5 Best Free Cookie Scanners For Your Website 2021
If you are here, I am assuming you do not need any introduction about cookies. You already know why a website uses them and how. However, you might wonder why someone would scan cookies on a website. What purpose does it serve? I am here to answer that and recommend the best online cookie scanner tools to do it for free.
Why do you need to check cookies on a website?
Privacy regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the ePrivacy Directive (ePD) has caused many changes in the digital world. Websites have started to deal with user data more carefully than ever. Cookies being a medium to collect personal data have also found a significant place in this.
Some cookies collect personal data through websites, often for marketing or analytical purposes. These may raise privacy concerns. Hence, the GDPR and ePD mandate that websites must seek user consent before storing such cookies on the user’s device. The ePD, also known as the EU Cookie Law, specifically mentions this in its clause. The laws also state that a website must inform its users about these cookies and their purpose. It will help the users to make an informed decision to consent or not to the use of the cookies. This is why you need to check cookies on a website. Checking the cookies and understanding their details will help you in deciding and sharing the relevant information with the site users.
What is a cookie scanner?
You can check the cookies on a website manually (through the developer console of your website) or by using online cookie scanners. Cookie scanners are much faster, and you can get a detailed report that you use in your privacy or cookie policy.
A cookie scanner is a tool that will run a test on your website and perform various operations that will make the site to load all the cookies. The scanner then collects all the necessary information and generates a report.
Best free online cookie scanners for your website
Here is a list of some of the best online scan tools to check cookies on your website at free of cost!
CookieServe
CookieServe cookie checker is a free online cookie scanner for websites powered by CookieYes. You have to enter the URL of the website. The scanner crawls through the homepage of the website and collects information on the cookie used.
The test takes only a few seconds. It generates a scan report in a tabular format with details, such as cookie name, type, description (purpose), and duration. You will get the report on the homepage of the scanner itself. You do not need to register for it.
Cookiebot
Cookiebot cookie scanner runs a cookie test for your website and sends the report to your email address.
It takes 10-20 minutes to generate and send the report. The PDF report consists of details about cookies used by the website.
Piwik PRO
Like Cookiebot scanner, Piwik PRO cookie scanner also collects your email address to send a cookie audit report.
It also takes a few minutes to generate and email the cookie scan report. The detailed report lists the domain, vendor, tags, and the expiration date of the cookies in use.
CookiePro by OneTrust
CookiePro by OneTrust does an all-in-one scanning of your website for cookies, cookie policy, and privacy policy. You have to enter your details, such as name, email address, and country.
After submitting the details, you can view the result by clicking on “View Results.” It will take you to the dashboard where you can see the necessary information about cookies as shown.
The paid version will give you a more detailed report.
CookieMetrix
CookieMetrix runs a test on the URL user enters and gets the cookies used by that page.
It generates the report with relevant cookie information, such a name, domain, path, expiration date, and value. You can download the report in PDF format. However, to get a full report of the website, you need to sign up for its pro version.
Final thoughts
I hope you will find this list helpful. Please note that just checking cookies and sharing the information with the users is not enough for compliance. It takes a lot more than that. However, these scanners will be a valuable addition to your journey towards compliance.