Cookie Policy
Effective from: September 3, 2026
Translated document
This is a courtesy translation of the official Spanish document. The Spanish version is the legally binding document; this translation is provided for informational purposes only to facilitate understanding.
Controller: 3-102-939791 SOCIEDAD DE RESPONSABILIDAD LIMITADA, cédula jurídica (corporate ID) 3-102-939791, registered with the Registro Nacional de Costa Rica under Tomo 2025, Asiento 571526, holder of the registered trademark PORTA REAL® (N.° 414509), domiciled at Condominio Blue, Casa 21, Residencial Los Arcos, Heredia, Costa Rica. Contact: soporte@porta.cr. In this policy, "PORTA REAL", "we", or "the platform" refer to that company and to the site porta.cr.
This policy explains what cookies and storage technologies PORTA REAL uses, what it uses them for, how long they are kept, and how you can accept them, reject them, or change your mind at any time. It is complemented by our Privacy Policy, which describes in detail how we process your personal data in accordance with Ley N.° 8968 de Protección de la Persona frente al Tratamiento de sus Datos Personales (Costa Rica's data-protection law).
1. What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files stored on your device (computer, tablet, or mobile phone) when you visit a website. Their main purpose is to improve your browsing experience by remembering certain preferences and making the site easier to use. They can capture different types of information: data about your browsing (pages visited, time spent), preferences such as language and display settings, information about your device and browser, sign-in data, data for analytics and — when you authorize it — advertising, and interactions with content.
By functional equivalence, this policy also covers other technologies that store information on your device even though they are not technically cookies:
- localStorage: persistent browser storage; the information remains even if you close the browser, until you delete it or we remove it.
- sessionStorage: temporary storage; it is automatically cleared when you close the tab.
- Service Worker cache: progressive web app (PWA) technology that stores site resources (code, styles, images, fonts) so it loads faster and works with intermittent connections.
When we speak of "cookies" in this policy, we include all of these technologies. Some are necessary for the site to work correctly; the rest are only activated if you allow it. Before browsing, we recommend reviewing your preferences in our settings center ("Manage my cookies"), and you can change them at any time from that same option or from your browser settings.
2. What types of cookies do we use?
To understand how cookies work on our site, it is important to know who controls them and what their purpose is.
2.1 Who controls them
First-party cookies: managed directly by us and installed on your device from our own domain (porta.cr). They are used so the site works correctly, to remember your preferences, and to store your decision about cookies themselves. For example, the cookie that remembers you selected Spanish as your language, so you don't have to choose it again on every visit.
Third-party cookies: managed by external companies and installed from a domain different from ours, as a consequence of services integrated into the platform. For example, a Google Analytics cookie that measures how many people visit the site and from which country they access it. We do not directly control these cookies; each provider manages them under its own privacy policy, which is identified in the inventory in section 3.
2.2 By purpose
We classify all cookies and storage technologies into five categories. The last four depend on your consent.
Necessary
They enable the basic, essential operation of the website. Without them, essential functions would not be available: they manage sign-in and keep your account active while you browse; they remember the language and currency in which you view the site (on a real estate platform with prices in colones and dollars, currency consistency across pages is part of the service, not an optional preference); they load the interactive map you use to search for properties; they protect forms and processes against errors and abuse; they store your decision about cookies themselves; and they make pages load faster through the application cache.
This category also includes technical error reporting: when something fails in your browser, a report is automatically sent to our monitoring service (Sentry) so we can detect and fix the failure. This report is scrubbed before being sent: it includes no identifiable personal data, does not record your screen or your session, removes the parameters of the addresses visited, and does not reconstruct your browsing path. It is service maintenance, not behavioral analytics, which is why it is classified as necessary.
We also classify as necessary the cookies installed by Google Maps, because the interactive map used to search for and view properties is the platform's core feature, so it loads even if you reject the optional cookies. These cookies are installed from Google's domains (google.com, gstatic.com) when the map loads. With respect to them, Google acts as an independent data controller, for security, fraud-prevention, and service-operation purposes, under its own privacy policy (policies.google.com/privacy); PORTA REAL does not technically control those cookies or the purposes Google assigns to them. If you do not wish to receive them, you can block third-party cookies or Google's domains from your browser settings; in that case the map may not work correctly, but the rest of the site will keep operating.
Necessary cookies cannot be disabled from our preference center, since, as their name indicates, they are essential for the site to function properly.
Functional
They allow personalizing your browsing experience beyond the basic functions, adapting to your preferences: they store your recent search history on your own device to suggest those searches when you search again (this information is not sent to our servers); they remember how many times you have visited the site and when you dismissed the "Install app" notice, to decide when to invite you to install the app; and they keep display preferences such as the section you last used in "My listings".
These cookies require your consent. If you choose not to accept them, browsing will be standard but the site will continue to work correctly. If you accepted them and later reject them, the information already stored on your device is deleted.
Performance
They allow us to understand how people interact with the site, identify areas for improvement, and measure the effectiveness of our content:
- Google Analytics 4: records, in aggregate form, the number of visits, the most visited pages, the average session time, and the navigation flow. PORTA REAL uses GA4 with IP anonymization enabled and with the advertising features (Google Signals, remarketing) disabled. It is integrated through Google Consent Mode v2: if you do not accept this category, GA4 is not initialized and its cookies are not installed.
- Technical performance measurement (Sentry): measures page load speed and performance to detect slowness. Unlike error reporting (Necessary category), this measurement does depend on your consent.
- Click-position logging: if you accept this category, we record which position in the search results you clicked on, associated with your account, to evaluate the quality of our result ranking. It is kept for a maximum of 12 months (see sections 4 and 6).
- Advertising frequency capping: when PORTA REAL advertising is enabled on other websites, cookies in this category will also serve to avoid repeatedly showing you the same ads of ours if you have already interacted with us. This function is not active at this time.
These cookies require your consent; if you choose not to accept them, the site will continue to work without issues.
Marketing
They are used to show you relevant ads according to your interests, both within our site and on other digital platforms: advertising for our services on other websites and social networks, measurement of advertising campaign effectiveness, and personalization of the ads you see. If you do not accept these cookies you may still see ads, but they will not be personalized according to your preferences.
PORTA REAL does not currently use Marketing cookies. When this category is enabled — for example, through Meta's advertising measurement tools (Meta Pixel and Conversions API, for campaigns on Facebook and Instagram) — it will only be activated if you expressly accept it, and we will notify you by showing the cookie notice again so you can make a new choice (see section 5).
Social Media
They enable integration with platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok: for example, embedding content from those networks on our site or making it easier for you to share PORTA REAL publications on your profiles. These platforms may use their cookies to track your activity on other sites and show you related content. Their installation depends on your consent, and you can manage it at any time from the preference center.
This category is not active at this time: today we do not install cookies or load social media components on the site. You can record your preference now, but that preference will not activate anything on its own: if in the future we integrate any of these platforms, we will show you the cookie notice again before installing any element of this category, and it will only be activated for those who accept it at that moment, with the updated information (see section 5).
As long as a category remains inactive, your selection in the preference center has no effect whatsoever and will not be used as consent: when the category is activated, the cookie notice will be shown again and only the decision you make at that moment will enable the processing.
3. Cookie and storage inventory
The following tables list each cookie and storage element the platform uses, with its purpose, category, and duration.
3.1 First-party cookies (porta.cr domain)
| Name | Purpose | Category | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| __session (and fragments __session.0, __session.1, …) | Encrypted sign-in session (Auth0); keeps your account active while you browse. | Necessary | Persistent: up to 7 days of inactivity, maximum 30 days from sign-in (renewed while you browse) |
| NEXT_LOCALE | Remembers the chosen language (Spanish or English) to serve the site in your language from the first response. | Necessary | 1 year |
| porta_cookie_consent | Stores your decision about cookies (which categories you accepted or rejected, and when), so we don't ask you again on every visit. | Necessary | 12 months |
3.2 Third-party cookies
| Name | Provider | Purpose | Category | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| auth0, auth0_compat, did, did_compat, among others | Auth0 (Okta), auth0.com domain | Maintain the identity provider's session during sign-in and registration. Policy: auth0.com/privacy | Necessary | Session / up to 1 year depending on the cookie |
| NID, CONSENT, 1P_JAR, among others | Google Maps (google.com, gstatic.com) | Loading of the interactive map, address autocomplete, and geocoding; Google uses them for security and fraud prevention. Policy: policies.google.com/privacy | Necessary | Variable (managed by Google) |
| _ga | Google Analytics 4 | Distinguish unique visitors for aggregated traffic analysis. Only installed if you accept the Performance category. Policy: policies.google.com/privacy | Performance | 2 years |
| _ga_<ID> | Google Analytics 4 | Maintain the analytics session state. Only installed with your consent. | Performance | 2 years |
| _gid | Google Analytics 4 | Distinguish unique visitors within a 24-hour window. Only installed with your consent. | Performance | 24 hours |
| _gat_gtag_* | Google Analytics 4 | Limit the frequency of requests to Google's servers. Only installed with your consent. | Performance | 1 minute |
3.3 Persistent storage (localStorage)
| Key | Purpose | Category | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| porta:currency | Remembers your preferred currency (colones or dollars) to display prices consistently across all pages. | Necessary | Until you delete it |
| porta:locale | Mirror of the chosen language, to display it correctly from the first instant of loading. | Necessary | Until you delete it |
| porta_verification_email_cooldown | Prevents repeated resending of the account verification email (anti-abuse protection). | Necessary | Until you delete it |
| porta_pending_referral_code | Stores the referral code from the link you followed (/r/…), to associate it with your account when you sign in or register; it powers the referral service you invoked by opening the link. | Necessary | 30 days |
| porta_search_history | Stores your latest searches (text, filters, location) on your device to suggest them; this local copy is not sent to our servers. The execution of the search is, however, logged server-side (Privacy Policy, section III.c). | Functional | Until you delete it or withdraw your consent |
| pwa-visit-count | Counts your visits to decide when to invite you to install the app (PWA). | Functional | Until you delete it or withdraw your consent |
| pwa-banner-dismissed | Remembers when you dismissed the "Install app" notice so as not to show it again immediately. | Functional | Until you delete it or withdraw your consent |
| porta_listings_view_v2 | Remembers the section you last used in "My listings" (listings or collections), to show it again when you return. | Functional | Until you delete it or withdraw your consent |
| porta_creative_config_v1 | Remembers the format and theme you chose when exporting promotional creatives for your listings. | Functional | Until you delete it or withdraw your consent |
3.4 Temporary storage (sessionStorage)
| Key | Purpose | Category | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| porta:geolocation-denied | Marks that you denied the location permission in this session, so we don't ask you again. | Necessary | Until the tab is closed |
| porta_viewed:<listing-ID> | Prevents counting the same view of a property twice within the same tab; the view counter is aggregated, per publication, without identifying you. | Necessary | Until the tab is closed |
| porta:activeAgency | Remembers the agency on whose behalf you are acting during this session. | Necessary | Until the tab is closed |
| porta:agencyContextChosen | Marks that you already chose whether you act personally or on behalf of an agency, so we don't ask you again in this session. | Necessary | Until the tab is closed |
| porta_compare_selection_v1 | Stores the listings you selected to compare while you browse in this tab. | Necessary | Until the tab is closed |
| porta.collab.draft:<code> | Keeps the draft of your message when contacting a listing shared through a collaboration, so it is not lost if the page reloads. | Necessary | Until the tab is closed |
| porta.resume-draft-dismissed | Remembers that you dismissed the resume-draft notice in this session. | Necessary | Until the tab is closed |
3.5 Other technical mechanisms
| Mechanism | What it stores | Category | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Worker cache (PWA) | Static site resources (code, styles, images, fonts) and an offline-mode page, for fast loading and operation with intermittent connections. It does not store personal information. | Necessary | Renews automatically with each version of the site; you can clear it from your browser |
| Sentry (error and performance monitoring) | Installs no cookies. Sends scrubbed reports of technical errors (Necessary) and, only if you accept the Performance category, page speed measurements. | Necessary (errors) / Performance (measurements) | Not applicable (stores nothing on your device) |
There is currently no active element in the Marketing or Social Media categories. If any are added in the future, this inventory will be updated and the consent notice will be shown again (section 5).
4. How do we use cookies?
We use cookies exclusively for the purposes described in this policy: ensuring the site works, improving your experience, analyzing platform usage, and — when you authorize it — offering you personalized content and advertising. We do not sell the information collected through cookies, nor do we share it with third parties for purposes other than those indicated. Information obtained through analytics cookies is processed in aggregated or pseudonymized form, which means it does not allow directly identifying individuals.
In addition, in order to display and charge for featured listings fairly, we record in aggregate form how many times each listing appears in search results and how many times it is clicked. This count is per listing, not per person: it does not store your identity, your session, or your search, and it is shown to whoever published the listing as part of the service they contract, just like the view counter. For that reason it is considered necessary and does not depend on your consent.
The record of which position you clicked on, associated with your account, is different: that is indeed behavioral information. It is only stored if you accept Performance cookies — the check is also performed server-side, so without your consent the record simply does not happen — and it is kept for a maximum of 12 months.
5. How does your consent work?
The cookie notice. On your first visit we show you a notice at the bottom of the screen with three options: Accept and continue (all categories), Reject (only Necessary ones), and Customize (choose category by category). Until you decide, we treat the optional categories as rejected: no cookie requiring consent is installed.
The preference center. Through the "Manage my cookies" button — available on this page at all times — you can review and change your decision by category whenever you want: Functional, Performance, Marketing, and Social Media, each with its own controls, plus the "Accept all" and "Reject all" shortcuts. Necessary cookies always appear active and cannot be disabled.
What happens when you withdraw your consent. Withdrawing consent for a category takes effect immediately: the tools in that category stop operating and the information they stored on your device is deleted (for example, your search history if you withdraw Functional). Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of the processing carried out while it was in force.
Validity of your decision. Your decision is stored in the porta_cookie_consent cookie for a maximum of twelve (12) months; once that period expires, we ask you again.
Material changes. If this policy changes substantially — for example, if we activate a category that is empty today, such as Marketing or Social Media — your previous decision does not automatically extend to what is new: the cookie notice is shown again so you can decide once more with the updated information.
6. How long do we keep cookies?
How long a cookie remains on your device depends on its type:
Session cookies
They are temporary and are automatically deleted when you close the browser or end your active session. They do not persist on your device once the browser is closed. Example: the temporary storage (sessionStorage) keys in the section 3.4 inventory, such as porta:geolocation-denied.
Persistent cookies
They remain on your device even after closing the browser or turning off the device, for the period indicated in the inventory in section 3. We use them, for example, to remember your language or your decision about cookies on your next visit.
Browser storage
localStorage keys remain until you delete them or we remove them (for example, upon withdrawal of your consent for the corresponding category); sessionStorage keys are cleared when the tab is closed.
The retention periods for information derived from cookies (as opposed to the file on your device) are detailed in the Privacy Policy. In particular: the click-position record associated with your account is kept for a maximum of 12 months, and aggregated impression counts are kept for 90 days.
7. How can you disable or manage cookies?
You have two complementary ways:
From our preference center. Use the "Manage my cookies" button on this page to turn each category on or off at any time, as described in section 5. This is the recommended way: it takes effect immediately and deletes the information of the categories you reject.
From your browser. All browsers allow blocking or deleting cookies and clearing the site's storage from their privacy settings (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge include instructions on their help pages). Keep in mind that if you delete all of the site's cookies, your consent decision is also deleted and the notice will appear again; and that blocking necessary cookies from the browser may prevent essential functions — such as signing in — from working correctly.
Remember that necessary cookies cannot be disabled from our preference center because they are essential for the site to function.
8. Third parties, transfers, and updates to this policy
The external providers mentioned in this policy — Google and Auth0/Okta as regards cookies, and Sentry as regards the sending of technical reports — process information from servers located outside Costa Rica, mainly in the United States. The conditions of those transfers, the applicable safeguards, and the details of personal data processing are described in our Privacy Policy.
When we modify this policy, we will update the effective date in the header and, if the change is material, we will notify you at least ten (10) business days in advance and will ask for your consent again as described in section 5. For any question about this policy or about the use of cookies on the platform, write to us at soporte@porta.cr. This policy is drafted in Spanish; translations into other languages are provided solely as an informational courtesy and, in the event of any divergence, the Spanish version prevails.