By installing PaperTrail, creating an account, or using any PaperTrail Academic product or service (collectively, the "Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree, do not use the Service.
These Terms constitute a legally binding agreement between you ("User," "you") and Michael Smith operating as PaperTrail Academic ("PaperTrail Academic," "we," "us," or "our").
The Service is intended for use by educators and education professionals only.
You must be 18 years of age or older to create a teacher account. The Chrome extension and PaperTrail Write teacher dashboard must not be used directly by students. Students participate in PaperTrail Write sessions only as directed by their teacher — they do not create accounts and are not subject to these Terms.
PaperTrail Academic does not knowingly collect data from or about students beyond what is necessary to operate a teacher-assigned writing session. All teacher-facing interactions with the Service are through the educator's account.
PaperTrail Academic provides tools for writing monitoring, analysis, and authorship consistency review. The Service includes:
PaperTrail reports are analytical data points, not findings of fact.
The Service produces similarity scores, metrics, and AI-assisted observations. These outputs:
You, the educator, are solely responsible for all decisions made using PaperTrail report output. PaperTrail Academic bears no liability for any disciplinary action, academic consequence, or harm arising from use of or reliance on the Service. See Section 12 (Limitation of Liability).
Every report generated by the Service includes a mandatory disclaimer. That disclaimer is not formality — it reflects a genuine limitation of the technology.
Registration. A teacher account is required to access StyleMatch, Verify, and PaperTrail Write features. You agree to provide accurate information and keep your credentials secure. You may sign in using email and password or via Google OAuth.
PaperTrail Write — trial plan. New teacher accounts on PaperTrail Write begin on a free trial plan, which allows a limited number of assignments and class rosters. Trial limits are enforced server-side. Exceeding trial limits requires a paid plan.
Feature tiers — Chrome extension. Access to Chrome extension features is determined by your current account and subscription status:
| Feature | No account | Free account | Verify credits only | StyleMatch subscriber | StyleMatch + Verify |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inspect (core) | ✓ Full | ✓ Full | ✓ Full | ✓ Full | ✓ Full |
| Paste analysis & struggle moments | — | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| StyleMatch | — | 3 runs | 3 runs (if unused) | ✓ Unlimited | ✓ Unlimited |
| Verify Consistency Report | — | — | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Verify Baseline Deviation Report | — | — | — | — | ✓ |
Feature availability is subject to change. Material changes will be communicated in advance per Section 14.
One account per person. Accounts are for individual use and may not be shared, transferred, or used by more than one person.
Account termination. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, engage in fraudulent activity, or attempt to circumvent access controls.
Billing. Paid subscriptions and credit packs are processed by Lemon Squeezy, our payment processor and Merchant of Record. By purchasing a subscription or credit pack, you agree to Lemon Squeezy's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, available at lemonsqueezy.com.
Lemon Squeezy as Merchant of Record. Lemon Squeezy handles all payment processing, invoicing, and applicable sales tax and VAT obligations. PaperTrail Academic is not responsible for tax collection on your purchase.
Pricing.
Prices are in USD and subject to change with notice. Changes to subscription pricing will be communicated at least 30 days in advance.
Verify credits are non-expiring and non-transferable. They are tied to your account and cannot be moved to another account or refunded once consumed.
Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period. You may cancel at any time; cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. No partial-period refunds are issued. Upon cancellation, your account reverts to the free or trial tier.
Refunds. Refund requests may be submitted to hello@papertrailacademic.com within 7 days of purchase, provided no reports have been generated or sessions run under the purchased plan. Credits consumed prior to a refund request are non-refundable. We handle refund requests on a case-by-case basis.
You agree not to:
StyleMatch (on-device): All stylometric computations are performed locally in your browser. No text you enter into the StyleMatch panel is transmitted to PaperTrail Academic or any third party. This feature is privacy-safe by design.
Verify (AI-assisted analysis): When you run a Verify report, the text you submit is:
Text submitted through Verify is not stored by PaperTrail Academic beyond the metadata required to save your report (report ID, scores, timestamps, and any student name or assignment label you enter). The full essay text is not retained after the report is generated.
Anthropic processes submitted text under its commercial API terms, which prohibit using API inputs for model training. As of September 2025, Anthropic retains API inputs for 7 days before automatic deletion. See anthropic.com/privacy for their full policy.
PaperTrail Write (web application): PaperTrail Write is designed as a transit system, not a data vault. Student writing data is held transiently in a secure backend (Supabase, hosted on AWS) for the duration of the session.
The teacher is the data custodian. After a session ends, the teacher downloads a session report containing student writing and process logs. Student submission data is then purged automatically from PaperTrail's servers — untimed sessions after 30 days, timed sessions after 7 days, and ended sessions within 24 hours. These purges are automatic and cannot be reversed.
For PaperTrail Write specifically:
Your responsibility. You are responsible for ensuring that your use of the Service complies with your institution's data governance policies and applicable education privacy law in your jurisdiction (including but not limited to FERPA in the United States and GDPR in the European Union). Where required, you should anonymize student-identifying information before submitting text through Verify.
EU Users. If you are located in the European Union or processing data subject to GDPR, you acknowledge that text submitted through Verify and PaperTrail Write is processed in the United States by Anthropic, Inc. and by Supabase (AWS). By using these features, you represent that you have a lawful basis for this processing under GDPR.
Our IP. The Service, including all code, algorithms, UI design, report templates, scoring methodology, and branding, is the intellectual property of Michael Smith / PaperTrail Academic. All rights reserved.
Your content. You retain all rights to the text you submit through the Service. By submitting text through Verify or PaperTrail Write, you grant PaperTrail Academic a limited, non-exclusive license to process that text solely for the purpose of generating your requested report or operating your writing session. This license does not include the right to store, reproduce, or share your submitted text beyond what is necessary to operate the Service.
Report output. Reports generated by the Service are for your professional use. You may include them in institutional records, documentation, or communications related to your professional duties. You may not redistribute or resell report output.
The Service relies on the following third-party providers. Their terms and privacy policies govern their respective portions of the Service:
PaperTrail Academic is not responsible for the practices, availability, or actions of these third-party providers.
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.
PaperTrail Academic does not warrant that:
Stylometric analysis is a probabilistic tool with known error rates. It is not forensic evidence. You use the Service and its outputs entirely at your own risk.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, PAPERTRAIL ACADEMIC AND ITS OPERATOR (MICHAEL SMITH) SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY:
OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING FROM THE SERVICE SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID TO PAPERTRAIL ACADEMIC IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM.
Some jurisdictions do not allow limitation of liability for certain types of damages. In such jurisdictions, our liability is limited to the greatest extent permitted by law.
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless PaperTrail Academic and Michael Smith from any claims, damages, costs, or expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from:
We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify users of material changes by email or by a notice within the Service at least 14 days before the change takes effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.
We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time for violation of these Terms. You may terminate your account at any time by contacting hello@papertrailacademic.com. Upon termination, your subscription will not be refunded for the remaining period except as provided in Section 6.
Sections 4, 9, 11, 12, and 13 survive termination.
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, USA, without regard to conflict of law principles.
Any dispute arising from these Terms or your use of the Service shall first be addressed by contacting hello@papertrailacademic.com. If a dispute cannot be resolved informally, it shall be submitted to binding arbitration under the rules of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), conducted in English.
Nothing in this section prevents either party from seeking injunctive or equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction where necessary to protect intellectual property or confidential information.
Entire agreement. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and PaperTrail Academic regarding the Service.
Severability. If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force.
No waiver. Failure to enforce any provision of these Terms does not constitute a waiver of our right to enforce it in the future.
Contact. Questions about these Terms may be directed to hello@papertrailacademic.com.