Browser privacy reference
How browsers handle cookies, storage and tracking
Cookie Status compares the tracking protections that the major browsers apply by default. It covers standard browsing only, not private or incognito modes or settings the user has to change.
- 5 browsers
- 10 features compared
- updated 2026-10-31
# tracker.example, embedded on news.example HTTP/2 200 set-cookie: uid=8f3a; Max-Age=31536000; SameSite=None; Secure # what each browser does with it brave partitioned chrome no restrictions edge limited firefox partitioned safari blocked $ curl -sI https://www.cookiestatus.com \ | grep -i set-cookie # no output: this site sets no cookies
Comparison
Current status
last_updated: · Added tracker blocking and fingerprinting rows, Safari 27 identity resolution blocking, and corrections for Brave, Edge and Safari from new tests.
- Blocked
- Access is denied by default.
- Limited
- Allowed with restrictions, such as shorter lifetimes or rules that only apply to known trackers.
- No restrictions
- The browser doesn't restrict this beyond standard web platform behavior.
- Partitioned
- Access is allowed, but kept separate for each top-level site, so it can't be used to follow the user across sites.
- Unverified
- The current claim hasn't been confirmed by testing or official documentation.
| Feature | Brave Chromium | Chrome Chromium | Edge Chromium | Firefox Gecko | Safari WebKit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mechanism | Shields | n/a | Tracking prevention | Enhanced Tracking Protection (ETP) | Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) |
| Deployed in | 0.55.18 | n/a | 78.0.276.8 | 69.0 | Safari 11 |
| Default protection mode | Default Shield settings | n/a | Balanced | Standard | ITP enabled |
| Latest release | Release notes | Release notes | Release notes | Release notes | Release notes |
| Classification of "known trackers" How does the browser decide which domains are trackers? |
Sources (1) · 2026-10-31 |
|
Sources (1) · 2026-10-31 |
Sources (1) · 2026-10-31 |
|
| Blocking of known trackers Does the browser stop requests to known trackers or fingerprinting scripts from loading at all? | Blocked
Sources (2) · 2026-10-31 | No restrictions
Checked · 2026-10-31 | Limited
Sources (1) · 2026-10-31 | Limited
Sources (1) · 2026-10-31 | Limited
Sources (2) · 2026-10-30 |
| Cookies in 3rd party context Can a site embedded on another site read and write its cookies? | Partitioned
Sources (2) · 2026-10-31
| No restrictions
Sources (4) · 2026-10-31 | Limited
Sources (4) · 2026-10-30
| Partitioned
Sources (4) · 2026-10-31
| Blocked
Sources (5) · 2026-10-30
|
| Cookies in 1st party context Are the site's own cookies deleted or capped? | Limited
Sources (1) · 2026-10-30
| Limited
Sources (1) · 2026-10-31
| Limited
Sources (1) · 2026-10-30
| Limited
| Limited
Sources (1) |
| Other browser storage in 3rd party context Can embedded content use localStorage, IndexedDB and similar storage? | Partitioned
Sources (2) · 2026-10-31
| Partitioned
Sources (2) · 2026-10-31 | Partitioned
Sources (2) · 2026-10-30
| Partitioned
Sources (2) · 2026-10-31 | Partitioned
Sources (2) · 2026-10-30
|
| Other browser storage in 1st party context Is the site's own non-cookie storage deleted or capped? | No restrictions
| No restrictions
| No restrictions
| Limited
| Limited
|
| CNAME cloaking Does the browser see through a first-party subdomain that points to a third-party service? | Blocked
| No restrictions
| No restrictions
| No restrictions
| Limited
Sources (2) · 2026-10-31 |
| Fingerprinting Does the browser change or hide the values scripts use to fingerprint the device? |
Sources (3) · 2026-10-31
|
Sources (2) · 2026-10-31
|
Sources (2) · 2026-10-31
|
Sources (2) · 2026-10-31
|
Sources (2) · 2026-10-31
|
| Referrer How much of the previous page's URL is shared with other sites? |
Sources (1) · 2026-10-31
|
Sources (1) · 2026-10-31
|
Sources (1) · 2026-10-31
|
Sources (1) · 2026-10-31
|
Sources (2) · 2026-10-31
|
| Other Other protections that affect tracking and measurement. |
Sources (2) · 2026-10-31
|
|
|
|
|
Claims marked New changed in the latest update. Follow Details → in any cell for the full explanation on that browser's page.
History
Latest changes
Safari 27.2 stops capping cookies on CNAME-hosted sites
Cookies set by the response to a top-level navigation are no longer capped at 7 days when the site’s own hostname is a CNAME to another domain, such as a hosting provider.
Safari 27 blocks identity resolution services
Cross-site requests to “ID graph” services, which link the same person across sites and devices, are blocked whenever “Prevent cross-site tracking” is on. Apple maintains the list of domains.
Firefox 151 adds fingerprinting protection to Standard mode
Firefox limits how much information about the device and browser is revealed to sites in its default mode, not only in Strict mode.
CHIPS returns in Safari 26.2
Partitioned cookies with the
Partitionedattribute are supported again, after being removed in Safari 18.5 for further work.Google retires most Privacy Sandbox technologies announced
Topics, Protected Audience, Attribution Reporting, Related Website Sets and others are being phased out. CHIPS and FedCM stay.
FAQ
1. Why does this resource exist?
Web browsers are going through fairly momentous shifts in order to better respond to the increasing number of data breaches and cases of data misuse by third parties.
Unfortunately, each browser (and the underlying browser engine) seems to have their own interpretation of how to best tackle the problem, which leads to a diverse set of features across the browser landscape.
What’s worse, the information about how these tracking protection mechanisms are deployed is all over the place: in release notes, in developer documentation, in Twitter threads, in working groups, in feature drafts, in bug patches, etc.
The purpose of the Cookie Status resource is to (attempt to) collect this information in one place for easy access and perusal.
There is no commercial agenda behind this project. In fact, there is no agenda other than knowledge transfer.
2. Why only these browsers?
Just to kick things off. Hopefully the open-source nature of this project will invite others to contribute details about browsers that are doing significant work with regard to user privacy.
3. What cookies / browser storage does Cookie Status set and why?
Cookie Status doesn’t use browser cookies, localStorage, or IndexedDB.
It doesn’t use sessionStorage either, and it doesn’t load anything from third-party servers. The search index is served from this site.
If you see anything contrary to the above, please raise an issue about this.