Can I get a signed DPA / AVV?

Yes. We sign a standard German GDPR DPA (Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag) on request - reach out from /sales. The text is the standard form most customer DPOs already know, no surprise clauses; we also accept your own paperwork if your legal team prefers their template. Reply time is within a working day. Most teams under 50 seats don't need one (the standard plan terms cover the legal posture); larger setups get a short signed addendum alongside.

How do I export my data?

Account settings → export. Returns a JSON archive containing every record you own, every file you uploaded, and the relevant audit-log entries. No support ticket, no waiting period, no fee. Same export shape works on every plan.

How do I delete my account?

Account settings → delete. Confirms once, then removes records, files, embeddings, and audit-log entries within 30 days. Stripe payment metadata stays as long as German tax law requires it (10 years), in line with §147 AO; everything else is gone.

Who are your subprocessors?

Two: Stripe (payment processing only, transferred under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework) and our transactional mail relay (EU-hosted). Neither sees your records. The full list and what each one is allowed to touch lives at /privacy and /security.

Does Grants use Google Analytics or Meta Pixel?

No. No third-party analytics at all. Device + session metrics live in our own Postgres + Redis. The cookie banner that GA / Meta require doesn't apply because we don't load them - one fewer dialog between a visitor and the page they came for.

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Grants: the GDPR-friendly alternative to Förderberatungen / agencies

Plain-language privacy notice, standard German GDPR DPA available on request, self-serve export + delete.

GDPR alternative

EXIST

Consultants

Cost

Finn GlasCo-Founder + Engineering

·June 28, 2026·

6 min read

·Updated

GDPR isn't a checkbox - it's a posture. If you're moving off Förderberatungen / agencies because their AVV / DPA is opaque, Grants is what a clean alternative looks like: subprocessor list of two (Stripe + mail relay), self-serve export + delete from account settings, and a standard German GDPR DPA on request when your procurement team needs one.

At a glance

Förderberatungen are real experts and earn their keep on six-figure Forschungstransfer Phase II awards. For a Gründerstipendium-sized application (€139,600 over 12 months) the typical 15% commission lands at €20,940 - paid out of money you have not seen yet, on a grant you may not be awarded. And read the contract twice: many agencies bill the percentage on the applied project costs, not the awarded sum, which can turn a quoted "5%" into an effective third of what actually lands in your account. Grants charges a flat monthly fee, you keep the cheque, and the structural and language wins are about 80% of what a senior consultant brings. This is software, not Rechts- or Steuerberatung, and no tool or consultant can promise you the grant. Before signing with anyone, read our guide to negotiating consultant fees. Pick a consultant when the stakes are eight figures or the process is genuinely beyond your capacity; pick us for the rest.

GDPR posture

GDPR is a posture, not a checkbox

Three things matter under GDPR for a tool like this: (1) lawful basis for processing, (2) data subject rights (export, delete, port), and (3) the auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag / DPA chain. Grants treats them as engineering invariants, not legal optics. Lawful basis is the contract you sign with us. Subject rights are self-serve from your account settings - no support ticket required. The subprocessor list has two entries (Stripe + mail relay). A standard German GDPR DPA is available on request from /sales whenever your procurement team needs one - we don't charge for it and don't gate it behind a plan tier. Where Förderberatungen / agencies sits on each of these is the rest of this page.

Grants vs Förderberatungen / agencies: GDPR comparison

	Ours Grants	Theirs Förderberatungen / agencies
Cost on a €139,600 EXIST award	~€100/yr	~€20,000
Fee charged on… Award vs applied project costs	Flat - no % at all	Often applied costs
Upfront fee, win or lose		€2k-€8k common
Takes on small grants
PTJ language conventions
Pre-submission criteria check
Hands-on writing for you
Builds in-house grant skill for next round
Works for rival applicants in the same call	Never	Possible
You keep authorship + IP of the text		Negotiable
Available evenings + weekends
Hosted in Germany		Depends

When to pick which

Pick Grants when

Your award would be in the €60k-€200k range and a percentage fee is hard to swallow.

You want to keep the writing - and the IP - inside your own team.

You apply to multiple grants per year and need a tool, not a single engagement.

You want to build in-house grant-writing muscle, because the next round will come.

The consultant fine print scares you: % on applied costs, upfront fees, or auto-renewal clauses.

Pick Förderberatungen / agencies when

The application is Forschungstransfer Phase II or larger and a senior consultant's review is worth six figures.

You have zero capacity to write yourself and prefer to delegate the entire process.

Your grant runs through complex tax integration (e.g. Forschungszulage Phase 2) where roughly 60% of the real work happens after the Bescheinigung.

A consultant has genuine insider context on your specific reviewer panel or the politics of a multi-partner Verbund.

GDPR questions

What customer data-protection teams typically ask before signing a DPA.

Start with Grants

Free plan, no credit card. We host in Germany. Export + delete are self-serve.

Written by

Finn Glas

Co-Founder + Engineering

Finn is one of the Co-Founders. He owns the engineering side, the infrastructure, and most of the late-night fixes that ship before anyone notices.

finn.glas at aicuflow dot comLinkedIn Website