Overview

ClearURLs is an add-on based on the new WebExtensions technology and is optimized for Firefox and Chrome based browsers.

This extension will automatically remove tracking elements from URLs to help protect your privacy when browsing through the internet. For this purpose, we use a large catalog of rules, which is actively maintained by us and the community.

Learn more: Rule catalogs · required permissions · FAQ.

Application

Many websites use tracking elements in the URL to mark your online activity. All that tracking code is not necessary for a website to be displayed or work correctly and can therefore be removed — that is exactly what ClearURLs does.

https:​//example.com?<mark>utm_source</mark>=newsletter1&amp;<mark>utm_medium</mark>=email&amp;<mark>utm_campaign</mark>=sale

Another common example are Amazon URLs. If you search for a product on Amazon you will see a long URL such as:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/exampleProduct/ref=sxin_0_pb?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&keywords=tea&pd_rd_i=exampleProduct&pd_rd_r=8d39e4cd-1e4f-43db-b6e7-72e969a84aa5&pd_rd_w=1pcKM&pd_rd_wg=hYrNl&pf_rd_p=50bbfd25-5ef7-41a2-68d6-74d854b30e30&pf_rd_r=0GMWD0YYKA7XFGX55ADP&qid=1517757263&rnid=2914120011

Most of this URL is tracking code. Once ClearURLs has cleaned the address, it is simply https://www.amazon.com/dp/exampleProduct.

Features

• Removes tracking from URLs automatically in the background
• Blocks some common ad domains (optional)
• Has a built-in tool to clean up multiple URLs at once
• Supports redirection to the destination, without tracking services as a middleman
• Adds an entry to the context menu so that links can be copied quickly and cleanly
• Blocks hyperlink auditing, also known as ping tracking (see also this article)
• Prevents ETag tracking
• Prevents tracking injection over history API (see also: the replaceState() method)
• Prevents Google from rewriting the search results (prevents the insertion of tracking code)
• Prevents Yandex from rewriting the search results (prevents the insertion of tracking code)

Download

Chrome, Edge and Brave users: Google is phasing out the Manifest V2 technology that ClearURLs is built on, so Chrome-based browsers may disable the add-on until a Manifest V3 version is available; Edge is expected to follow. Firefox is not affected. More on this in the troubleshooting guide.

Donation

Source & Community

The main repository of ClearURLs lives on GitLab — contributions, issues and discussions are welcome. There is also a read-only GitHub mirror for convenience.