What is the _awl cookie?
We don't have a vendor description for this cookie yet, but our scan shows it's set under the sites' own domains rather than by a third party, and it typically lasts 13 months. It's listed as unclassified.
Our October 2026 scan found it on 27 sites (1% of the 2,450 we scanned), set before any consent.
- Purpose
- Unclassified
- Set as
- First-party (under the site's own domain)
- Typical lifetime
- 13 months
Sites that set _awl before consent
The highest-ranked 27 of 27 sites.
- techcrunch.com38 tracking companies
- independent.co.uk10 tracking companies
- cnet.com6 tracking companies
- apnews.com14 tracking companies
- theverge.com10 tracking companies
- letterboxd.com6 tracking companies
- aternos.org19 tracking companies
- jutarnji.hr10 tracking companies
- kooora.com13 tracking companies
- zdnet.com8 tracking companies
Show 17 more sites
- fastcompany.com17 tracking companies
- variety.com9 tracking companies
- vox.com10 tracking companies
- inc.com18 tracking companies
- rollingstone.com7 tracking companies
- last.fm8 tracking companies
- hollywoodreporter.com5 tracking companies
- theglobeandmail.com8 tracking companies
- billboard.com9 tracking companies
- nymag.com10 tracking companies
- deadline.com5 tracking companies
- 17track.net11 tracking companies
- pcworld.com2 tracking companies
- computerworld.com2 tracking companies
- boredpanda.com14 tracking companies
- theweathernetwork.com21 tracking companies
- washingtontimes.com21 tracking companies
How to stop it
Declining non-essential cookies in a site's consent banner should stop _awl being set on later visits. Blocking third-party cookies in your browser settings stops the third-party kind everywhere, and clearing cookies for a site removes any it already set.
Understanding this page
- How cookie lifetimes work, and why a 13-month _ga matters
What a cookie's "expires" field actually controls, why Google Analytics ships a 2-year default that many sites cut down to 13 months, and how Safari's 7-day cap on script-set cookies changes the picture.
- First-party vs third-party cookies (and why "first-party" still tracks you)
What the distinction actually means technically, why browsers only block one of the two, and how CNAME cloaking, server-side tagging and cookies like _ga let sites keep tracking under their own domain.
- How to block or limit trackers
Browser privacy settings, content blockers, Global Privacy Control and clearing cookies compared honestly — what each one actually stops, what it doesn't, and what it costs you in return.