Does your website need a cookie banner?

Does your website need a cookie banner?

The answer depends on what your website is doing.

Cookie banners have become internet wallpaper — which has produced two equal and opposite mistakes: businesses that slap a banner on everything without understanding why, and businesses that need one and don't have it.

Let's be precise: not every website legally requires a cookie banner. Whether you need a consent mechanism depends on which cookies and trackers your site uses, where your visitors are, and which laws apply to your business. A site running only essential, first-party functionality is in a very different position than one running advertising pixels and session replay.

The cookie landscape

• Essential cookies — sessions, security, shopping carts. Generally fine without consent
• Functional cookies — preferences and conveniences. Sometimes need disclosure
• Analytics cookies — measurement tools. Requirements vary by jurisdiction
• Marketing cookies — advertising and tracking. These draw the most regulatory attention
• Third-party scripts — often set cookies you didn't explicitly choose

Doing it properly

A banner that says "we use cookies" with only an OK button isn't consent management — it's decoration. Where consent mechanisms are appropriate, we implement them correctly: real choices, honored preferences, scripts that respect the answer, and records you can stand behind.

First we'll show you what cookies your site actually sets. The answer is frequently surprising.