPulse, including its public search page and its ChatGPT plugin, is operated by AdvisorPulse Inc. Anyone can search public adviser data in these two places without an account. This section explains what each one collects, why, who receives it, and how long we keep it.

The public search page. When you search on the page, we receive your search (a firm name, a CRD number, a phrase, or filters) and your IP address. We use your IP address only to limit how many searches one visitor can make in a minute and in a day. If you are signed in, we count your searches against your account instead, and a paying account is not limited. We log the firm name, CRD number, or phrase you search for, with the time, the outcome of the search, how long the search took, whether you were signed in or on a paying account (not which account), and, if you arrived by one of our links, the campaign word in the link that brought you, so we can see how search is used and keep it working. That log entry does not include your IP address or your account, so it is not linked to you. Our load balancer also keeps a standard request log. For a search on the page it holds the address requested, which includes the firm name, CRD number or brochure phrase you searched for (a filter search is sent separately and is not in the address), the time, and the network address the request came from; requests reach us through Cloudflare, so that address is Cloudflare’s and not yours.

The ChatGPT plugin. When you use the AdvPulse plugin in ChatGPT, ChatGPT sends us the search arguments for each request (such as a firm name, a CRD number, a phrase, or filters) and an anonymised id that ChatGPT assigns to you, or, if it sends none, to the conversation. We use the anonymised id only to limit how many searches one ChatGPT user can make in a minute and in a day, and we keep it only as a one-way hash inside those counts. Anything else ChatGPT includes with a request, such as your language or approximate location, we neither use nor keep. We do not log your search text: for each request we log only which search ran, when, its outcome, how long it took, and that it came through ChatGPT rather than a signed-in or paying account.

The data you see. Both return public data from filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: investment advisers’ Form ADV registrations and the brochures they file. Where the page or the plugin shows a line reading “Filing data as of” a date, that is the date the data comes from, and the data does not reflect changes filed after it.

Who receives it. We do not sell this information. Our network provider, Cloudflare, carries every request to the page and to the plugin on its way to us, so it receives what each request contains: on the page, your IP address and your search; from ChatGPT, the search arguments and the anonymised id. What we keep is held by our hosting provider, Google Cloud Platform. Both are described under Service providers below. The results you see in ChatGPT are returned to OpenAI, which runs ChatGPT, so that it can show them to you; they are public filing data, not information about you.

How long we keep it. The counts that hold your IP address, your account id, or the hashed ChatGPT id delete themselves: the per-minute counts within two minutes, and the per-day counts one minute after the day ends (days run on Coordinated Universal Time). If our shared store for these counts cannot be reached, the server keeps them in its own memory instead, and they are gone when it restarts. Each successful answer is kept in the server’s memory for up to 24 hours so that a repeated search is answered without a new lookup; it is stored under a one-way hash of the search and is linked to no visitor. The search log and the load balancer’s request log are kept for 30 days and then deleted.

This section was added on October 2, 2026.

How we use your information

We use the information we collect from you to:

• provide, operate, secure, and improve the Service;
• authenticate you, maintain your session, and prevent fraud and abuse;
• process payments, manage your subscription, and meter usage;
• respond to your requests and provide support; and
• comply with our legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Service.

Publicly-sourced professional data we process

The Service processes professional information about personnel in the financial services and investment industry that we obtain from public sources, including filings from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and its Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) system, and aggregated, publicly available business contact data. This may include names, professional affiliations, registration and licensing history, business locations, and business contact details.

We process this professional data for two purpose-limited uses. The first is enabling our customers’ sales activities directed to or on behalf of the financial services and investment industry. The second is our free public tools, which let anyone research investment adviser firms: they use only the SEC filing data (a firm’s Form ADV registration and the text of its brochures, which can name the people who run the firm), and they show no personal contact details. We do not use this data to determine any individual’s eligibility for credit, employment, insurance, or housing; our customers are contractually prohibited from doing so, and so is anyone using the public tools. The public tools were added to these uses on October 4, 2026.

Service providers

We share information with third-party service providers who process it on our behalf and under our instructions, only as needed to run the Service:

• Google — authentication (sign-in with Google).
• Stripe — payment and subscription processing.
• Resend — transactional and notice email delivery.
• Google Cloud Platform — hosting and infrastructure.
• Cloudflare — the network that carries requests to the Service.
• LLM / AI providers — generating the AI outputs you request.

We do not sell your account data. We may disclose information where required by law, to protect our rights and the safety of others, or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.

Retention

We retain personal information for as long as your account is active and as needed to provide the Service, and thereafter as required to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. We retain records of your acceptance of our Terms for the life of your account. When information is no longer needed, we delete or de-identify it.

Your choices and contact

You may access or update your account information, or request deletion of your account, by contacting us. Deleting your account also erases the associated record of your acceptance of our Terms. Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights over your personal information; we will honor applicable rights on request.

If you use only the public tools. You can use them without an account, and they do not ask for your name or email address. In ChatGPT, you can stop using the AdvPulse plugin, or remove it in ChatGPT’s settings, at any time; your ChatGPT conversations are covered by OpenAI’s privacy policy and the data controls ChatGPT offers. The records we keep from the public tools are not linked to you (see Public search and the ChatGPT plugin), so we usually cannot find one that belongs to you, but you may still write to us with any question or request about them.

If you work for an investment adviser. The public tools show your firm’s information as it was filed with the SEC, along with passages from its brochures, which can name the people who run the firm. To change what they show, amend the filing with the SEC; the change appears in AdvPulse after we next update our data. If you believe we show a filing incorrectly, write to us.

To exercise any of these choices, or with any privacy question, contact us at [email protected].

The paragraphs on the public tools and on investment advisers were added on October 4, 2026.

Children

AdvPulse, including its free public tools, is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

This section was added on October 4, 2026.

Changes to this Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the version and effective date shown above and provide notice. Your continued use of the Service after an update takes effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy.