In this post, I will share with you six of the best cookie consent plugins that you can use for your WordPress website in 2023 and beyond.
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been busy updating the privacy policy and cookie information pages for my websites. Yep, it’s been pretty boring and tedious, to say the least, but it’s important stuff that needs to be done.
Anyhow, by the time you arrive around to reading this post, data protection rules across Europe will already be in force with GDPR. This was launched on the 25th of May 2018.
And for the record, I dislike it very much, but we have to abide by the rules.
So, we’re now well and truly into 2023 and hopefully, by now, you will have taken the right action to make your website compliant, to some degree.
What is this GDPR? If you’re at all wondering what this GDPR means and how it affects you, it’s a European Regulation that has been brought into force to help strengthen data protection for EU citizens.
GDPR affects every website that serves an audience, users/consumers within the EU. Just to be safe, don’t assume that GDPR doesn’t apply to your website or online business. I do not care if you’re based on a small remote island somewhere off the grid. If you do business with the EU, then it affects you.
If you’d like to learn more about this regulation, I recommend you check out the official GDPR website.
Right then, below you will find a compiled list of some of the best cookie consent, Privacy Policies, and GDPR plugins for WordPress.
If you’re not using a cookie plugin and need a simple solution to help make your site compliant, one of these should do the trick. However, I recommend you do your due diligence and research each plugin for yourself.
What you should look for in a good GDPR plugin
I want to reiterate the importance of recognizing that using any of these plugins will NOT make your WordPress website fully compliant with GDPR. However, it will certainly help it.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer/solicitor and this is not GDPR advice. This post is simply pointing you to relevant technology that you might find useful in your quest to make your website GDPR and Privacy-friendly.
Here’s what you should look for in cookie consent plugins.
- Quick and easy setup after installing and activation
- Customizable to match your website or branding
- Comprehensive cover of various types of regulations (GDPR, CCPA, LGPD, CNIL, POPIA)
- Transparency and control for users who have the right to download or delete personal data from a website
- Privacy Seal (Not always available)
- Cache plugin-friendly
- SEO-friendly
Right then, let’s dive right in.
Best Cookie Consent Plugins To Check out (GDPR & CCPA Compliance)
1. CookieYes | GDPR Cookie Consent And Compliance by WebToffee
First on the list is the very plugin that I use here on Fabrizio Van Marciano. I recently updated this plugin from another plugin I used to use called Cookie Notice by dFactory (Now Hu.manity.co). Sadly that plugin stopped working for me.
CookieYes is one of the most popular plugins that complies with GDPR and CCPA. It’s been installed on over 1 million websites and has over 1500 positive reviews.
Features include:
- GDPR, CCPA, LGPD, and other regulation compliance
- Ability to add ‘Do Not Sell’ option to CCPA
- Website scanning for cookies
- Customizable banner
- Banner loading location (footer, header, pop-up)
- Multiple theme and plugins compatibility
- Accept, reject, revisit consent feature, and more
Benefits of using this plugin: This plugin has most of the features you need to help make your site more compliant with GDPR and other regulations. Getting set up is extraordinarily quick, just a few clicks of the most, and you’re set. This plugin is also frequently updated and boasts a lot of positive reviews.
Cons of using this plugin: There was an issue regarding the SEO meta, I think this has now been patched up. However, if you’re planning on using this plugin long-term just keep an eye on your SEO meta information. Other than that, this plugin is darn close to being perfect 🙂
2. UK Cookie Consent by Catapult Themes
Second, on the list is the UK Cookie Consent Plugin created by Termly.
Originally, I started using this plugin, until I ran into a few problems with the banner NOT displaying correctly on some of the landing pages that I built using Thrive Architect. In other words, there was a compatibility issue between the two plugins.
If you don’t use Thrive Architect page builder, then you should have NO problems using this plugin. Of course, I last tested this in 2019, and I don’t use Thrive Architect anymore, so things might have changed now we’re in 2022 and the compatibility issue may have been resolved.
The best part about the UK Cookie Consent plugin is that it’s incredibly simple to install and set up.
Plugin configuration options include –
- GDPR, CCPA, and the ePrivacy Directive compliant
- Cookie bar close options (On-click, on-scroll, timed)
- Option to display on first-page visitors lands on only
- Exclude pages you don’t want the notification to appear on
- Exclude zones
- Notification duration
- Scroll height
- Cookie version and expiry (How long should the cookie last)
- Option to opt out of tracking
- Content settings (Heading text, a customizable cookie notification message, CTA text, privacy page settings).
- Styles options (Position of the notification bar, text, background, link colors, and more).
Benefits of using this plugin – Quick and simple to set up. If you don’t use very many cookies on your website, other than the ones you use to track website traffic, visitor behavior, etc. Or for doing simple statistical analysis, then this plugin should be fine.
Cons of using this plugin – There may still be a compatibility issue with Thrive Themes products. This may have been resolved now. Other than that, there are no other cons to mention.
3. GDPR Cookie Compliance by Moove Agency
Next on our list is Moove Agency’s GDPR Cookie Compliance plugin.
This one comes with a lot of options for making your website GDPR-friendly to some degree. Again, using it alone will not make your website completely compliant. The reason behind this is that each website needs to put in place its own set of policy rules.
Plugin options include –
- GDPR and CCPA ready!
- Fully customizable banner styling
- Branding and positioning (Upload your own logo)
- Cookie info-bar settings
- Floating button
- Privacy Overview textbox and settings
- Options for customizing information about necessary cookies, third-party cookies, and any other additional cookies.
- Cookie policy settings, and more.
Benefits of using this plugin – This is one of the best plugins I’ve seen for GDPR and CCPA. It’s clean, and attractive, and can help you to take a big step toward making your website more GDPR-compliant. Ideally, if you have a website that uses a lot more cookies, i.e advertising cookies, behavior tracking cookies, Geographic tracking, affiliate links, etc. Then this plugin could be a little more useful with the additional options.
Cons of using this plugin – Not really a con, but my concern with GDPR Cookie Compliance is that I’m not entirely convinced that all users will take the time to read every website’s privacy policy. Website users, generally, have short attention spans and limited patience. It may cause some visitors to just hit the back button because they simply can’t be bothered with all the rigmaroles of ticking the yes box to this, and no to that, etc.
4. Cookie Notice by dFactory
This is another plugin that I used in the past on some of my websites. Generally speaking, setting up this plugin is quick and painless. It’s also customizable and features include GDPR and CCPA compliance. You do get a few extra useful configuration options too, see below.
- Covers all current regulations
- Add a customized cookie message
- Customize buttons CTA text
- Enable or disable the ‘read more’ link. You can also change the link text
- Use a custom link or page link to your privacy page
- Link target option to open in a new tab or same page
- Feature to give users the option to refuse third-party non-functional cookies
- Script blocking
- Reloading, on-click, and on-scroll cookie acceptance options
- Cookie expiry time
- Script placement (Header or footer)
- Placement options (Top or bottom)
- SEO-friendly
- WPML compatible
- Analytics dashboard
You can also customize the design of your cookie notice with some cool animation, style, and colors. All that said, the recent update of this plugin has caused the plugin to stop displaying the consent bar on my site, so I’ve had to ditch it, sadly.
Benefits of using this plugin – Quick and simple to set up, customizable banner to match your website’s branding and style.
Cons of using this plugin – Free version doesn’t look as attractive as the first two in this post. Uses either WordPress or Bootstrap CSS. Premium version available, but quite pricey. The last update has caused a few possible issues with caching plugins. Stopped working on my website so had to change it.
5. EU Cookie Law Plugin
Next up is the EU cookie law plugin which to date has had over 100,000 downloads and plenty of positive reviews. Sadly, it was last updated over a year ago. So, use this plugin at your own risk.
Options include the following –
- Block iFrames, embeds, and scripts on your blog/website.
- Cookie acceptance duration.
- Scroll and navigation consent.
- Subdomains and multisite cookie share.
- Appearance customization options.
- Message bar content options.
- Pop-up box custom content.
- Shortcode (Cookie control, cookie disabled message).
Benefits of using this plugin – Incredibly simple to install and configure. Popular and widely used on WordPress sites.
Cons of using this plugin – The notification bar and pop-up look dull and boring and don’t provide many options for users in the pop-up. Last updated over a year ago. No mention that the plugin covers any other regulations asides from GDPR. Possible compatibility issues with Elementor.
6. GDPR Framework by Data443
Last on our list is the GDPR Framework plugin by 443. This plugin offers everything you need to set your website up for GDPR compliance. One of the features, as with many of the plugins listed in this post, is a simple way to export or even delete personal data.
Benefits of using this plugin: Easy to install, lots of features, advanced integration, and a privacy manager.
Cons of using this plugin: Features and options could be quite overwhelming. Other than that there are no real cons with this plugin, it does exactly what it says on the box.
Wrapping up
So, there you have it. Six incredibly useful plugins to help you make your website more transparent about its use of cookies and user privacy.
Now, one last time, you should NOT install any of these plugins and expect your site to be fully compliant with GDPR or any other privacy regulations.
Your cookie and privacy pages
Ensure your Privacy Policy and Cookies information pages are also updated to reflect the settings you make when you use any of these plugins. This will take some time, and the easiest way to check is to go through each plugin or service that you use that might store cookies. Including any analytics, tracking, SEO scripts, email opt-in forms, contact forms, etc.
Some plugins let you decide what to do with the data that it collects, which can be useful.
There are also plugins you can use for creating a Privacy Policy page within your WordPress website, such as the Auto-Terms Privacy Policy plugin. However, I highly recommend creating your own custom privacy info, because each website is unique and will require a specific set of privacy terms.
Working towards making your website GDPR-friendly doesn’t have to be a minefield, and avoiding it just isn’t worth it. Better be safe than sorry.
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