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 Microsoft Word

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

GDPR alternative

EXIST

Word

Finn GlasCo-Founder + Engineering

·December 17, 2025·

1 min read

GDPR isn't a checkbox - it's a posture. If you're moving off Microsoft Word 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

Word is excellent at one thing: any document. The trade-off for that flexibility is zero structure when you sit down to write an EXIST Gründerstipendium Ideenpapier. Grants ships the section structure (Idea, Innovation, Market, Team, Plan) reviewers actually open the PDF looking for - plus deadline tracking, status, and the 4-week revision window that gets a "zur Nachbesserung zurückgegeben" Antrag back into the awarded pile.

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 Microsoft Word sits on each of these is the rest of this page.

Grants vs Microsoft Word: GDPR comparison

	Ours Grants	Theirs Microsoft Word
Section structure for EXIST/IGP
Deadline + status tracking
PTJ language conventions
Multi-author live editing
Works fully offline
Existing reviewer template files
Hosted in Germany		Microsoft 365: depends on your setup

When to pick which

Pick Grants when

You are writing an EXIST, Forschungstransfer, IGP, or BW Pre-Seed application and want the structure handed to you.

Two or three co-founders edit the same draft and you do not want to rename final_v17_finalfinal.docx.

Submission deadline matters. The 4-week revision window after a Nachbesserungs-Aufforderung matters more.

Pick Microsoft Word when

You already have a reviewer template Word file from your university and the reviewer expects exactly that file.

You write the entire application offline on long flights.

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