Cookie Policy
Last updated 6 November 2026 · version 2.1.1
Plain language summary. Build Your Exit sets a small number of cookies that the site needs to work: to keep your answers together before you have an account, and to keep you signed in afterwards. With your permission, and only then, we also use Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages are useful. We ask before any analytics cookie is set, Reject is as easy as Accept, and you can change your mind at any time from Cookie settings at the bottom of every page on which we use analytics cookies. We do not use advertising cookies.
1. What a cookie is
A cookie is a small file that a website asks your browser to store. When you move from one page to another, or come back later, the browser sends the file back. That is how a site can tell that two separate requests came from the same person.
Some cookies are necessary to provide a service you asked for. Others are optional, and are used for measurement or advertising. Under Irish and European rules, optional cookies need your consent before they are set. Necessary cookies do not.
Websites can also store small amounts of information in your browser in other ways, known as local storage and session storage. The same rules apply to them, so they are described in section 4.
2. Necessary cookies
These cookies are needed for the site to work, or to remember a choice you made. They do not need your consent.
| Name | What it does | When it is set | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| bye_session | Keeps the answers you give in the free Check attached to your visit, so nothing is lost if you close the page, and so that work can be moved onto your account if you later sign in. | When you start the free Check. | 90 days. |
| __Secure-authjs.session-token (authjs.session-token) | Keeps you signed in. The value is signed and encrypted, so your account details cannot be read from the browser. | When you sign in. | 30 days. |
| __Host-authjs.csrf-token (authjs.csrf-token) | Protects sign in and account forms, so another website cannot submit them on your behalf. | When you open a sign in or account page. | Until you close the browser. |
| __Secure-authjs.callback-url (authjs.callback-url) | Remembers which page to return you to after you sign in. | During sign in. | Until you close the browser. |
| __Secure-authjs.pkce.code_verifier (authjs.pkce.code_verifier) | Protects sign in with Google, so the response from Google can only complete a sign in that you started. | When you choose to sign in with Google. | 15 minutes. |
| bye_consent | Remembers whether you accepted or rejected analytics cookies, so we do not ask on every page. It holds only your choice and the time you made it. | When you accept or reject analytics cookies. | 6 months, after which we ask again. |
| bye_gate | Lets invited people view the site before it opens to the public. | Only while the site is not yet open, when you follow a preview link. | 30 days. |
The names in brackets are the ones used during development. On the live site you will see the secure versions of the names.
3. What the necessary cookies contain
All of them except bye_consent are set with the HttpOnly attribute, which means no script running in the page can read them. bye_consent is readable by the page, because the page needs to know your choice before it decides whether to load analytics. It contains nothing except that choice and the time. All of them are set with SameSite=Lax, and on the live site they are marked Secure, so they travel only over an encrypted connection.
None of them contains your name, your email address, your answers or any other personal detail in readable form.
4. Information stored in your browser
Some of our tools store small amounts of information in your browser's local or session storage. It stays on your device and is not sent to us or anyone else. It is needed for a feature you chose to use.
| Name | What it does | When it is stored | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| bye.homepage.skills | Remembers the skills you picked on the homepage, so your selection is still there when you come back. | When you pick a skill. | Until you clear it in your browser. |
| bye.profile.currency | Remembers the currency you chose in the free tools. | When you choose a currency. | Until you clear it in your browser. |
| bye.member.theme | Remembers whether you chose the light or dark appearance in the member area. | When you choose an appearance. | Until you clear it in your browser. |
| bye.exit-number.summary | Carries your Exit Number results to the printable summary page. | When you open the summary. | Until you close the tab. |
5. Analytics cookies (only with your consent)
If you accept analytics cookies, we use Google Analytics, provided by Google Ireland Limited, to count visits and understand which pages are useful. We use what we learn to improve the site.
| Name | What it does | Provider | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| _ga | Distinguishes one browser from another, so that repeat visits are not counted as new people. | Google Analytics | 13 months. |
| _ga_<ID> | Keeps track of the current visit. The ending is our Google Analytics measurement ID. | Google Analytics | 13 months. |
How we limit what Google receives:
Nothing from Google loads until you accept.
If you reject, or never answer, Google receives nothing from our pages.
We do not use Google Analytics on your account pages, the member area, sign in, the Starter Plan tools, the Exit Number tool itself (its public description page is measured), or our help, support and resources pages.
We remove identifiers and anything after a question mark from page addresses before they are sent. For example, a Check result link is recorded only as "a Check result page", never as your link. The page you came from is cleaned the same way, and a page we do not track is never named as the page you came from.
We never send your answers, your results, your email address or any figure you enter.
Advertising features, Google signals and data sharing with Google for its own purposes are switched off.
Google Analytics data is kept for 2 months, then deleted by Google.
Google Ireland Limited processes this data for us under Google's data processing terms. Google may transfer data to the United States. Google LLC is certified under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework. See our Privacy Policy for more.
6. Your choices
When you first visit, we ask whether you accept analytics cookies. Accept and Reject are equally easy, and you can keep reading without answering. If you don't answer, no analytics cookies are set.
You can change your mind at any time with Cookie settings at the bottom of every page on which we use analytics cookies. If you withdraw, we stop Google Analytics straight away and delete its cookies from your browser.
You can also delete and block cookies in your browser settings. Blocking the necessary cookies will stop parts of the site working: you will not be able to sign in, and answers in the free Check may not be kept.
7. Cookies set by other companies
When you buy something, we send you to Stripe's own secure checkout page. When you sign in with Google, we send you to Google's own sign-in page. Those companies set their own cookies, on their own websites, under their own notices. We have no access to them. We do not run Stripe's or Google's sign-in code inside our pages. Google Analytics, described in section 5, is the only script from another company that our pages load, and only after you accept.
8. Changes to this Policy
If we add a cookie or a storage item, we will describe it here before it is used, and ask for your consent first where consent is required. This document is versioned and dated, so you can see which version applied at any time.
9. Contact
Questions about cookies, or about anything in this Policy, can go to Hello@buildyourexitnow.com.
Build Your Exit Limited, Ireland.
This Policy should be read alongside the Build Your Exit Privacy Policy, which explains how personal data is handled more generally.
Questions about this policy can go to hello@buildyourexitnow.com.