Best Cookie Consent Plugins For WordPress

Allowing users to consent to cookies is crucial for several reasons, as it ensures transparency, privacy, and compliance with data protection regulations. A website doesn’t need to ask for consent to store cookies necessary to the function of the site, but they DO need to ask for consent to store nonessential cookies - things like analytics, advertising trackers, or geotargeting.

Need a quick refresher on cookies? Read (Website) Cookies 101: A Bite-Sized Guide

Here are the key reasons why it's important to obtain user consent for cookies:

1. Respect for Privacy: User consent for cookies demonstrates respect for individuals' online privacy. It acknowledges that users have a say in how their data is collected and used while browsing a website.

2. Compliance with Data Protection Laws: Many countries and regions have enacted data protection laws, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in California. These regulations require websites to obtain user consent before collecting and processing personal data through cookies. Failing to do so can lead to legal consequences and fines.

3. User Control: Cookie consent gives users control over their online experience. They can choose whether to accept or reject specific types of cookies, allowing them to tailor their experience to their preferences.

4. Transparency: Providing cookie consent options promotes transparency. Users have the right to know what data is being collected and for what purposes. Cookie consent mechanisms typically include information about the types of cookies used and their purposes, helping users make informed decisions.

5. Enhanced Trust: Respecting user privacy and offering transparency enhances trust between the website and its visitors. Users are more likely to engage with a website they trust and believe respects their privacy.

6. Improved User Experience: By allowing users to consent to cookies, you can personalize their experience. With their permission, you can remember their preferences (such as language settings) and provide a more user-friendly and tailored experience.

7. Reduced Risk of Data Breaches: Implementing cookie consent can help reduce the risk of data breaches. By obtaining user consent, you ensure that only necessary data is collected, minimizing the potential exposure of sensitive information.

8. Mitigation of Cookie Banner Fatigue: While cookie consent banners are sometimes seen as an annoyance, they can be designed to remember user preferences for subsequent visits, reducing the frequency of consent requests and banner fatigue.

9. Global Accessibility: In a global digital landscape, websites often cater to visitors from various countries. Implementing a robust cookie consent system ensures that your website complies with the different data protection regulations around the world.

10. Business Reputation: A website that respects user privacy and complies with data protection laws is likely to have a better reputation. This can lead to increased customer trust and loyalty.

In summary, allowing users to consent to cookies is not only a legal requirement in many jurisdictions but also a best practice for creating a user-friendly and privacy-respecting online environment. It is an essential step in building trust with your audience and ensuring compliance with data protection regulations.

Now that you understand what cookies are and why consenting to them is important, we vetted over a dozen free WordPress plugins and several paid solutions to bring you the best cookie consent implementations for your WordPress website.

CookieYes

CookieYes was our favorite free solution as well as our favorite paid one! CookieYes offers a clean and intuitive setup process for creating cookie consent notices, with granular control over the cookie categories and explicit consent for each. It easily integrates with services like Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel after obtaining consent. It also supports GDPR, CCPA, and is ready for LGPD (Brazilian General Data Protection Law) compliance.

Unfortunately, the free version includes CookieYes branding on the consent notice, and advanced features, such as auto-blocking of scripts and cookies until consent is obtained, require an upgrade to the premium version. The free version also has some customization limitations. As a free solution, CookieYes left a bit to be desired, but as a paid solution, it is a very nice option.

User rating: 5 out of 5 stars, 1M+ active installations.

Complianz

Complianz offers a very nice and extensively featured free solution. The pros included comprehensive compliance (meaning that it offers a wide range of compliance tools, not just for cookie management, but also for GDPR (the EU’s data protection and privacy laws), CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), and other privacy laws), automatic cookie blocking until consent is given, geolocation (Complianz detects the location of the website visitor and adjusts cookie consent requirements accordingly), a policy generator (includes templates and a wizard to generate privacy policies and cookie policies for your website), and it maintains detailed records of user consents, which is crucial for user compliance.

The cons were minimal - it’s a complex plugin which may be overwhelming for users who only want a simple cookie notice without the additional legal compliance features. Some advanced features require the paid version/premium subscription. Also, the added functionality and compliance checks could potentially slow down a website’s performance very slightly.

User rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars, 800K+ active installations.

Cookie Notice

Cookie Notice is very easy to set up and use, with a straightforward approach to cookie consent notification. It allows for customization of the message, button texts, and design, and offers multilingual site support. Best of all, it’s completely free to use!

Because of its simplicity, however, it has limited features (provides only a simple cookie notice without in-depth compliance management or documentation), and you may need to manually configure some scripts and third-party services to meet full compliance. It also doesn’t keep records of user consents, which may not suffice for certain legal standards.

User rating: 5 out of 5 stars, 1M+ active installations.

Cookiebot

Overall, Cookiebot Premium was our favorite of the paid options for cookie consent plugins. While they do offer a free version, their paid version offers full customization, legislation frameworks for 5+ data protection rulesets, multi-language support, explicit and implicit consent management, analytics, and much more.

In terms of their user experience, Cookiebot includes geotargeting, language auto-translation of the banners, consent expiration, cross-domain consent sharing, and more. Cookiebot offers full recordkeeping, automated scans, and customized blocking of cookies and trackers. Cookiebot integrates seamlessly with Wordpress, Google Tag Manager, Umbraco, Hubspot, and more. Overall, a very robust and effective cookie management solution for your website.

User rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars, 100K+ active installations.

Borlabs Cookie

Borlabs Cookie offers a robust cookie management system which allows users to categorize and manage cookies effectively. It also keeps user consent history, and comes with a content blocker features that ensures that scripts and cookies are not loaded until the user gives consent. It integrates easily with popular services and plugins for seamless operation within the WordPress ecosystem, and is customizable, allowing for a cohesive look and feel that matches the rest of your website.

There is no free version of Borlabs Cookie available, which could be a barrier for small businesses or personal websites. It also has a very complex array of options and settings, which may be overwhelming for users who are not well-versed in cookie management and privacy laws. Setting the plugin up to ensure full compliance might require a bit of a learning curve for many users. As with any plugin offering a wide range of features, there might be a slight impact on website performance and speed as well.

User rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars.

CookieYes

The paid version of CookieYes offers what we detailed above for the free version, but you can also remove the branding on the consent notice; and take advantage of their advanced features, such as auto-blocking of scripts and cookies until consent is obtained, and a lot more options in terms of customization and look/feel.

User rating: 5 out of 5 stars, 1M+ active installations.