What Is the Difference Between Necessary and Functional Cookies?

The main difference between necessary cookies and functional cookies comes down to their purpose and the level of user consent required.

Necessary cookies are essential for a website to function. They enable basic operations like maintaining a shopping cart or user login. Without them, certain core website features wouldn’t work, and as such, these cookies are exempt from requiring user consent under laws like GDPR. However, websites must inform users about their use.

Functional cookies, on the other hand, enhance the user experience by remembering preferences and settings, such as language choices or login details. While not essential for the website to operate, they make the browsing experience more personalised and efficient. These cookies usually fall into the category of non-essential cookies, so they require user consent to be placed on a website. Unlike necessary cookies, functional cookies are primarily used to improve the site's functionality without being critical to its basic operations.