Cookie Policy

Last updated: October 10, 2026

This policy explains which cookies and similar technologies, such as local storage, SiteUpward uses on its website and in its web application, why we use them and how you can control them.

1. What cookies and local storage are

Cookies are small text files that a website stores in your browser and receives back with later requests. Local storage is a similar feature that lets a website keep small pieces of information in your browser; it stays on your device and is not sent to the website automatically. Session storage works the same way, but only for one browser tab: it is deleted when you close the tab.

2. Our approach

Most cookies and storage we use are strictly necessary to provide the Service you ask for or to remember choices you make. Strictly necessary storage does not require consent under the EU ePrivacy rules (in Latvia, the Law on Information Society Services) or under comparable rules in other countries, such as the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.

On our website we also use advertising cookies from Meta to measure how our ads on Facebook and Instagram perform (section 4). We set them only if you click “Accept” in our cookie banner. If you click “Reject” or make no choice, they are not set and no data about your visit is passed to Meta. You can change your choice at any time with “Cookie settings” at the bottom of every page of our website and in the footer of our application.

To count visits and understand how our website is used, we run our own visitor statistics on our own servers. They set no cookies, store nothing on your device and keep no IP addresses (section 5).

Personal data involved is processed as described in our Privacy Policy. If you live in a US state with a privacy law, see also your privacy rights in the United States: rejecting or withdrawing consent opts you out of the use of advertising cookies, and we treat a Global Privacy Control signal from your browser as such an opt-out.

3. Cookies we set

Name	Type	Purpose	Duration
__Host-sid	HTTP cookie, first party	Keeps you signed in. Contains a random token; we store only a hash of it.	30 days, or until you sign out
__Host-anon	HTTP cookie, first party	Set when you run a free check without an account. Lets you return to your free checks. When you sign in with a link you requested in this browser, your free checks from this browser are added to your account and the cookie gets a new token. Contains a random token; we store only a hash of it.	365 days, or until you sign out
__Host-login_nonce	HTTP cookie, first party	Security: set when you ask for a sign-in link or for a report by e-mail, or when we e-mail you a sign-in link after a payment you started in this browser. Lets us check that a sign-in link is opened in the browser it was meant for; only then are this browser's free checks added to your account. Contains a random token; we store only a hash of it.	24 hours after the latest sign-in link for this browser
__Host-checkout_nonce	HTTP cookie, first party	Security: set when you start a checkout. Confirms that a completed payment returns to the browser that started it before we sign you in automatically; otherwise we send you a sign-in link by e-mail. Contains a random token; only a hash of it is kept with the checkout.	24 hours after the latest checkout you started in this browser
cookie_consent	Cookie set by our pages, first party	Remembers whether you accepted or rejected advertising cookies, so that we do not ask on every page. Our server checks it before it sends any advertising measurement data. Contains only your choice.	6 months

The first four cookies are sent only to our own website over encrypted connections, cannot be read by scripts on the page and are restricted against cross-site use. The “__Host-” prefix in their names makes your browser accept them only from our own website, never from another domain or subdomain. The consent cookie is restricted against cross-site use as well; scripts on our own pages can read it so that the website can respect your choice.

4. Advertising cookies (only with your consent)

Name	Provider	Purpose	Duration
_fbp	Meta (set on our domain by the Meta Pixel, or by our own page if the Pixel cannot load)	Identifies your browser to Meta, so that visits and actions on our website, such as starting a free check or buying, can be linked to an ad you saw or clicked on Facebook or Instagram. Used to measure and improve our ads.	90 days
_fbc	Meta (set on our domain by the Meta Pixel, or by our own page if the Pixel cannot load)	Stores the click identifier from the link of our ad that brought you to our website, so that your visit can be attributed to that ad.	90 days

With your consent, Meta's measurement script (the Meta Pixel) is loaded from Meta's servers on our website; it is never loaded in our application. It sends Meta the pages you view and these actions: viewing our pricing page and starting a free check, together with your IP address, browser information and the identifiers above. If you are signed in to Facebook or Instagram in the same browser, Meta can also read its own cookies on its own domains and link the visit to your account there.

When you start a free check, start a checkout, complete a purchase or confirm your e-mail address, our server also sends Meta the event directly (Meta counts an event it receives from both the Pixel and our server only once): the identifiers above, your IP address, browser user agent, the page address without parameters, the value and currency of a purchase and, where we know it, your e-mail address as a hash (an irreversible code that Meta can only match against addresses it already knows). We never send report contents, payment details or the addresses of the websites you check.

For collecting this data on our website and transmitting it to Meta, we and Meta Platforms Ireland Limited are joint controllers; Meta uses the data further for its own purposes as described in Meta's privacy policy. Details are in section 5 of our Privacy Policy.

If you withdraw your consent, we delete these cookies from your browser and stop sending data to Meta.

5. Visitor statistics without cookies

We count visits with our own statistics service, which runs on our own servers; no data from it is passed to third parties. It records the page address (without ad click identifiers and, in our application, without parameters or report identifiers), the referring website, browser, operating system, device type, screen size, language and the country, region and city derived from your IP address.

It sets no cookies, stores nothing on your device and does not keep IP addresses. Visits are grouped with an identifier that our server calculates and that changes every month, so we cannot recognise you over a longer period or across websites. Because nothing is stored on or read from your device, these statistics do not require consent; they are based on our legitimate interest in improving our website and the Service.

6. Local storage and session storage

Name	Purpose	Duration
citeready.language	Remembers the language of the application.	Until you clear your browser storage
theme	Remembers your light or dark theme choice.	Until you clear your browser storage
citeready.currency	Remembers the currency you chose for prices.	Until you clear your browser storage
citeready.checkoutStartedAt	Security: confirms that a checkout was started in this browser before we sign you in after a payment.	Removed after use or when you return without paying; no longer used after 24 hours
citeready.checkoutReturn	Session storage. Keeps the payment reference of the checkout confirmation page in this tab, so that reloading the page can still complete your purchase.	Until you close the tab; no longer used after 24 hours
citeready.shareToken.<report id>	Set only when you open a report someone shared with you and choose to sign in: keeps the report's share link in this browser, so that you return to the report after signing in, also when the sign-in link opens in a new tab.	Removed when used or when you sign out; no longer used after 2 hours
citeready.signInToken	Session storage. Keeps the code from your sign-in link while the sign-in confirmation page is open in this tab, so that reloading the page before you confirm does not lose it.	Until you sign in, go to another page of the application or close the tab; no longer used after 24 hours

7. Human verification

Our free-check and sign-in forms include a human-verification check from our bot-protection provider. When a form loads, the provider's script runs in your browser and may set or read its own strictly necessary storage and process technical signals, such as your IP address and browser and device characteristics, to tell people apart from automated abuse. When you submit the form, we send the verification result and your IP address to the provider to confirm it.

This check is strictly necessary to protect the Service and the websites we audit from abuse, and it is used for security purposes only. If it is blocked, free checks and sign-in are not possible.

8. Payment pages

Checkout and the billing portal are hosted by our payment processor on its own pages. The payment processor sets its own cookies there, which are needed for secure payments and fraud prevention and are described in its own cookie notice.

9. How to control cookies

You can accept or reject advertising cookies in our cookie banner and change your choice at any time with “Cookie settings” at the bottom of every page of our website and in the footer of our application. Rejecting them has no effect on the Service.

You can block or delete cookies and local storage in your browser settings at any time. If you block the cookies described above, you will not be able to sign in or return to free checks; if you clear local storage, your language, theme and currency choices are reset. Most browsers also offer private browsing, which deletes cookies and local storage when you close the window.

10. Changes

We update this policy when the cookies or storage we use change. If we want to use further cookies or storage that are not strictly necessary, we will ask for your consent first. The date at the top of this page shows the current version.

11. Contact

Questions about this policy: privacy@siteupward.com. SIA "MICRON", Aldaru iela 36/38–21, Liepāja, LV-3401, Latvia.