Free Cookie Checker
Tool for Websites

Cookies are small text files that a website stores on a browser when the user visits the website. Websites use them for multiple purposes like storing login statuses, remembering the cart items in an e-commerce store, identifying whether a user is a new visitor or returning user, or analyzing the user behavior on the website. E.g., _gh_sess, _octo, fr, and _ga.

Cookies can be classified based on the following:

• Purpose: necessary and non-necessary cookies
• Origin: first-party and third-party cookies
• Origin: first-party and third-party cookies

The necessary cookies are essential for a website to function properly. E.g., the cookies that check if you have logged in before. The non-necessary cookies are not essential for a website’s functioning. They are often added by the website for additional services. E.g., the cookies that set pop up advertisements you see on some websites.

The first-party cookies are set by the website itself that the user is currently visiting. They are used for services like checking login status and holding shopping cart items. The third-party cookies are set by other websites or third-party tools to track user behavior on the current site. E.g., Google Analytics cookies that track users for measuring conversions.

The session cookies expire once the browser is closed and the session ends. E.g., the session cookies on a shopping website hold the items in the cart even the users proceed to a new page. The persistent cookies, on the other hand, stay on the user’s browser for a longer period and only expire when they reach their expiration period assigned to them. Unlike the session cookies, the persistent cookies hold the items in the online shopping cart even after the users close the browser so that they can access them on their next visit.

Cookies with the “HttpOnly” tag tell the client-side servers to not access the information stored in these cookies. Therefore, this type of cookie does not share any user information with third parties. It is useful in case your website is not encrypted (HTTPS).

Cookies contain unique IDs that their origin server recognizes across other websites. It tracks the user’s online behavior such as clicks, search history, browsing pattern, mouse movements, device information, and location. It uses this information to utilize them for personalized advertisements, user analytics, or other marketing tactics.

There are two methods to check if your website uses cookies. One is by manually checking using browser settings and the other by using an online cookie checker.

You can check the cookies on a website using the developer console of all the major browsers, such as Google Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera. Read more about it here.

The other method is by using an online cookie scanner that will scan your website for cookies and identify them. They are much better than the manual methods because they are fast and you do not have to worry about categorizing cookies.

Privacy laws like the EU cookie laws mandate that the websites must disclose what cookies are being used on the website and why, who installs them (or who the data is shared with), and how long they are stored. For that, you need to know the cookies set by your website. Checking cookies on your website will give you the list of cookies, and then you can compile their details.

The websites should inform the users of the cookies using a cookie banner and more details about the cookies in the cookie or privacy policy of the website.

Note: You cannot store cookies on the users’ browsers without first obtaining their consent to do so.

A cookie scanner or checker is a website scanning tool that scans a website for cookies and generates a cookie scan report containing detailed information. It crawls the web page, activates all the cookies, and collects the necessary details about them.

It is faster than checking cookies manually using the browser. Instead of going through the details of each cookie, you can get a consolidated report. The information is detailed and apt for adding to your cookie or privacy policy.

CookieServe is one such cookie checker tool that identifies and generates a report on the cookies of a website in a matter of seconds.

CookieServe is a cookie scanner freeware powered by CookieYes to identify cookies used by a website. Once you submit the URL, it will crawl through the page and detect the cookies in seconds. It will then generate a scan report containing details, such as name, type, description (purpose), domain, and duration of cookies.

You can share this information with the website visitors and also get one step closer to compliance.

Unlike Cookiebot, Piwik, and OneTrust cookie scanners, CookieServe only takes a few seconds to complete its scan for the desired URL. You will get the scan report for the URL entered on the site itself. You can use the scanner to view cookies on any website, such as WordPress, Magento, and Wix.

Both GDPR and CCPA require websites to disclose details about cookies, such as their type, source, purpose, data they collect, and to whom they share or sell it. In the former, GDPR cookie consent is mandatory for setting cookies, whereas, for CCPA compliance, users must be able to opt out (opt-in is not mandatory).

CookieYes is an easy and powerful solution for cookie consent for GDPR and CCPA compliance. It will help you display a cookie banner that can be easily customized to match the design and theme of your website.

CookieYes will automatically block third-party cookies before you receive the users’ consent. Also, it will scan multiple pages of the website to check all the cookies present and add them to the cookies list after categorizing them. It also adds the description of the cookies detailing the purpose of the cookies. This makes sure that users give their consent based on the cookie information provided.

You can add the details from the CookieServe web scanner report to the cookie or privacy policy. CookieYes Privacy Policy Generator and Cookie Policy Generator are easy and efficient ways to create a GDPR and CCPA compliant privacy policy and cookie policy for free.

You can sign up for a 14-day free trial and enjoy the premium features of CookieYes!

There are many parts of a website that contribute to its compliance with GDPR. From where you collect data to how you delete them after use, the GDPR depends on all of them. You can use free GDPR compliance checkers to know whether your website is compliant or not. We recommend you also do a manual check or seek legal assistance since these online tools may not be 100% accurate and may miss out on minor details.

WordPress uses cookies for user authentication and remembering commenters’ details. A WordPress website mostly requires plugins or third-party applications for additional functionality. These plugins or applications most likely use cookies that collect user information and use them to run their services. This kind of data collection and user tracking make not just WordPress but websites built on any CMS liable to collect cookie consent.

Achieving WordPress cookie consent is easy with CookieYes’ seamless integration. It works with other CMS like Wix, Squarespace and Shopify as well.

Generating legally compliant policy pages for your website is more difficult than it sounds. Any small mistake or omission of details could lead to legal trouble. However, with CookieYes’ free in-app policy page builders, creating the privacy policy and cookie policy pages is easier than ever. Just submit your responses in the policy page generator and get the policy copies instantly.