The comparison
| Claude.ai (Free/Pro/Max) | Ask Safely | |
|---|---|---|
| Trains on your data | Opt-out, not opt-in. If you don't turn off "Help improve Claude," your conversations are eligible for training. Anthropic's own privacy policy: "We may use your Inputs and Outputs to train and improve Anthropic AI models, unless you opt out." | Never. AWS Bedrock's contract prohibits training. Anthropic has zero access to Bedrock inference logs, prompts, or completions. |
| How long chats are kept | 30 days if training is off. Up to 5 years (de-identified) if training is on. Safety-flagged content held up to 2 years regardless of your settings. Trust & Safety classification scores held up to 7 years. | Auto-deletes on a timer you choose: 8 hours (default), 7 days, or 30 days. Database TTL index. When the timer hits zero, the conversation is gone. |
| Memory | On by default since March 2026, all tiers including free. Extracts facts from your conversations automatically. If training is also on, the conversations feeding memory are subject to 5-year retention. | Off by default. Turned on only with explicit consent. Every fact visible, editable, deletable. Declined facts hard-deleted with no trace. No hidden inference layer. |
| Encryption | AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.2+ in transit. No per-user encryption keys for consumer accounts. Customer-managed keys available only on Enterprise. | AES-256-GCM with per-user data encryption keys, KMS envelope encryption. Memory system is fail-closed. |
| Anthropic's access to your data | Full. Anthropic operates the infrastructure, processes all requests, and can access conversations for Trust & Safety review. | None. On Bedrock, AWS deep-copies Claude's software into isolated accounts Anthropic cannot access. Anthropic has zero visibility into your conversations. |
| Feedback data | Thumbs up/down ratings retained up to 5 years regardless of training toggle. De-linked from your identity but may include the full conversation. | No separate feedback retention pipeline. |
| Price | Free / $20 (Pro) / $100 (Max). Team $30/seat/mo. Enterprise custom. | Free (Essential) / $12/mo or $120/yr (Expert). |
What Claude.ai actually does with your data
Anthropic is more transparent than most AI companies. But transparent doesn't mean private by default.
Training is opt-out, not opt-in. When you create a claude.ai account, "Help improve Claude" is on. Your conversations are eligible for training unless you find the toggle and turn it off. In October 2025, Anthropic updated its consumer terms to make this clearer, but the default didn't change. If you've been using Claude without checking that setting, your conversations may already be in the training pipeline.
Retention is longer than you'd expect. If training is on, Anthropic may retain de-identified versions of your conversations for up to 5 years. If training is off, conversations are held for 30 days. But Trust & Safety flags override both settings: safety-flagged content can be held up to 2 years, and classification scores up to 7 years. You don't get to see or control what triggers a safety flag.
Memory is on by default. Since March 2026, Claude's memory feature is active on all tiers, including free. It extracts facts from your conversations automatically. If training is also on, the conversations that fed those memories are subject to the 5-year retention window. Turning off memory doesn't retroactively remove facts already extracted.
Anthropic employees can access your data. Anthropic operates the infrastructure that runs claude.ai. Employees with the right access level can review conversations for Trust & Safety, debugging, and model improvement. This is standard for a company running its own product, but it means there's no architectural barrier between your conversations and Anthropic's operations team.
The Bedrock wall
This is the part that matters most, because it's what makes Ask Safely's privacy claims structurally different from a policy promise.
Claude.ai runs on Anthropic's own infrastructure. Anthropic hosts the models, processes every request, and stores every conversation. Your data lives inside Anthropic's systems, governed by Anthropic's policies. If those policies change, your data is subject to the new rules.
Ask Safely runs on AWS Bedrock. When AWS makes a model available on Bedrock, it deep-copies the inference software into isolated AWS accounts. Anthropic doesn't operate those accounts. Anthropic can't see the prompts going in or the completions coming out. AWS's Bedrock service terms explicitly prohibit using customer inputs and outputs for model training. This isn't an Anthropic policy decision that could change with a terms update. It's an AWS contractual commitment that applies to every Bedrock customer.
Ask Safely adds its own layers on top of Bedrock. Auto-delete timers at the database level (not application code). Per-user encryption keys via KMS envelope encryption. Memory that defaults to off and requires explicit consent. No feedback data pipeline. The result is that even if Anthropic wanted to access your Ask Safely conversations, the architecture doesn't give them a way to.
Where Claude.ai is better
Claude.ai is a more feature-rich product in several ways. Being honest about that makes the rest of this comparison worth trusting.
Conversation length and context. Claude Pro and Max offer higher usage caps and longer context windows than Ask Safely's Expert tier. If you regularly work with very long documents or need extended multi-turn conversations, claude.ai's paid tiers give you more room.
Features. Claude.ai has Projects, Artifacts, Claude Code, MCP integrations, and a desktop app. Ask Safely has four guided agents (Researcher, Writer, Troubleshooter, Lookout) and an MCP connector coming in late October 2026. If you need a power-user development environment, claude.ai is further along.
Speed of new model access. Claude.ai gets new models first. Bedrock availability typically lags by days to weeks. If being on the newest model the day it launches matters to you, claude.ai is the faster path.
Team and Enterprise tiers. Claude's Team and Enterprise plans offer SOC 2 Type II compliance, SSO/SCIM, admin controls, and custom retention policies. Ask Safely's SOC 2 is expected early 2027. If your organization requires a signed SOC 2 report or enterprise identity management today, Claude's business tiers meet that bar.
The bottom line
If you're comfortable managing your privacy settings on claude.ai, turning off training, and accepting Anthropic's retention windows, it's a reasonable choice. Claude is excellent AI, and Anthropic is more transparent about data practices than most competitors.
If you want an architectural guarantee that Anthropic never sees your conversations, auto-delete on a timer, per-user encryption, and memory that defaults to off, that's what Ask Safely adds. Same Claude models. Different plumbing.