# SpamScanner privacy rating

Spam, phishing and malware scanner for email written in Node.js by the Forward Email team, used as a library or a command-line tool on your own server.

> **Disclosure:** Privacy Ratings is maintained by the team behind Forward Email, which also makes SpamScanner. This entry is scored by the same criteria as every other entry in this category, and changes to it are reviewed under the published conflict-of-interest rules.

**Our pick.** Self-hosted spam, phishing and malware scanning for Node.js with no telemetry, built by the Forward Email team and used to filter Forward Email's mail.

## Summary

SpamScanner scores 80 out of 100 (grade B) on the spam and virus filtering criteria. It meets 3 of 4 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry and no ads or data sales. It does not meet independent audit.

- Website: https://spamscanner.net
- Source code: https://github.com/spamscanner/spamscanner
- Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux
- Home page trackers: none found
- Category: [Spam and virus filtering](https://privacyratings.com/spam-filters/)
- Grade: B (80/100)

## Criteria

| Criterion | Answer | Note | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Open source | Yes | All code is public under the source-available Business Source License 1.1, which bars offering it as a commercial spam detection service. The license names Apache-2.0 as its change license. | https://github.com/spamscanner/spamscanner/blob/master/LICENSE |
| No trackers or telemetry | Yes | No telemetry or analytics in the source code. The Forward Email reputation lookup is off by default, and hostnames of links in scanned mail are checked against Cloudflare's 1.1.1.3 resolver. | https://github.com/spamscanner/spamscanner |
| No ads or data sales | Yes | Free software distributed through npm and GitHub, with no ads. | https://github.com/spamscanner/spamscanner |
| Independent audit | No | No independent audit is published. |  |

Source: https://privacyratings.com/spam-filters/spamscanner/
Edit: https://github.com/privacyratings/privacyratings.com/edit/main/ratings/spam-filters/spamscanner.md