Last updated May 25, 2026.
We are Marginal. We operate the website https://getmarginal.app as well as any other related products and services that refer or link to these legal terms (collectively, the Services). Marginal is a private web application for readers to track books, write structured private notes called Thoughts, and selectively share those notes with a small circle of trusted connections. It is a personal intellectual archive, not a public platform. You can contact us at hello@getmarginal.app. These Legal Terms constitute a legally binding agreement between you and Marginal concerning your access to and use of the Services. By accessing the Services, you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by all of these Legal Terms. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH ALL OF THESE LEGAL TERMS, THEN YOU ARE EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED FROM USING THE SERVICES AND YOU MUST DISCONTINUE USE IMMEDIATELY. We will notify you of any significant changes to these Legal Terms by email. The Services are intended for users who are at least 13 years of age. Users between 13 and 18 must have parental permission to use the Services.
Marginal provides a private space for readers to track books, write structured notes called Thoughts against each book, and selectively share specific notes with accepted connections. The Services include five structured Idea types, a lock mechanic for permanently sealing Thoughts when a book is finished, scheduled reflection prompts called Hindsights, and a selective sharing system.
Marginal is not a public platform. There is no public feed, no follower count, no public reviews, and no public content of any kind. Everything you write is private by default and visible only to you unless you explicitly choose to share specific content with specific accepted connections.
The Services are not tailored to comply with industry-specific regulations such as HIPAA or FISMA. If your use would be subject to such laws, you may not use the Services.
Our intellectual property
We are the owner or licensee of all intellectual property rights in our Services, including source code, databases, functionality, software, website designs, text, and graphics (collectively, the Content), as well as the trademarks, service marks, and logos contained therein (the Marks).
Our Content and Marks are protected by copyright and trademark laws around the world.
Subject to your compliance with these Legal Terms, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Services solely for your personal, non-commercial use.
No part of the Services, Content, or Marks may be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, publicly displayed, encoded, translated, transmitted, distributed, sold, or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose without our express prior written permission.
Any breach of these Intellectual Property Rights will constitute a material breach of our Legal Terms and your right to use our Services will terminate immediately.
This section explains your rights over the content you create in Marginal and our obligations to you regarding that content. Please read it carefully. It is the most important section for understanding how Marginal treats your writing.
Your content belongs to you
Everything you write in Marginal, your Thoughts, Ideas, Hindsights, book notes, and any other content you create, belongs entirely to you. We do not claim ownership of your content. You retain full intellectual property rights over everything you write.
The limited license you grant us
By writing content in Marginal, you grant us a limited, non-exclusive license to store, process, and display your content solely for the purpose of providing the Services back to you and to connections you have explicitly chosen to share with. This license exists only to operate the platform on your behalf.
What we will never do with your content
Sharing is your choice
Marginal allows you to selectively share specific Ideas with specific accepted connections. Sharing is a deliberate act entirely within your control. You can revoke access at any time. When you share content with a connection, that person can read the content you have shared. They cannot share it further through the platform.
Locked Thoughts
When you choose to lock your Thoughts on a finished book, those Thoughts become permanently sealed after a 48-hour grace period. Locking is irreversible. After locking, no additions or edits can be made to any Idea in that Thought. Hindsight prompts begin from the lock date.
Account deletion
When you delete your account, all your content is permanently and irreversibly deleted from our systems. We cannot recover deleted content. Deletion removes your books, Thoughts, Ideas, Hindsights, connections, and uploaded files completely.
Export
You can export all your data at any time from Settings > Account > Export your data. We will email you a complete copy of your data in a standard format.
By using the Services, you represent and warrant that:
If you provide information that is untrue, inaccurate, or incomplete, we have the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any future use of the Services.
You must register to use the Services. You agree to keep your password confidential and are responsible for all activity under your account. We reserve the right to remove or change a username if we determine it is inappropriate or objectionable.
You may register using an email address and password or via Google OAuth. If you register via Google OAuth, your email address is received from Google as part of the authentication process.
We accept the following forms of payment via Paddle, our merchant of record:
All payments are processed by Paddle. We do not store your payment card details. By making a purchase you also agree to Paddle's terms of service. All payments are in US dollars. We may change prices at any time with appropriate notice.
Free tier
Marginal offers a free tier with access to Dialogue and Analysis Idea types, up to three friend connections, and the default Hindsight schedule.
Premium tier
Marginal Premium provides access to all five Idea types, up to fifty connections, and custom Hindsight scheduling. Premium is billed at $4.99 per month or $43.99 per year.
Billing and renewal
Your subscription will continue and automatically renew unless cancelled. You consent to recurring charges without requiring prior approval for each charge, until you cancel.
Cancellation
You can cancel your subscription at any time from Settings > Plans within your Marginal account. Cancellation stops future charges but Premium access continues until the end of the current billing period already paid for. No refund is issued for the remaining period except where required by applicable law.
Downgrade behaviour
On downgrade from Premium to Free, Character Maps, Personal Connections, and Chapter Summaries Idea types become read-only. Your existing content is preserved. Friends beyond your first three added are temporarily inaccessible but not deleted. Upgrading restores full access immediately.
Fee changes
We may change subscription fees from time to time and will communicate any changes in accordance with applicable law.
Subscription payments
Because Marginal is a digital service that becomes immediately accessible upon purchase, we generally do not offer refunds on subscription payments. When you subscribe to Premium, you gain immediate access to all Premium features for the duration of your billing period.
Exceptions
We will issue refunds in the following circumstances:
How to request a refund
Contact us at hello@getmarginal.app within 14 days of the charge in question. Include your account email and a description of the issue. We will review and respond within 5 business days.
Paddle, our payment processor and merchant of record, may also process refund requests directly in accordance with their own refund policies. You can contact Paddle support at paddle.com if you are unable to reach us.
Free tier
The free tier has no payment associated with it and therefore no refund policy applies.
You agree not to use the Services to:
You are responsible for the content you create and upload in Marginal. By using the Services you represent and warrant that:
Any use of the Services in violation of the foregoing may result in termination or suspension of your rights to use the Services. We have the right to remove any content that violates these Legal Terms at any time without notice. We have no obligation to monitor your content.
The Services may contain links to third-party websites such as our help documentation hosted on Notion. Such third-party websites are not investigated, monitored, or checked for accuracy by us. We are not responsible for any third-party websites accessed through the Services. Inclusion of or linking to any third-party website does not imply our approval or endorsement.
We reserve the right to monitor the Services for violations of these Legal Terms, take appropriate action against anyone who violates the law or these Legal Terms, restrict access to or disable any content that violates these Legal Terms, and otherwise manage the Services to protect our rights and facilitate proper functioning.
We care about your privacy. By using the Services, you agree to be bound by our Privacy Policy at getmarginal.app/privacy, which is incorporated into these Legal Terms. The Services are hosted in the United States. If you access the Services from another region, you are transferring your data to the United States and consent to that transfer.
We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided personal information without verifiable parental consent, we will delete that information promptly.
We respect the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that any material available through the Services infringes upon a copyright you own or control, please contact us at hello@getmarginal.app with details of the alleged infringement. Please be advised that you may be held liable for damages if you make material misrepresentations in a copyright notification.
These Legal Terms remain in full force while you use the Services. We reserve the right to deny access to or terminate your account at any time for any reason, including breach of these Legal Terms, without notice or liability.
If your account is terminated, you are prohibited from registering a new account without our permission. We reserve the right to take appropriate legal action in cases of serious violations.
We reserve the right to change, modify, or remove the contents of the Services at any time at our sole discretion. We cannot guarantee the Services will be available at all times. We may perform maintenance or experience interruptions without prior notice. We will not be liable for any loss or inconvenience caused by inability to access the Services during any downtime.
These Legal Terms and your use of the Services are governed by and construed in accordance with applicable law. Any disputes arising in connection with these Legal Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of competent jurisdiction as determined by the arbitration process described in Section 18.
Informal negotiations
Before initiating any formal proceedings, the parties agree to first attempt to negotiate any dispute informally for at least thirty (30) days. Informal negotiations begin upon written notice from one party to the other at hello@getmarginal.app.
Binding arbitration
Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Legal Terms that cannot be resolved through informal negotiation shall be referred to and finally resolved by arbitration under the Rules of the International Commercial Arbitration Court under the European Arbitration Chamber (Belgium, Brussels, Avenue Louise, 146). The number of arbitrators shall be one. The seat of arbitration shall be determined by the arbitrator at the time of the dispute. The language of proceedings shall be English.
Restrictions
All arbitration shall be limited to the dispute between the parties individually. No arbitration shall be joined with any other proceeding. There is no right to arbitration on a class-action basis or in a representative capacity.
Exceptions
The following disputes are not subject to the arbitration provisions above: disputes seeking to enforce or protect intellectual property rights, disputes arising from allegations of theft, piracy, or invasion of privacy, and claims for injunctive relief.
There may be information on the Services that contains typographical errors, inaccuracies, or omissions. We reserve the right to correct any errors and update information at any time without prior notice.
THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON AN AS-IS AND AS-AVAILABLE BASIS. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE MAKE NO WARRANTIES ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE SERVICES' CONTENT. WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY ERRORS, UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OUR SERVERS, INTERRUPTIONS TO THE SERVICES, OR ANY BUGS OR VIRUSES TRANSMITTED THROUGH THE SERVICES BY ANY THIRD PARTY.
IN NO EVENT WILL WE BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFIT, LOST REVENUE, OR LOSS OF DATA, ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES. OUR LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CAUSE WHATSOEVER WILL AT ALL TIMES BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU TO US DURING THE SIX (6) MONTH PERIOD PRIOR TO ANY CAUSE OF ACTION ARISING. CERTAIN LAWS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES. IF THESE LAWS APPLY TO YOU, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY AND YOU MAY HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold us harmless from and against any loss, damage, liability, claim, or demand, including reasonable legal fees, arising out of your use of the Services, your content, breach of these Legal Terms, or your violation of the rights of any third party.
We maintain data you transmit to the Services for the purpose of providing the Services to you. While we take data security seriously and implement appropriate technical measures, you acknowledge that no system is completely secure. We will not be liable for any loss or corruption of data beyond what is caused by our own negligence. You can export your data at any time from Settings > Account.
By using the Services, sending us emails, and completing online forms, you consent to receive electronic communications from us. You agree that all agreements, notices, and other communications we provide electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communication be in writing.
If any complaint with us is not satisfactorily resolved, you can contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, California 95834 or by telephone at (800) 952-5210 or (916) 445-1254.
These Legal Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Services. Our failure to exercise any right or provision of these Legal Terms shall not operate as a waiver of such right. If any provision of these Legal Terms is determined to be unlawful or unenforceable, that provision is deemed severable and does not affect the validity of any remaining provisions. There is no joint venture, partnership, employment, or agency relationship created between you and us as a result of these Legal Terms.
For questions about these Legal Terms, to report a violation, or to request support, contact us at hello@getmarginal.app.