iubenda vs Usercentrics: how each handles Tag Manager, consent mode and ad tech
One sells a cookie banner along with the legal documents around it. The other is a dedicated consent platform. Here's how each connects to Google Tag Manager and consent mode, how each works with ad tech, and which teams each one fits.
The short answer
Both can pass consent mode signals to Google's tags. iubenda bundles legal documents, such as a privacy policy, cookie policy and terms, with its cookie banner. Usercentrics is a dedicated consent platform, and it was the more configurable of the two in my setups. I also found iubenda's interface more dated and Usercentrics' more modern. Whichever you choose, test the Tag Manager connection after setup.
On this page
What you're buying
iubenda sells a set of compliance tools. Its cookie banner and consent management product is called Privacy Controls and Cookie Solution, and it sits alongside generators for privacy and cookie policies and terms and conditions, a consent database and accessibility tools. If you need those documents as well as a banner, that bundle is the main reason to look at iubenda.
Usercentrics is a consent management platform for websites and apps. Cookiebot is also a Usercentrics product, so if Cookiebot is on your list too, two of your options come from one company. For all nine platforms side by side, with prices and fit, see the full comparison.
How each connects to Google Tag Manager
iubenda
iubenda has a Tag Manager template called iubenda Privacy Controls and Cookie Solution in the Community Template Gallery. The template adds the cookie banner to the site and sets the consent mode defaults, which start as denied for every consent type. iubenda says to fire it on the Consent Initialization trigger, which fires before every other trigger, so the defaults are in place before any tag runs.
With iubenda's remote configuration turned on, the template loads iubenda's hosted snippet, and changes you make in the iubenda dashboard reach the site without republishing the container. Without it, you paste the configuration into the template and republish every time a setting changes.
When a visitor makes a choice, the banner updates consent mode, and Google's own tags, such as GA4, Google Ads, Floodlight and the Conversion Linker, follow it through their built-in consent checks. For other tags, such as the Meta pixel, Hotjar or the LinkedIn Insight Tag, you turn on the template's emitGtmEvents option. iubenda then sends an iubenda_gtm_consent_event to Tag Manager whenever the visitor's preferences change, and you fire those tags on that event with the right consent setting.
iubenda can also block scripts itself, but its auto-blocking snippet can't be loaded through Tag Manager, so that part goes in the page code.
Usercentrics
Usercentrics turns consent mode on by default, and its Tag Manager guide recommends loading the Usercentrics script on the page itself, outside Tag Manager. For other tags, it pushes a consent_status event to the data layer with a variable for each service. The full setup is in OneTrust vs Usercentrics.
Consent mode v2 signals
Consent mode v2 has four signals: ad_storage, analytics_storage, ad_user_data and ad_personalization. Both platforms can send all four.
- iubenda supports the two newer signals, ad_user_data and ad_personalization, and its Tag Manager template sets a default for each consent type, all denied unless you change them.
- Usercentrics has consent mode on by default, and when the TCF is in use its advertiser consent mode derives ad_storage, ad_user_data and ad_personalization from the TCF string.
In Google's Consent Mode CMP Partner Program, iubenda is a Gold partner and Usercentrics is a Gold partner, as listed in the table of Google's lists.
Ad tech and the TCF
If you work with ad tech vendors in Europe, or show Google ads there through AdSense, Ad Manager or AdMob, the IAB's Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) matters. It's the industry standard for passing a visitor's choices to ad tech companies, and a consent platform has to be registered with IAB Europe to take part.
Both are. IAB Europe's CMP list includes iubenda (CMP ID 123) and Usercentrics (CMP ID 5). Both are also on Google's certified CMP list, which Google requires for its publisher products in the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland. So either one can be used where the TCF is required. Whether your setup meets the law in those regions is a question for your counsel.
Configuration and day-to-day use
Usercentrics was the more configurable of the two in my setups. It's very configurable, I liked its tools and the way it structures consent, and it handles custom setups that need more detail than CookieYes or Termly offer. iubenda is configurable too, but less so than Usercentrics, and I found its interface more dated.
| Setting | iubenda | Usercentrics |
|---|---|---|
| Rules by region | Country detection, so you can ask for consent only from visitors in the EU | Geolocation rulesets, with a default configuration plus regional rules, each pointing to its own configuration |
| Changing settings | With remote configuration, dashboard changes reach the site without republishing in Tag Manager | Changes saved as a draft and previewed on the site before publishing |
| Blocking other scripts | An auto-blocking snippet in the page code, or Tag Manager triggers on iubenda_gtm_consent_event | Smart Data Protector for services it has a template for, or Tag Manager triggers on consent_status |
Where each fits
BuiltWith counted iubenda on about 82,000 US websites and Usercentrics on about 94,000, as of November 5, 2026. Among the top 100,000 sites, the counts were 597 and 1,338, so Usercentrics shows up on more large sites. The full table is in CMP market share in the US.
iubenda fits a small business, or an agency's client, that wants the banner and its legal documents from one vendor and doesn't need much custom configuration. Usercentrics fits a team with several regions, brands or apps that wants more control over how consent is set up.
Both publish their plans. See the iubenda pricing page and the Usercentrics pricing page.
Test it after setup
Whichever you choose, run the banner test in a browser before and after a choice, and again with Global Privacy Control on. The Measurement & Consent Audit runs that test for every key action, and I can set up or fix either platform.
