Which consent management platform should you choose?
It's one of the first questions clients ask me. Here are the main options, who each one fits, what it costs, and the few things that matter more than the price.
Published
For most small and mid-sized business sites, CookieYes, Cookiebot, Usercentrics, Termly and iubenda cover what you need. Their paid plans start at roughly $5 to $10 a month for one site. WordPress sites often do well with Complianz. Osano and OneTrust are built for larger organizations with privacy staff and cost much more.
The advertised price can differ a lot from what you'd pay, because every platform counts your site's size differently. Find out how yours would be counted, then pick one that works with your Google tools. If you have visitors in California, the rest of the US or Europe, check whether the plan you're buying can use different settings for each. On several platforms that feature sits on a higher plan, and the price goes up with it.
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Seeing this in your own setup?
Tell me what you're working onStart with the one that sounds like you
These starting points are my judgment, based on each platform's published pricing and features.
A small WordPress site that collects leads
I'd start with Complianz. It's a WordPress plugin with a free version, and the paid plan for one site is $59 a year. If you'd rather manage the banner outside WordPress, CookieYes starts at $10 a month and supports Google Consent Mode v2 on every plan. Whichever you pick, make sure your form tool, chat widget and any embedded video are held back until a visitor says yes.
A Shopify store that sells in Europe
I'd look at Shopify's built-in customer privacy settings first, then at the cookie consent apps in the Shopify App Store. Before you install one, check that it supports Google Consent Mode v2 on the plan you're buying and can show different banners by region. Termly and iubenda keep regional rules on higher plans (Pro+ and Advanced), so price those tiers rather than the starting one.
An agency managing many client sites
I'd compare Kukie and Usercentrics first. Kukie is priced by number of sites with unlimited pageviews, and its free plan covers up to 5 sites. Usercentrics puts several domains, regions and apps under one account and is priced by sessions. On a plan priced per domain, five client sites can mean paying five times, so price your whole portfolio before you decide.
Not sure which one is you?
Tell me what you're working onVisitors in California, the rest of the US and Europe
Some organizations give California visitors extra attention, often after a legal letter that cites the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) about tracking tools on their site. Whether and how to treat California differently is a decision for you and your counsel.
What I can tell you is what the tools have to do. One option is to ask every visitor first. That works on any platform here and means fewer visitors in your analytics. Another is to ask California visitors first and use a lighter opt-out for the rest of the US, which needs a platform plan with regional settings. A third is to set California's defaults for Google's tags in Google Tag Manager, which covers those tags and leaves every other tool on your site to be checked separately.
Platforms work out where a visitor is from their IP address, which is sometimes wrong, so ask what yours does when it can't tell. Whichever route you choose, test that your tags wait for the choice.
Where each platform fits
Two questions separate most of these platforms: how much you pay and set up, and how much ground it has to cover, from one website to many sites, regions and apps.
Tap, hover over or tab to a platform to see a one-line summary.
Positions are my judgment, based on each platform's published pricing and features.
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What matters more than the price
- Google Consent Mode v2 on the plan you're buying. It's a set of signals your banner sends to Google's tools, such as GA4 and Google Ads, so they know what each visitor agreed to. Two of them, ad_user_data and ad_personalization, cover whether a visitor agreed to share data with Google for advertising and to see personalized ads. Some platforms keep the advanced version for higher plans.
- A clean Google Tag Manager setup. Tag Manager is where most marketing tags load. The banner should record each visitor's choice before any tag runs, and an official template from the platform makes that easier.
- Control over tools that don't load through Tag Manager. A chat widget, an embedded video or a plugin often puts its own code on the page. Ask whoever manages your site which ones you have, because the banner has to hold those back too.
- Different settings for different places. Some platforms can show a different banner, with a different default, depending on where a visitor is. That includes US states as well as countries. What each place should default to is a decision for you and your counsel. What I check is whether the platform can apply the settings you choose by region, on the plan you're buying, and what it does when it can't tell where a visitor is. If it can't vary by region, every visitor gets the same behavior.
- Google ads on your own site. If you show Google ads (AdSense or Ad Manager) to visitors in Europe or the UK, Google requires a Google-certified CMP. Paying for Google Ads to bring people to your site doesn't count, and most companies that only advertise elsewhere don't need this.
- Who will maintain it as tools change, and whether they can do that without a developer.
Whichever you choose, test the banner in a browser after setup. A banner can look right while the tags behind it ignore the choice.
The main options at a glance
| Platform | Best fit | Paid plans start at | Free plan | Price depends on | Settings by region |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CookieYes Pricing | Small and mid-sized businesses that want a straightforward setup | $10/month (Basic) | Yes | Domains and monthly pageviews | Pro plan, from $25/month |
| Cookiebot Pricing | Small and mid-sized sites, especially with European visitors. Owned by Usercentrics. | €7/month (Premium Lite) | Yes, up to 50 pages on one domain | Pages per domain and number of domains | Paid plans; check the pricing page |
| Usercentrics Pricing | Growing companies with several brands, regions or apps | €7/month (Essential, up to 1,500 sessions) | Yes, under 1,000 sessions a month | Monthly sessions and domains | Plus plan, from €15/month |
| Termly Pricing | Small businesses that also want privacy policies written for them | $10/month billed yearly (Starter) | Yes | Number of websites | Pro+ plan, $15/month billed yearly |
| iubenda Pricing | Businesses that want the banner and legal documents in one place | $5.99/month billed yearly (Essentials) | Yes | Sites and monthly pageviews | Advanced plan, about $25/month per site |
| Complianz Pricing | WordPress sites | $59/year for one site | Yes, as a free WordPress plugin | Number of sites | Premium plan, $59/year for one site |
| Kukie Pricing | Teams and agencies running several sites | €7.50/month billed yearly (Pro) | Yes, up to 5 sites | Number of sites (pageviews unlimited) | Free: 1 custom region rule. Pro: 3. Agency: unlimited. |
| Osano Pricing | Growing companies with legal or privacy staff | $199/month (Plus) | Yes, up to 5,000 visitors a month | Users, domains and monthly visitors | Plus is $199/month; check the pricing page for state-level settings |
| OneTrust Pricing | Large organizations with a privacy team and many websites or apps | Quote only | No published free plan | Average daily visitors across all properties | Quote only |
Prices and features last checked October 25, 2026. Plans change, so open the pricing link before you buy.
Check how your site would be counted
Price comparisons go wrong because each platform measures size differently. A small site with heavy traffic can be cheap on a plan priced by pages and expensive on one priced by pageviews or sessions. A company with five small websites may pay five times on a per-domain plan and once on a per-account plan.
Before you compare, write down three numbers: monthly pageviews, monthly sessions, and how many domains and subdomains need a banner. Then price each platform against your own numbers, not its headline price.
Where I come in
The platform is usually the easy part. Connecting it to Tag Manager and Google Consent Mode, then confirming that every tool follows each visitor's choice, is where setups break. That's the work I do.
I can set up a platform for you, review a configuration you already have, or give you a second opinion on a choice you're about to make. If your platform can't set California apart on its own, I can set California's defaults for Google's tags in Tag Manager and test every other tool against the choice. If you've received a legal letter about tracking on your site, talk to your counsel first. I can then help with the technical side.
Tell me your platform, rough traffic and the tools on your site, and I'll suggest two or three options that fit.
A consent platform helps you meet consent requirements. Whether your setup meets yours is a question for your counsel.