Terms of Service vs. Privacy Policy: What's the Difference?

These two links often sit right next to each other in a website footer, which is probably why they get treated as interchangeable. They're actually covering two entirely different things.

Privacy Policy: what happens to visitor data

This page explains what information you collect, how it's used, and whether it's shared with anyone else — covered in more detail in do you need a privacy policy page. If your site collects any personal information at all, this is the page addressing it.

Terms of Service: the rules for using your site

This page governs the relationship between you and anyone using your site or service — what's allowed, what's not, limits on your liability, and how disputes get handled. It's less about data and more about the ground rules for the interaction itself.

Do you need both?

A privacy policy is close to universal — almost any site collecting data through a contact form or analytics needs one. A Terms of Service page matters more once you have an account system, e-commerce, or specific rules you need visitors to agree to. For a simple brochure-style small business site, it's less critical, but many businesses still include a short one for extra clarity.

As with anything involving legal pages, I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advice — for anything beyond a basic setup, it's worth having someone qualified review what your specific business actually needs.