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Marketing · head to head

Freshpaint vs Ghostery

Freshpaint logo

Freshpaint

Marketing

Privacy layer that lets healthcare organisations run marketing analytics without sending PHI

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Ghostery logo

Ghostery

Browser Extensions

Block ads and stop trackers

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Ghostery has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Freshpaint filtering necessarily degrades what advertising platforms receive, so campaign optimisation and lookalike modelling perform worse than an unfiltered pixel would, and the marketing team must accept measurably weaker targeting as the price of compliance.; Ghostery database of trackers requires regular updates to remain current
  • They diverge on capability: Freshpaint covers PHI detection and redaction, Ghostery covers Tracker blocking.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Freshpaint and Ghostery actually diverge.

Attributes where Freshpaint and Ghostery differ
AttributeFreshpaintGhostery
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteUnknown
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebFirefox, Chrome, Edge, Safari, Opera
CategoryMarketingBrowser Extensions
FoundedUnknown2009

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Freshpaint

  • PHI detection and redaction
  • Business associate agreement
  • Event verification
  • Pixel replacement
  • Consent governance
  • Advertising destinations
  • Analytics and session tools
  • Audience activation

Only in Ghostery

  • Tracker blocking
  • Ad blocking
  • Privacy dashboard
  • Enhanced anti-tracking
  • Chrome support
  • Firefox support
  • Edge support
  • Safari support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Freshpaint

  • A health system told by legal to remove its Meta and Google pixels that still needs to report cost per acquisition on service line campaignsnot Ghostery
  • A provider running paid search for elective procedures that must send conversion signals without disclosing which condition page a visitor viewednot Ghostery
  • A compliance officer who needs a field level record of exactly what patient related data leaves the website, for a privacy committeenot Ghostery
  • A multi-site provider group standardising tracking governance across marketing agencies that would otherwise each add their own tagsnot Ghostery

Ghostery

  • Blocking ads and sponsored content before they loadnot Freshpaint
  • Preventing tracker profiling by replacing identifying data with random valuesnot Freshpaint
  • Automatically rejecting non-essential cookie consentnot Freshpaint
  • Seeing which companies track a given site through WhoTracks.Menot Freshpaint

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Freshpaint

  • Filtering necessarily degrades what advertising platforms receive, so campaign optimisation and lookalike modelling perform worse than an unfiltered pixel would, and the marketing team must accept measurably weaker targeting as the price of compliance.
  • Pricing is not published on the vendor site despite three named tiers, and third party reports of entry around 599 US dollars a month cover only the lowest tier, with audiences and advertising activation sitting above it.
  • It addresses web and marketing tracking rather than the whole protected health information estate, so it solves one exposure while patient data in the CRM, call centre and email tooling remains a separate problem.
  • The commercial case rests on a specific regulatory interpretation of online tracking technologies, and litigation and future guidance could narrow or widen it, which makes the size of the problem it solves less stable than a compliance purchase usually is.
  • It is built for healthcare and priced accordingly, so an organisation wanting a general customer data platform pays for a regulatory specialism it does not need and gets narrower general purpose functionality than Segment or RudderStack.

Ghostery

  • Database of trackers requires regular updates to remain current
  • Some sites break functionality when trackers are aggressively blocked

Pricing, plan by plan

Freshpaint

On request
  • Comply$undefined/month
    • Governance and consent foundation
    • PHI detection and redaction
    • Web analytics, funnels and surveys
  • Perform$undefined/month
    • Everything in Comply
    • Audiences and demand side platform activation
    • Attribution, journeys and recommendations
  • Scale$undefined/month
    • Everything in Perform
    • Ad performance reporting
    • Full AI feature access

Ghostery

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Ghostery review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Freshpaint if

  • You need phi detection and redaction.
  • You also want business associate agreement.
Freshpaint review

Choose Ghostery if

  • You need tracker blocking.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Safari, Opera.
  • You also want ad blocking.
Ghostery review

Questions people ask

Is Freshpaint or Ghostery better?
Neither clearly leads. Freshpaint starts at On request and Ghostery at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Freshpaint or Ghostery?
Ghostery has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Freshpaint and Free for Ghostery.
Does Freshpaint or Ghostery run on more platforms?
Freshpaint runs on Web. Ghostery runs on Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Safari, Opera.
Can I use Ghostery for free?
Yes. Ghostery has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Freshpaint starts at On request.
What is Freshpaint best used for?
Freshpaint is most often used for a health system told by legal to remove its meta and google pixels that still needs to report cost per acquisition on service line campaigns, a provider running paid search for elective procedures that must send conversion signals without disclosing which condition page a visitor viewed, a compliance officer who needs a field level record of exactly what patient related data leaves the website, for a privacy committee, a multi-site provider group standardising tracking governance across marketing agencies that would otherwise each add their own tags. Of those, a health system told by legal to remove its meta and google pixels that still needs to report cost per acquisition on service line campaigns and a provider running paid search for elective procedures that must send conversion signals without disclosing which condition page a visitor viewed are not what Ghostery is typically brought in for.
What can Freshpaint do that Ghostery cannot?
Freshpaint covers PHI detection and redaction, Business associate agreement, Event verification, Pixel replacement. Ghostery covers Tracker blocking, Ad blocking, Privacy dashboard, Enhanced anti-tracking.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Freshpaint: Why can a hospital not just use Google Analytics?

US Department of Health and Human Services guidance treats IP addresses and health related page URLs as protected health information in this context, and advertising and analytics platforms will not sign a business associate agreement, so the disclosure is unlawful without an intermediary that filters.

Ghostery: Is Ghostery completely free?

Yes. Ghostery is a free ad blocking browser extension that you can install without paying a subscription. All of Ghostery's features are completely free to use, including ad blocking, tracker blocking, and cookie consent banner handling.

Source
Freshpaint: Does Freshpaint sign a BAA?

Yes, and it holds SOC 2 Type II. That is the central reason it exists, because the destination platforms will not.

Ghostery: What browsers does Ghostery support?

Ghostery is available for Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Edge and Safari as a browser extension.

Source
Freshpaint: What does it cost?

Freshpaint does not publish prices. Three tiers, Comply, Perform and Scale, are all sales led, and third party sources report entry around 599 US dollars a month for the lowest.

Ghostery: What data does Ghostery collect?

Ghostery collects no personal information, ensuring your privacy remains protected while using the extension.

Source
Freshpaint: Will my ad performance suffer?

Somewhat. Stripping identifiers reduces what platforms can optimise against. The trade is weaker targeting in exchange for measurement that a compliance committee will approve.

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