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How honest is your product, really?

Nineteen questions across signup, checkout, consent, cancellation and retention. Scored against the Brignull taxonomy and the EU's recognised deceptive patterns, in about four minutes. It runs entirely in your browser and nothing you answer goes anywhere.

Deceptive design self-audit

Most deceptive patterns were never planned. A target got missed, someone suggested pre-ticking a box, the number went up, and three years later the cancellation flow has a retention gauntlet nobody remembers approving. This tool walks you through nineteen questions across five journeys in your own product and scores what you find against Harry Brignull's taxonomy at deceptive.design and the patterns UK and EU regulators can now fine you for.

  • 19 questions across signup, checkout, consent, cancellation and retention. About five minutes.
  • This runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, stored, or sent anywhere. A self-audit tool about deceptive design that harvested your confessions would be a bit rich, even for this industry.
  • Answer honestly. The score is for you and the browser tells no one.

    out of 100

    What we found

    What a respectful product looks like

    The short version, for pinning to the wall.

    • The first price is the real price. Every mandatory fee in the headline number, not drip-fed at checkout.
    • The basket is sacred. Nothing in it the customer did not put there themselves.
    • Opt-in means a box someone ticked. Pre-selection is the company answering on the user's behalf.
    • No is a complete answer. One click to refuse, no repeat asks, no guilt-trip button copy.
    • Leaving is as easy as joining. Cancel online, a couple of clicks, confirmed in writing, data deleted on schedule.
    • Urgency only when it is true. A countdown that resets is a lie with a progress bar.
    • Copy that says what it means. No double negatives, no boxes that flip direction between forms.

    This tool draws on Harry Brignull's taxonomy at deceptive.design, the EU's deceptive design work under the Digital Services Act and consumer law, the UK Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, the FTC's click to cancel rulemaking on negative option subscriptions, and UK GDPR and PECR for consent. It is a self-audit aid, not legal advice. If you need a formal opinion, talk to a solicitor. If you want help dismantling what you found, talk to us.

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