EditThisCookie is gone — what happened and what to do

TL;DR: EditThisCookie was removed from the Chrome Web Store on 2024-09-28 after the maintainer account was reportedly transferred and a post-transfer update added policy-violating monetization. The original is defunct; the safe path is a Manifest V3 alternative like the open-source CookieVault Editor or the closed-source Cookie-Editor.

The removal of EditThisCookie is one of the most consequential events in Chrome extension history. EditThisCookie was, for nearly a decade, the default cookie editor for millions of Chrome users¹ — and on 2024-09-28 it disappeared from the Chrome Web Store. This post lays out the verifiable timeline, explains why an extension that was trusted for years became a risk, and tells you exactly what to do whether you still have it installed or not.

The timeline

In short: EditThisCookie grew to a multi-million install base over roughly a decade, ran on Manifest V2, and was removed from the Chrome Web Store on 2024-09-28 following a maintainer-account transfer and a controversial post-transfer update. The GitHub source remains; the store listing does not.

The sequence of events, as documented across the developer community²:

The original author has publicly stated that he sold the extension before the problematic updates and was not involved in the changes that led to removal. We do not attribute the removal to him — the point is that maintainer-account transfers are a recognized supply-chain risk for browser extensions, and EditThisCookie is the textbook case.

Why a trusted extension became a risk overnight

In short: Browser extensions have privileged access to your browsing data. An extension trustworthy for years can become a tracking or monetization vector the moment its publisher account changes hands — and users rarely notice the ownership change before the behavior changes.

Three structural reasons this happens, and not just to EditThisCookie:

• Privileged access persists across ownership. An extension with the cookies permission keeps that permission after a sale. The new owner inherits access to every cookie on every site you visit.
• Auto-update is silent. Chrome updates extensions in the background. A policy-violating update can land without you clicking anything, and the new behavior runs with the permissions you granted the old owner.
• Provenance is invisible in the store. The Chrome Web Store listing does not show ownership history. You cannot tell from the store page whether the extension you trusted in 2022 has the same owner in 2024.

This is why open-source code and reproducible builds matter: they make the “the binary does something different from what the source says” attack class detectable.

What to do right now

In short: If you still have EditThisCookie installed, export your data and uninstall. Then pick a Manifest V3 alternative with transparent ownership. Do not reinstall EditThisCookie from outside the official store.

The eight-step safe-migration checklist:

1. Check if EditThisCookie is still installed — visit chrome://extensions and look for it
2. If installed, export your cookies first — click the EditThisCookie icon → Export → JSON, and save the file
3. Uninstall EditThisCookie — click Remove on the chrome://extensions page
4. Do not reinstall from third-party sources — “EditThisCookie revival” CRX files have unverified provenance
5. Pick a Manifest V3 alternative — CookieVault Editor (open source) or Cookie-Editor (closed source) are both safe
6. Install from the official Chrome Web Store — never from a direct download link in a search result
7. Import your exported JSON — CookieVault Editor: Settings → Import → EditThisCookie JSON
8. Securely delete the exported JSON once import is verified — plaintext cookies on disk are a credential-leak risk

Which alternative to pick

In short: CookieVault Editor if you want open-source code, encrypted sync, and reproducible builds. Cookie-Editor if you want the smallest possible install and do not need sync. Both are Manifest V3 and actively maintained — avoid unmaintained forks.

A short comparison of the safe options:

• CookieVault Editor — MIT open source, Manifest V3, end-to-end encrypted sync, reproducible builds, multi-profile. The closest like-for-like EditThisCookie replacement with added trust signals.
• Cookie-Editor (by Moustachauve) — closed source, Manifest V3, actively maintained, smallest footprint. A reasonable choice if source transparency is not a requirement for you.
• Unmaintained “revival” forks — avoid. Unknown provenance plus cookie access is exactly the risk that took down the original.

The full migration walk-through with screenshots and a feature-parity matrix is on our EditThisCookie alternative page.

See also

• EditThisCookie alternative — full migration guide and feature matrix
• CookieVault vs EditThisCookie — direct comparison
• CookieVault Editor — the open-source replacement
• What is a cookie? — the underlying protocol
• Cookie AutoDelete is disabled — the parallel story for the auto-delete extension
• How to edit cookies in Chrome — the workflow EditThisCookie used to provide