Is Heap GDPR compliant?

What does Heap do?

Product analytics that captures every interaction automatically rather than requiring events to be defined. Recording everything by default makes data minimisation something you have to configure back in.

Does Heap need consent?

Yes. Heap is Analytics, which is never strictly necessary for a website to function. Under ePrivacy Article 5(3), and its national transpositions, storing or reading anything on the device for that purpose requires consent first, and that consent has to be as easy to refuse as it is to give.

ePrivacy Art. 5(3) · TDDDG § 25 (DE) · TKG 2021 § 165(3) (AT) · GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)

Does Heap send data outside the EEA?

Yes. Heap processes data outside the European Economic Area, so you need a transfer mechanism under Chapter V and you have to say so in your privacy policy. In practice this means standard contractual clauses, or a provider certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.

GDPR Art. 44 · GDPR Art. 46

What can I use instead of Heap?

How do we detect Heap?

We load your page in a real browser as a first-time visitor who clicks nothing, then look at what it contacted. Heap is recognised by requests to heap.io and heapanalytics.com, and we report whether it merely loaded or actually sent data, and whether it set a cookie before any choice was made.