Cookie Policy

Last updated: 23 August 2026

1. What cookies are

Cookies are small files a site stores in your browser. We also use local storage, session storage and pixels in email. This policy treats all of them the same way.

2. What we use them for

Strictly necessary

These make Paperwall work. Without them you cannot sign in, unlock an article, or check out. They cannot be switched off.

• Session and authentication: keeping you signed in and securing your session.
• Unlock state: remembering which articles you have unlocked, so paid content loads for you on the publisher's site.
• Checkout: carrying your unlock through the payment flow.
• Security: CSRF protection and fraud prevention, including cookies set by our payment processors.

Preferences

Remembering settings you have chosen, so you do not have to set them again.

Analytics

Understanding how the unlock flow performs in aggregate: which steps people complete, and where things break. We use these to fix and improve the product, not to build advertising profiles.

3. Third-party cookies

Some cookies are set by services we rely on rather than by us. These are mainly Stripe, for fraud prevention and to complete checkout, and our analytics and error-tracking providers. Their own policies govern how they use them.

We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

4. Publisher sites

When the Paperwall widget runs on a publisher's site, it may use storage on that site to track your unlock state. The publisher's own site sets its own cookies, including those from their Ghost installation, their theme and any analytics they run. Their cookie policy covers those, not this one.

5. Managing cookies

Paperwall does not currently show a cookie banner, because we do not set advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. The cookies we set are the ones needed to run the service, plus the product analytics described above.

You control cookies through your browser, usually under Settings, then Privacy. You can block or delete them there. Blocking the strictly necessary cookies will stop sign-in, checkout and unlocks from working. Most browsers also send a "do not track" signal, and we honour recognised opt-out signals where the law requires it.

If we introduce cookies that require consent, we will ask for it before setting them and add a control for changing your mind.

6. Changes

We update this page when what we use changes. The date at the top shows when we last did.

7. Contact

Email privacy@paperwall.io with questions about cookies, or use the contact form.