Real Cookie Banner

Real Cookie Banner

Alternative to Borlabs Cookie for WordPress websites

You find Borlabs Cookie too complicated to set up, you miss important features, or you are not sure if you are really legally compliant with this solution? Real Cookie Banner as an alternative to Borlabs Cookie for WordPress website tries to help you better in these points. Make your website GDPR and ePrivacy Directive compliant!

Cookie banner example
I scan your website and find used services automatically!

Why you should choose Real Cookie Banner

Real Cookie Banner is a cookie and consent management plugin. Obtain consent to load services and set cookies for your visitors in accordance with the GDPR and ePrivacy Directive. In addition, content blockers help you to be compliant even if your theme, plugin or content loads styles, scripts or iframes that would transfer personal data. Start now with our guided-configuration and avoid legal risks!

Look for cookie template in consent management

Consent Management

You can use Real Cookie Banner to store all technical and legal information about services and cookies to obtain informed consent. You can use 150+ service templates and 120+ content blocker templates to quickly and securely provide all the information you need.

Consent to cookies via a content blocker

Content Blocker

Themes, plugins and co. usually load scripts, styles and content that transfer personal data and set cookies before you have the consent of your visitors. You usually cannot control this by yourself. Content blockers make sure that these features are only executed after you have obtained consent.

Customize cookie banner design in WordPress Customizer

Customize design

You can design the cookie banner according to your wishes. 20+ design templates and 200+ options give you the flexibility to customize the cookie banner perfectly to your needs. From colors and effects to texts, you can unleash your creativity! All changes are displayed in a live preview.

Use the checklist to set up the cookie banner

Guided configuration

After installation, the checklist will guide you through all steps to be able to set up Real Cookie Banner in a legally compliant manner. We also explain the legalities of features and the legal consequences if you change settings. So, you can quickly and safely set up your cookie banner!

View documented consent with reproduced cookie banner at time of consent

Documentation of consents

According to the GDPR, you have to prove that a visitor has consented to cookies and processing of personal data if he or she doubts this. We document consent completely and make it possible to trace the origin of the consent afterwards. You are on the safe side even in the worst case!

Open Real Cookie Banner settings in WordPress

Native in WordPress

Real Cookie Banner is a cookie plugin specially designed for WordPress. It is fully installed in your WordPress as a native plugin. All consents are processed and stored on your server. Nothing is downloaded from a cloud in your visitor’s browser, which avoids further legal issues.

Compare us with Borlabs Cookie

Borlabs Cookie is a widely used solution as cookie banner for WordPress. Probably also because the plugin was the pioneer in WordPress, which implemented an opt-in cookie banner for the first time with many features. Unfortunately, compared to Real Cookie Banner, Borlabs Cookie offers fewer templates for popular services like Google Analytics, does not automatically respect youth protection regulations for obtaining consents or documents the consents only in parts (only accepted services/cookies). Real Cookie Banner tries to do that and much more better. Compare us with alternative WordPress plugins to get your own opinion!

Do you already use a similar solution like Borlabs Cookie?
Switch to Real Cookie Banner for 1 € in the first year.

Real Cookie Banner Borlabs Cookie Complianz Cookiebot
Yearly price (starts from; per site; incl. 19 % VAT) 59.00 46.41 49.00 144.00
Free version available Yes No Yes Partial
only for one domain
Translations of plugin into # languages (> 90% completeness; language variants not counted) 12
all texts in cookie banner are customizable
6
all texts in cookie banner are customizable
8
all texts in cookie banner are customizable
48
all texts in cookie banner are customizable
Audited by lawyer Yes
Legally advised by meibers.rechtsanwälte
Unknown or not advertised Unknown or not advertised Unknown or not advertised
Cookie & Consent Management
Service (cookie) templates Yes
150+ templates
Yes
28+ templates
Partial
35+ templates; best results if the cloud service is activated
Partial
visible after site scan
Individual service groups Yes Yes Partial
custom coding necessary
No
predefined groups
Consent possible per service directly in cookie banner Yes Yes Partial
only in legal documents outside cookie banner
Yes
Technical specifications of HTTP cookies and cookie-like information Yes Partial
one complete technical cookie definition per service
Yes Yes
Execution of opt-in and opt-out HTML/JavaScript code Yes Yes Partial
not assignable to the consent of a service
Partial
you have to code this feature by yourself
Automatic deletion of 1st-party cookies in case of opt-out Yes Yes Partial
for predefined cookies
Partial
client-side
Legal texts linkable in footer of cookie banner Yes
any link depending on the country law
Partial
only privacy policy and legal notice (imprint)
Partial
only privacy policy, cookie policy and legal notice (imprint)
Yes
only via custom link in e.g. description text
Hiding of cookie banner on legally relevant pages (e.g. privacy policy or legal notice/imprint) Yes
configurable for all legal links
Partial
only privacy policy and legal notice (imprint)
Partial
only privacy policy and legal notice (imprint)
Yes
only via JavaScript SDK
Accepting all services for bots Yes Yes No Yes
Use of “Do Not Track” header Yes Yes Yes Yes
Age notice to comply with GDPR youth protection regulations Yes Yes No No
Obtaining consent for data processing in unsafe countries Yes
configurable per country
Partial
only USA; no disclosure for which services
No No
Geo-restriction to show cookie banner only if necessary Yes No Partial
predefined country list, not configurable
Yes
Native Swiss DSG compatibility Yes Yes Yes Yes
Scanner
Automatic check of all subpages for used services Yes
each page indexed in sitemap
No No Yes
each page indexed in sitemap
Detection of external services (with and without template) Yes
based on HTML markup
No Partial
based on first-party cookies in browser of administrator
Partial
technical cookies not always automatically associated with a service
Detection of known WordPress plugins Yes No Yes Partial
automatically blocks known plugins; services for consent must be manually created
Content Blocker
Content Blocker templates for popular services/plugins Yes
120+ templates
Yes
7+ templates
Yes
16+ templates
No
Content blockers replace embeds with similar content (e.g. YouTube video replaced with video player) Yes Yes Yes No
Block already integrated link, inline style, (inline) script and iframe HTML tags until the consent of the visitor Yes Yes Partial
works for 16 predefined services
Partial
client-side for known or manually marked services
URL blocking to block entire elements using a URL Yes Yes Partial
always unblocks when opt-in for marketing services
No
Custom element blocking for blocking entire elements without modifying HTML markup Yes No No Yes
Splitting of inline styles to block individual CSS selectors Yes No No No
Automatic video playback after consent via content blocker Yes
for YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion and Loom videos
Yes
for YouTube and Vimeo videos
No No
Design customization
Cookie banner design presets Yes
20+ design presets
No No No
Customizable design of cookie banner Yes
200+ design settings
Yes
110+ design settings
Yes
60+ design settings
Partial
8 design options
Live preview of design changes Yes No Partial
if TCF support disabled
No
Design options for optimized display on mobile devices Yes No No No
Accessibility
Cookie banner compliant with WCAG 2.1 Level AA or later Yes Yes Yes Yes
Scoring of design settings for accessibility requirements (to protect against inappropriate contrasts, font sizes, etc.) Yes
Accessibility Score similar to PageSpeed Insights Score
Yes Yes Yes
Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF)
TCF v2 or newer support Yes No Yes Yes
Google certified CMP (AdSense, Ad Manager, or AdMob) Yes Partial
no version designated as stable available for use
Yes Yes
Vendors can be selected from GVL Yes No No
all vendors that use least one selected purpose or feature
Partial
programmatic implementation through custom script tag
Publisher restrictions can be applied to vendors Yes No No Partial
programmatic implementation through custom script tag
Stacks for user-friendly visualization Yes No No No
Individual selection for visitors integrated in cookie banner Yes No No
visitor must switch to cookie policy
Yes
Proactive notice of design violations (e.g. contrast too low) Yes No No No
Content blocker for content/scripts from vendors without consent Yes No No No
Consents and documentation
Documentation of consents Yes Partial
without design settings and list of all cookies
Yes Partial
without design settings
Creation of consents afterwards traceable through interactive visualization Yes
including player (see how users clicked, scrolled, …)
No No No
Proactive obtain new consents after changing the content or behavior of the cookie banner Yes Partial
manually to trigger
Partial
on adding new service, but not on changing e.g. texts
Partial
when adding new services, but not when changing texts
Statistics about visitor consents Yes
three statistics with dynamic time range
Partial
statistic with fixed date choice
Yes
one opt-in chart
Yes
one opt-in chart
Links for viewing the history of consent, changing and revoking consent Yes
as menu items or shortcodes
Yes
as shortcodes or widget (floating)
Yes
as shortcodes
Yes
as HTML links or widget (floating)
Technical solution
Native solution in WordPress Yes Yes Yes No
Cloud service loaded as external script
Anti-Ad-Blocker system to get consents from users with aggressive Ad-Blocker Yes No No No
Import and export settings Yes Yes Yes No
Export of collected consents Yes No Yes Yes
Support for Google Tag Manager (GTM) and Matomo Tag Manager (MTM) that loads tag manager only after consent Yes No
according to the documentation, GTM should also be loaded without consent
No
GTM loads before user consent
No
GTM loads before user consent
Support for multilingual websites with WPML and Polylang Yes
with cookie/service synchronization between languages
Yes Yes No
Support for multilingual websites with TranslatePress (advanced integration) Yes No Yes No
Support for multilingual websites with Weglot (advanced integration) Yes
with machine translations
Yes
with machine translations
Yes
with machine translations
No
Support for WordPress Multisites Yes Yes Yes Yes
Consent Forwarding to avoid multiple consents of a visitor on multiple sites of an organization Yes
one-way and two-way sync
Partial
consents shared via cookie, but without e.g. documentation of consent
Partial
consents shared via cookie, but without e.g. documentation of consent
Partial
within same domain group
Support for automatic emptying of all known page caches after a change to the cookie banner Yes
for 26 page-cache plugins
Yes
for 6 page-cache plugins
No Yes
Compatible WordPress version 5.8 or newer 4.7 or newer 4.9 or newer 4.4 or newer

The comparison was made in November 2023 on the basis of the following versions of the WordPress Plugins: Real Cookie Banner v4.0.0, Borlabs Cookie v2.2.66, Complianz v6.5.6, Cookiebot v4.3.1

You want to know more?

Have we caught your interest in Real Cookie Banner? The WordPress plugin offers you even more than what you’ve seen here. To learn more, have a look at the full list of features, services templates and more in the product description!

Real Cookie Banner as alternative to Borlabs Cookie

Real Cookie Banner tries to solve many weaknesses of Borlabs Cookie better. There is a free version of Real Cookie Banner with which you can try out before buying the PRO version, whether you like the cookie banner plugin. Real Cookie Banner does not leave you alone during the setup. In the dashboard you will find a list of all the important steps you should go through, whereas in Borlabs Cookie you have to explore these steps yourself or browse their knowledge base. When it comes to setup, you have more than 150 service templates and 120 content blocker templates at your disposal. With these, you can use a variety of WordPress plugins, embedded content, and external services with a consent without having to do a lot of research. Borlabs Cookie offers around a quarter of the templates, which is why more research work in privacy policies etc. is waiting for you as a website owner.

Did you actually know that according to the ECJ ruling C-673/17 (“Planet49”) you should list all technical cookies with expiration date etc. that a service sets? In Borlabs Cookie there is only one field per service (called “Cookie” there) for this information. In Real Cookie Banner you can enter the technical data in a clearly arranged table. In addition, we have thought ahead for you, and automatically display a notice to presume compliance with Article 8 of the GDPR (consent of children and adolescents), so that this age group does not illegally agree to cookies, etc., to which they cannot agree. If you use services from the USA such as Google Analytics, you should also ensure explicit consent for this after the end of the Privacy Shield by the ECJ. You can activate texts for this in Real Cookie Banner. In Borlabs Cookie you have to do it yourself for both topics (and dig through the laws) because it comes without such texts.

If you want to display your cookie banner on a multilingual website only in countries where you have to obtain consent, you are out of luck with Borlabs Cookie. There is no such feature. Real Cookie Banner, on the other hand, comes with a privacy-friendly locally stored IP-to-country database, which allows you to do exactly that.

You also need an alternative to Borlabs Cookie if you use page builders like Thrive Architect. For example, this page builder includes fonts as inline CSS in the same style block as the subpage’s custom CSS. If you need to block the loading of fonts before a consent, you usually use Borlabs Cookie to block away all other styles in the style block as well. Real Cookie Banner, on the other hand, can block each selector in a CSS block individually and thus avoid too many blocked styles. In addition, the Borlabs Cookie alternative offers you the programmatic blocking of user-defined HTML elements. And when you finally are allowed to play a video after the consent, the user does not have to click on consent and then on play, but the video plays automatically after the consent.

Borlabs Cookie can be fine-granularly customized to your website’s design with 85+ settings. That’s great, but since there’s no live preview of the changes, you’ll have to reload your site and thus the cookie banner after each change to see it in action. Also, there is only one default design and that’s it. So, you have to play designer yourself! Real Cookie Banner as an alternative, on the other hand, not only offers more options, which are displayed in a live preview immediately after customization, but also brings 20+ design presets. There should be the right design approach for every taste without complex configuration!

Professional website operators require consents according to the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF). This standardized form of consent is required by more and more marketers like Google Adsense. If you don’t use TCF, your ad revenue can suffer greatly. Borlabs Cookie does not support this in version 2.2. With Real Cookie Banner, on the other hand, you can optionally make your cookie banner TCF compatible with a variety of features.

Once the cookie banner is set up, half the work is done. Now it’s the website visitor’s turn, and he has to consent on your website. But what if he doubts that he has consented correctly? According to Art. 82 GDPR, there is a burden of proof for the website operator. This practically means that you, as the website operator, must “prove” in case of doubt that your website visitor has consented. Borlabs Cookie stores for this purpose in which services and cookies were consented to, but not which services were available for selection, texts in the cookie banner, its design, etc. Here is a lot of scope that an opposing lawyer can successfully attack you. Real Cookie Banner wanted to create an alternative to this, in our opinion, incomplete documentation. That’s why our solution stores everything – services, texts, design, consent site, etc. – to be able to look back later on what exactly the cookie banner looked like and, in some cases, where consent was clicked. If that doesn’t convince a judge in the case – if you have set everything up correctly – then we don’t know what else to do.

Both Borlabs Cookie and Real Cookie Banner are installed natively in WordPress as a plugin. So, they don’t load a script “from the cloud” to display the cookie banner, but everything is played out directly from your webspace. However, visitors can thereby block Borlabs Cookie quite easily with an adblocker or cookie notice blocker. Real Cookie Banner, on the other hand, has several anti-adblocker mechanisms built in to make it as difficult as possible for such systems to block the cookie banner. After all, we want you to get to your consents!

In case you run a website in multiple languages you can use WPML, Polylang, TranslatePress or Weglot with Real Cookie Banner. For these plugins we offer in-depth integration, so you can manage your services, content blockers and texts as easily as possible. Borlabs Cookie, on the other hand, has explicit support for WPML and Polylang only. And if you use it, not only do you have to re-integrate all services/cookies in each language, but even the design settings with more than 85 options have to be done again for each language, which can take a lot of time.

Wow, you are still here looking for an alternative to Borlabs Cookie?

It looks like you are really interested in trying Real Cookie Banner. But if you don’t like or can’t install the free version into your WordPress right now, we have an alternative for you:

Just create a free sandbox. This is a WordPress installation in which Real Cookie Banner PRO is pre-installed for you. You can try all features without any risk. And if you break this test website, we won’t hold it against you. We promise!