Real Cookie Banner

Real Cookie Banner

Alternative to Cookiebot for WordPress websites

You think Cookiebot is too expensive, you can’t customize the design enough for your website, or you are missing important features? Real Cookie Banner as an alternative to Cookiebot for WordPress websites tries to offer a more customizable cookie banner that is easy to set up for a smaller budget. 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 Cookiebot

Cookiebot is a universal cookie banner that you can use on any website and that tries to find all used services for you. Unfortunately, compared to Real Cookie Banner, Cookiebot is only slightly adapted to the WordPress ecosystem, the design of the cookie banner can only be changed marginally and the automated setup makes it difficult to track as a website owner whether the cookie banner really contains all cookies, services, etc. that you use. 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 Cookiebot?
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 5.9 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 Cookiebot

Real Cookie Bannner tries to be a better cookie banner solution for WordPress websites than Cookiebot. By specializing in one ecosystem, we can address all requirements in detail. Cookiebot, on the other hand, can also be used on non WordPress websites as well, which is why less specific solutions have been implemented. In addition, Real Cookie Banner is significantly cheaper for one site per year compared to the cheapest purchase version of Cookiebot.

With Real Cookie Banner, you get more than 150 templates for WordPress plugins, embedded content and external services to load only after consent. In Cookiebot, on the other hand, you can create the services and cookies manually or use a cookie scanner that tries to find all cookies. How this works, whether it finds all cookies or which data is stored for which services, is not made clear. If we would use Cookiebot on our website, we would therefore check manually in any case. In addition, services can only be assigned to predefined groups. In Real Cookie Banner, however, you can also define custom service groups.

Cookiebot tries to block scripts, iframes etc. from external sources automatically and you have to explicitly mark if something should not be blocked. This can be tricky with WordPress, depending on whether your plugins support such a Cookiebot parameter. If you want to let scripts load explicitly only if there is a consent, you have to program that yourself according to the developer documentation of Cookiebot. Here you can also only check if a service group has been consented to, but not if a single service has been consented to. Real Cookie Banner takes an alternative approach. You can explicitly specify which scripts per service should be executed only on opt-in, opt-out or on page load. If, for example, a WordPress plugin or content already loads something that should be loaded only after the consent, this can be safely server-side removed by a content blocker until the consent or get replaced by a content blocker if necessary. The content blocker then asks for consent. The blocking works on the basis of URLs, HTML elements and also within inline CSS styles for individual CSS selectors. The Cookiebot alternative Real Cookie Banner helps you with more than 60 templates for well-known services and WordPress plugins.

In the cookie banner, Real Cookie Banner shows you a notice that users under a certain age may not consent without a parent or guardian. This is an effort to implement youth protection regulations according to Art. 8 DSGVO. In addition, your website visitors will be explicitly informed if a service processes data in the USA. After the end of the Privacy Shield by the ECJ, we see this as important to obtain informed consent. With Cookiebot you have to take care of both issues yourself, as there are no text templates.

Your cookie banner should not only look somehow, but fit to the design of your website. However, Cookiebot has only eight settings that allow you to change the design of the cookie banner. You can’t see these changes in a live preview, but have to reload the cookie banner after each change. Real Cookie Banner offers you over 200 options to customize your Cookie Banner. 20+ design templates help you to quickly and easily find the right look. All changes are, of course, displayed in a live preview.

Many websites require consent in accordance with the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF). For example, if you display ads on your website using Google Adsense, the revenue can differ significantly whether you collect consents with or without TCF. Both Cookiebot and Real Cookie Banner support TCF. With Real Cookie Banner you can comfortably select the used vendors in an interface, determine via Publisher Restrictions for what purposes consent shall be requested in your cookie banner, and you will be pro-actively warned if you misconfigure the design of the cookie banner. Content blockers also work with TCF vendors. With Cookiebot the TCF configuration is more technical. You have to manually look up the required vendors in IAB Europe’s vendor-list.json and the purposes to implement publisher restrictions. You have to put this information in a script on your website according to the documentation. For everything else to comply with the TCF policy, like a correctly confugured design, you should take care yourself.

Whether with or without TCF, consent should be documented. According to Art. 82 of the GDPR, there is a burden of proof for the website operator. Cookiebot documents many relevant things, except for the design settings. This could be a small remaining risk, if it is doubted that e.g. a reject button was visible. Alternatively, with Real Cookie Banner, all cookie banner settings are fully documented for each consent. This allows you to see visually what the cookie banner looked like at the time of consent. In addition, the Cookiebot alternative Real Cookie Banner notifies you after the change of content in the cookie banner, if you should obtain a new consent. You have to think about this yourself with Cookiebot.

A disadvantage of Cookiebot is also that it is loaded from the cloud by default. So, you have to trust that the Cookiebot servers are always available. If the script is not loaded, YouTube videos, for example, will not be blocked. This can potentially lead to privacy violations. Real Cookie Banner is directly integrated into your WordPress. No scripts are loaded from external servers to display the cookie banner. And even if the JavaScript is not executed (correctly), you don’t have to worry. Our solution replaces scripts, content and services that require consent using content blockers already on the server side, so that they can only be enabled if the cookie banner works technically. In addition, we try to use some mechanisms to prevent your cookie banner from being blocked by adblockers, cookie notice blockers, etc. as much as possible. Ultimately, we want you to get consents as often as possible. Cloud cookie banners like Cookiebot can be blocked quite easily.

As mentioned in the beginning, Cookiebot is just not built specifically for WordPress, which also means that you can’t manage translations with WPML, Polylang, TranslatePress or Weglot. Also, integrating with WordPress mulisites or clearing any of the vast number of page caches that exist in the WordPress ecosystem is rather basic solved and accordingly with limitations. Here, Real Cookie Banner offers more profound integration as an alternative to Cookiebot and supports all the above mentioned.

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

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!