Clear Site Data in Chrome DevTools: Every Checkbox Explained (and What It Misses)

Clear site data in Chrome DevTools is the most precise way to reset one website without touching any other. It lives in the Application panel, behind a Clear site data button and a set of checkboxes that decide exactly what goes.

Most guides stop at "click the button". That misses two things that matter: which box signs you out, and the one cache the button does not clear at all. This guide covers both. We read the DevTools source to check the labels, so they match what you see.

The short answer#

• Where: DevTools, then Application, then Storage, then Clear site data.
• Stay signed in: untick Cookies and Third-party cookies first.
• It skips the HTTP cache. Hard reload (Ctrl+Shift+R) afterwards.
• Faster, but blunt: Command menu, type clear site data, press Enter. It clears everything, cookies included.

How to clear site data, step by step#

1. Open the site you want to reset.
2. Open DevTools: F12, or Command+Option+I on a Mac.
3. Open the Application panel. If you do not see the tab, click the >> arrow in the tab row and choose it.
4. In the left column, under Application, click Storage.
5. Review the checkboxes under Clear site data. Untick anything you want to keep.
6. Click Clear site data.
7. Reload with Ctrl+Shift+R (Command+Shift+R on a Mac).

The same pane shows a Usage chart, so you can see what the site has stored before you delete it. It also has Simulate custom storage quota, which developers use to test how an app behaves when storage runs low.

What each checkbox removes#

These are the labels in current Chrome, taken from the DevTools source:

"Sometimes" is honest: some apps keep sign-in tokens in local storage or IndexedDB instead of cookies. If clearing those signs you out, that is why.

Keep your login: untick Cookies#

When you are fixing a site that looks broken or out of date, you rarely need to sign out. Untick Cookies and Third-party cookies, leave the rest, and click Clear site data. The service worker, cache storage and stored data go. Your session stays.

When you are fixing a sign-in problem, such as a login loop or an ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS error, do the opposite: tick Cookies, because that is where the problem lives.

The cache it does not clear#

Here is the part most guides get wrong. Clear site data does not empty Chrome's regular HTTP cache. The Cache storage box covers the Cache API, which a site's own code fills. The ordinary cache of images, scripts and style sheets that Chrome keeps for every site is separate.

So if a page still shows old files after you clear site data, finish with one of these:

• Ctrl+Shift+R or Command+Shift+R: reloads and skips the HTTP cache for that load.
• Empty Cache and Hard Reload: with DevTools open, right-click the reload button. Our hard refresh guide explains the three reload options.
• Disable cache: tick it in the Network panel while you work, so the HTTP cache is bypassed whenever DevTools is open.

Faster: the Command menu#

You do not have to click through panels.

1. With DevTools open, press Control+Shift+P, or Command+Shift+P on a Mac.
2. Type clear site data.
3. Press Enter.

Be careful: the command does not use your checkboxes. In the DevTools source, it clears every storage type, cookies included, so it signs you out of the site. A second command, Clear site data (including third-party cookies), also removes cookies from embedded sites. Use the Storage pane when you want to keep your login.

Clear one type of data instead#

Sometimes you only want one thing gone. The left column of the Application panel lets you work on each storage type directly:

• Local storage and Session storage: select the site, then a key, and press Delete, or use Clear all in the toolbar.
• IndexedDB: right-click a database and delete it.
• Cookies: select the site and delete single cookies, or clear them all.
• Service workers: click Unregister next to the worker. Tick Update on reload while you work on a web app so you always get the newest worker.
• Cache storage: pick a cache and delete entries, or delete the whole cache.

This is how you test a single change, such as whether a bug comes from one stale key. Our localStorage guide covers the console commands too.

When you are not a developer#

DevTools is powerful, but it is a lot of panel for a broken checkout page. If you just want to reset the site you are on, Chrome's address bar has a simpler route, covered in how to clear cache for one site in Chrome.

We built Cleaner as the one-click version of this pane. It is a free Chrome extension with three presets that map to the checkboxes above: Fix broken page (cache and service workers, keeps cookies), Sign out & reset (adds cookies and site storage) and Full reset (every data type). It shows what the site stored before it clears, reloads the page, and runs from Alt+Shift+D.

For site owners: clear it for your users#

If a bad deploy left users with broken data, you can ask their browsers to clear it. The Clear-Site-Data response header tells the browser to remove "cache", "cookies", "storage" or all of them ("*") for your origin. MDN notes it only works over HTTPS. Sending it from a sign-out or "repair" URL resets users without asking them to open DevTools.