Overview
This Cookie Policy explains how Hosterr LLC (“Hosterr,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) uses cookies and similar technologies on our two sites: the marketing website at hosterr.com, and the customer control panel and sign-up at my.hosterr.com (your account, Billing, the sign-up at my.hosterr.com/start and webmail).
Cookies and similar technologies help websites function, improve security, remember preferences, understand usage, measure performance, and support marketing or analytics activities.
Hosterr LLC is based in Maine. Our business address is 115 Oak Hill Dr, Oakland, ME 04963, US.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website. They allow the website to recognize your browser or device and store certain information.
Cookies may be set directly by Hosterr, which are called first-party cookies, or by third parties that provide services used on or through the website, which are called third-party cookies.
Similar technologies may include pixels, tags, scripts, local storage, session storage, software development kits, log files, device identifiers, and other technologies that store or access information on your device or help us understand how the website is used.
How we use cookies
We may use cookies and similar technologies to operate the website, keep it secure, remember preferences, understand how visitors use the website, improve performance, diagnose technical issues, measure marketing effectiveness, prevent abuse, and improve the overall user experience.
Some cookies are necessary for the website to function properly. On hosterr.com, analytics cookies are set only if you accept analytics in the consent banner. my.hosterr.com uses only strictly necessary cookies and browser storage, plus Stripe’s cookies on the payment step.
Types of cookies we may use
The categories of cookies and similar technologies we may use include the following.
- Strictly necessary cookies: These are required for the website to function, load properly, maintain security, remember essential settings, process form submissions, and provide core website features.
- Performance and analytics cookies: These help us understand how visitors interact with the website, which pages are viewed, what content is useful, and where the website may need improvement.
- Functional cookies: These may remember preferences or settings to improve your experience on the website.
- Security cookies: These help protect the website, detect suspicious activity, reduce spam, prevent abuse, and support fraud prevention.
- Marketing and measurement cookies: These may help measure the effectiveness of campaigns, understand referral sources, or support relevant marketing activities, where permitted by law and applicable consent settings.
Third-party cookies and services
On hosterr.com we use one analytics provider: Speak Local (app.speaklocal.com), a product we make. Until you accept analytics in the consent banner, it counts your visit without setting any cookie or using your browser’s storage, and records no session replay. Once you accept, it sets the cookies listed below, records page views, clicks, form interactions and scroll depth, and sends them to app.speaklocal.com. It also captures session replays of a sampled share of visits, a reconstruction of how the page was used. Text you type into form fields is masked before it leaves your browser, so it is not captured in the replay.
hosterr.com also loads Google Tag Manager (container GTM-TXJQ8SZ), which in turn can load Google Analytics. It is held back entirely until you accept analytics. Decline, and the Google Tag Manager script is never fetched, so nothing it would have loaded runs either. When you do accept, Google Analytics sets its own cookies, typically _ga and a container-specific _ga_*, used to distinguish visitors and sessions. These are set by Google, and Google processes what they collect under its own policies.
The consent banner itself is provided by UserGuard (userguard.io), another product we make. It runs on every page of hosterr.com so that it can store your choice in your browser and hold back any script you have not agreed to. It is treated as strictly necessary, because without it we could not honor your decision.
Some cookies or similar technologies may also be placed by other third-party service providers that support website functionality, security, performance monitoring, embedded content, payment processing, or communication tools.
Third-party providers may process information according to their own privacy policies, cookie policies, and terms. Hosterr does not control third-party cookies after they are placed by those providers, and we are not responsible for the privacy or security practices of third parties.
The specific third-party tools used on the website may change over time as our website, services, and business needs evolve.
Cookie audit or declaration
These are the cookies hosterr.com sets. We do not use advertising cookies, and we do not sell or share what these collect. UserGuard also stores your consent choice in your browser so the banner does not ask again on every page.
| Cookie | Set by | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
sl_uid | Speak Local | A randomly generated visitor identifier, so repeat visits count as one visitor rather than several. Not tied to your name, email, or account. | 1 year |
sl_ignore | Speak Local | Records that you have opted out. Only created if you opt out. See Managing cookie preferences below. | 1 year |
_ga | Google Analytics | Tells visitors apart. Set only after you accept analytics. | Up to 2 years |
_ga_* | Google Analytics | Tells sessions apart for our Google Analytics property. Set only after you accept analytics. | Up to 2 years |
On hosterr.com, after you accept analytics, Speak Local also uses your browser’s session storage (cleared when you close the tab) for two short-lived values: sl_rec, which records whether this session was selected for session replay, and sl_rid, an identifier for that recording.
my.hosterr.com sets only the cookies it needs to work. They cannot be switched off, because you could not sign in or pay without them. It uses no analytics or advertising cookies.
| Cookie | Set by | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
__Host-hx_session | Hosterr | Keeps you signed in to your account. Your session also ends when you sign out, or after 12 hours without activity. | Up to 14 days |
__Host-hx_device | Hosterr | Remembers this browser after you sign in, so we can tell you when someone signs in to your account from a browser we have not seen before. | 400 days |
__Host-hx_mail | Hosterr | Keeps you signed in to webmail. | Up to 7 days |
__stripe_mid | Stripe | Set on the payment step to help prevent card fraud. | 1 year |
__stripe_sid | Stripe | Set on the payment step to help prevent card fraud. | 30 minutes |
Requests that change anything in your account are checked to make sure they come from our own pages, which protects you against forged requests from other websites.
The sign-up at my.hosterr.com/start keeps your progress in this browser tab’s session storage, so reloading the page does not lose what you entered. It is cleared when you close the tab.
After you sign in, my.hosterr.com also keeps a few preferences in your browser’s local storage, such as your color theme, the account you last opened, and how you sorted and filtered your lists. They stay in this browser until you clear them.
Stripe’s cookies and card form are provided by Stripe and are covered by Stripe’s own privacy and cookie policies.
Managing cookie preferences
When you first visit hosterr.com, a consent banner asks what you are willing to allow. Analytics cookies, session replay and Google Tag Manager only run if you accept analytics there. Decline, and no analytics cookies are set and no session is recorded. Speak Local still counts the visit without a cookie or browser storage. You can reopen the banner at any time to change your mind.
If you would rather switch Speak Local off entirely, including that count, this link does it directly and the choice sticks for a year:
Turn analytics off for this browser
That link sets an sl_ignore cookie which tells the Speak Local script to collect nothing at all on this website: no page views, no clicks, no scroll depth, and no session replay. To turn it back on, visit /?sl_ignore=0. Because the choice is stored in a cookie, it applies to this browser on this device, and clearing your cookies will clear it too.
Cookies that are strictly necessary, such as the ones that keep you signed in to my.hosterr.com and help prevent payment fraud, cannot be switched off, because the sites cannot operate without them.
Browser controls
Most browsers allow you to block, delete, or manage cookies through browser settings. Browser controls vary by browser and device, so you should review your browser’s official settings or help documentation for instructions.
If you block or delete cookies, some parts of the website may not function properly, preferences may not be saved, forms or security features may be affected, and your experience may be less personalized.
If you use multiple browsers or devices, you may need to manage cookie preferences separately for each browser and device.
Do Not Track and preference signals
Some browsers or devices may offer “Do Not Track” or similar signals. Because there is not a uniform industry standard for responding to these signals, we do not currently respond to Do Not Track signals.
Where legally required, we will honor applicable opt-out preference signals or similar mechanisms in accordance with applicable law.
How long cookies remain on your device
Cookies may be session cookies or persistent cookies. Session cookies are generally deleted when you close your browser. Persistent cookies may remain on your device until they expire or are deleted.
The length of time a cookie remains on your device depends on the purpose of the cookie, its expiration period, your browser settings, and whether you manually delete it.
Information collected through cookies
Cookies and similar technologies may collect information such as IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, referring pages, pages viewed, time spent on pages, approximate location derived from technical data, interaction data, form activity, cookie identifiers, and other usage or diagnostic information.
Some cookie data may be considered personal information under certain privacy laws. More information about how we collect, use, share, and protect personal information is available in our Privacy Policy.
Legal bases and consent
Where required by applicable law, we will request consent before using certain non-essential cookies or similar technologies. Where consent is not required, we may use cookies based on legitimate business, operational, security, analytics, or service-related purposes.
You may withdraw or adjust consent where applicable through the available cookie settings tool or by changing browser settings.
Updates to this Cookie Policy
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in technology, law, business operations, website features, third-party tools, or our use of cookies and similar technologies.
The updated version will be posted on this page with an updated “Last updated” date. Your continued use of the website after an updated Cookie Policy is posted means you acknowledge the updated policy.
Contact
Questions about this Cookie Policy may be submitted through the contact form on the Hosterr website, by email at ryan@hosterr.com, or by phone at (207) 949-5558.
Hosterr LLC, 115 Oak Hill Dr, Oakland, ME 04963, US.