AI detectors ranked by stated data retention

Field sorted: the retention period for submitted text or images in days, as the vendor's policy states it, compiled on 9 November 2026. Direction: shorter ranks higher. Zero means the policy says submissions are not stored or are deleted after analysis. Tie rule: seven cards tie at 0, so ties break on study records per card, most first, then product name alphabetically (AI or Not and Scribbr 1 each, AI or Not first by name; Phrasly, Sightengine, Smodin, Undetectable AI and WasItAI 0, in name order). Qualification rule: a policy that states a number of days or states that submissions are not stored; a policy that keeps content "for as long as the account is active", "for as long as reasonably necessary" or inside a report states no period and is quoted in the second table, unranked. Where a vendor states one period for its API and none for its web tool, the stated period is ranked and the web tool's wording is given as the limitation. 5 of 22 qualified on the morning of 9 November 2026; 9 of 28 after the six cards of the third wave (AI or Not and Undetectable AI at 0, SynthID at 1 day, Grammarly Authorship at 3,650 days); 13 of 38 after the ten cards of the fourth wave the same day (Sightengine and Smodin at 0, TruthScan at 30 days, Compilatio at 1,825 days); 13 of 72 after the four cards of the fifth wave, none of which states a period for submitted media (Illuminarty, Pindrop Pulse, Resemble Detect and Codeleaks sit in the second table). Sensity's policy states one period, three years, for biometric data, which the policy ties to selfie videos and identification documents rather than submitted media, so the Sensity field is empty and the clause is quoted in the second table. Full rules: methodology page.

A retention statement can live in four places and say four things. Phrasly's detector page promises deletion "immediately after analysis" while its terms claim a perpetual licence over contributions (phrasly.ai; terms, read 8 November 2026). GPTZero's FAQ separates API calls, not stored, from dashboard inputs, stored and used in aggregate (gptzero.me, read 8 November 2026). Copyleaks' pricing page describes a "Shared Data Hub, a free, secure library of millions of user-submitted documents" while its API FAQ says API content is not stored (copyleaks.com, read 8 November 2026). Codequiry's footer and policy say code without the Rapid add-on is kept indefinitely while its detector FAQ says submissions can be deleted at any time (codequiry.com, read 9 November 2026). The ranking takes the most specific statement about the detector's input and quotes the contradiction beside it.

A period says how long a vendor keeps text; a route says how a user removes it, and 17 cards state one, from a trash icon to a written request, on the deletion routes question, added 9 November 2026. The law firms view and the government view, added the same day, read the periods here beside deployment, and the compliance view beside each vendor's named standards.

Two twelfth-wave views read this field beside others: the customer support QA view requires a stated period with an API, a short-text statement and a bulk route, and the team seats and SSO view notes the data terms that enterprise and team tiers add, both read 10 November 2026.