If you run a blog, website, or app for your business, chances are you deal with user data. While collecting this user data may be necessary to give you a more personalised user experience, your website may also collect many other non-essential cookies for advertising, tracking, and analytics. A consent management platform (CMP) helps ask permission from the users to collect their data.
What is a Cookie?
While the cookies you eat go great with milk, the cookies on your browser serve a very different purpose and are far less delicious. Think of cookies as these small pockets in your browser that store information about a user’s past activities, login information, and other preferences. Now, of course, some information is needed for websites to serve the user. However, cookies are also used for advertising, tracking, and analytics.
Why Is Cookie Consent Important?
In recent years, laws like GDPR and CCPA have been trying to get websites to be more transparent about their use of cookies and ask for explicit user consent before any non-essential cookies can be stored. However, even without regulations and strict laws, asking for consent before collecting data allows visitors to have control over their data.
So, for websites, cookie consent is important because it helps them comply with various regulations, avoid a hefty fine, and build user trust. But, for users, it protects their privacy and gives them control over their data.
How Does A Consent Management Platform Work?
A lot of work goes into this consent management process. You have to find out what cookies are being used by your website, categorise them, write a detailed cookie policy announcing all the cookies, and add a consent banner to your website. A good consent management platform tries to automate and streamline this process for you. How does it do all that?
- It scans your website for cookies and categorises them.
- It adds a customisable cookie consent banner.
- Some of them can generate privacy and cookie policies for your website.
- It ensures compliance with international data protection laws like GDPR and CCPA.
These are the basics, but some of them also include advanced features like script management, encrypted storage, A/B testing, machine learning and more.
Top Contenders for the Best CMP Title
We have picked out five CMPs that offer some of the best features at great value for businesses of all sizes in 2025. They all cover the basics, but some go the extra mile with their unique features.
Best Overall: CookieYes
CookieYes is simple and straightforward. Almost anyone can use it without the technical knowledge. It is used by over 1.5 million businesses, including Toyota, KFC, Domino’s, and Forbes. It has a near-perfect 4.8-star rating on WordPress, G2, and Capterra. And it is a Google-certified CMP partner.
Who is it for?
CookieYes is an excellent choice for small to medium-sized businesses looking for a simple and affordable cookie compliance solution. It’s perfect for website owners who want to get started without getting bogged down in technicalities.
Features
CookieYes may be simple, but it is still feature-rich. It focuses heavily on automation and covers the basics like cookie scanner, policy generator, and consent banner. However, its unique feature set also includes a consent logger, geo-targeting, auto cookie blocker, and easy integration with all major CMS platforms like WordPress, Squarespace, and Shopify.
Compliance
CookieYes mainly highlights its compliance with major privacy laws such as GDPR, CCPA, ePrivacy Directive, LGPD, and CNIL. It also complies with IAB’s Transparency and Consent Framework.
Pricing
What sets CookieYes apart is its price. The plans range from $10 to $55. A free plan for basic compliance for smaller websites and scalable paid plans for growing businesses allow some flexibility without compromising on too many features.
Pros and Cons of CookieYes
Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Affordable pricing plans, including a free tier
- Automated cookie scanning and policy updates
- Geo-targeting and multi-language support
Cons
- Lacks advanced features like A/B testing
- May not scale well for larger enterprises
Most Comprehensive: Cookiebot by Usercentrics
Cookiebot covers all the bases by offering a complete solution for cookie consent. Yet, it keeps the process very easy. As a part of Usercentrics’ comprehensive data privacy suite, Cookiebot handles both consent and preference management, allowing businesses to give users more control over their data. Cookiebot is used on over 2.1 million websites and apps and manages about 7.1 billion user consents each month.
Who is it for?
Cookiebot’s free and lower-tier plans are not very small-business friendly. However, it can easily handle high-traffic websites, making it perfect for medium to large operations.
Features
Cookiebot follows a plug-and-play approach for most of its features. It does automatic cookie scanning just like every other CMP. However, its main feature is that it gives both the website owner and the visitors full control over the cookies and trackers. It blocks cookies until the user gives full consent, and it lets the visitors edit preferences right from the banner. Cookiebot also offers secure consent storage and monitoring for up to 12 months for audit purposes.
Compliance
Cookiebot has the best compliance, covering GDPR, CCPA, LGPD, DMA, POPIA, and full IAB Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) compliance. On top of that, it has Google Consent Mode and Microsoft UET Consent Mode support. This means analytics and ad tracking without compromising user privacy.
Pricing
While Cookiebot has a free plan for small websites, it can be too limited. The paid plans start from $8. While the higher tiers may look a bit expensive, they are scalable for multi-domain operations, and all of them offer the same premium features, with the only difference being the number of subpages they cover.
Pros and Cons of Cookiebot
Pros
- Advanced cookie scanning and compliance reports
- Easy integration with popular CMS platforms
- Secure consent storage with strong encryption
- Customisable banners and multi-language support
- Cross-domain consent management
Cons
- Higher pricing for paid plans
- May require technical expertise for advanced features
Best for Medium-Sized Operations: CookieFirst
Trusted by Amnesty International, Hyundai, and Vogue, CookieFirst works with almost every major content management platform and supports over 44 languages. Cookie-first prioritises heavily on helping you optimise your opt-in rate using comprehensive statistics.
Who is it for?
CookieFirst is very affordable. It offers detailed reports and statistics about cookie scans and consent and allows external collaborators to work, making it perfect for medium-sized operations on a budget. While the free version is very limiting, the basic paid version is also suitable for small businesses.
Features
CookieFirst offers automated cookie consent, a policy generator, and periodic cookie scans. The cookie banners are entirely customisable. It also manages third-party scripts so that they remain blocked until consent is given. CookieFirst prioritises consent statistics to help optimise your opt-in rate. The platform also has cross-domain consent, re-consent mechanisms and consent audit trails.
Compliance
CookieFirst is compliant with the GDPR, LGPD, Law 25 and CCPA. It integrates well with Google Tag Manager & Consent Mode v2 and works with all notable CMS.
Pricing
There are essentially two paid plans for CookieFirst. The basic one is €9 and the Plus is €19. The main difference between the two is support response time and IAB TCF 2.2 compliance. The free tier is unusable and has very restrictive features. However, they offer an enterprise tier for multi-domain high-traffic businesses. It offers a 2-week free trial and a free month with annual plans.
Pros and Cons of CookieFirst
Pros
- Automated cookie scanning and policy updates
- Third-party script management and cross-domain consent
- Highly customisable banners
- Competitive pricing and scalable plans
- Supports over 44 languages
Cons
- Free plan is restrictive
- May have a slight learning curve for beginners
Most Customisable: CookieScript
Named Best Consent Management Platform by G2, CookieScript has all the tools that you could need to make your website comply with the ever-changing privacy regulations. With 10+ years of market experience and clients like LG and Suzuki, CookieScript is undoubtedly one of the trustworthy ones. With servers in Europe, it ensures that no client data leaves the EU. CookieScript also boasts an impressive 4.9-star rating on Capterra and Google.
Who is it for?
CookieScript is perfect for agencies that deal with multiple domains and medium-sized operations.
Features
What truly sets CookieScript apart is the dynamic blocking of first and third-party cookies, so you can have full control of what gets loaded on your site. It also supports geo-targeting, multi-language banners, and detailed analytics, so it’s perfect for sites with diverse and international audiences. Customisation is another key feature of CookieScript; you can brand your cookie banners to match your website.
Compliance
CookieScript mainly covers compliance with GDPR, CCPA, LGPD, and CNIL, among other regulations.
Pricing
CookieScript is cheaper than some of the competition when you look at the per-domain pricing. But all plans are for a minimum of 2-domains. The plans are within the €8 to €19 range.
Pros and Cons of CookieScript
Pros
- Dynamic blocking for first and third-party cookies
- Geo-targeting and multi-language support
- Scalable pricing with robust features
- Advanced customisation options
Cons
- No short-term subscription options
- Lacks scalability and single-domain option
- Advanced features require higher-tier plans
Best for Agencies and Enterprise: Consentmanager
Highly recommended by lawyers and data protection officers, consentmanager has enterprise clients worldwide, such as SourceForge, Mitsubishi, Subaru, and Ericsson. It prioritises providing a comprehensive compliance solution for businesses managing multiple regulations and a global audience.
Who is it for?
consentmanager’s advanced automation and customisation capabilities make it suitable for medium to large businesses like agencies and enterprises with complex compliance needs.
Features
consentmanager’s integrated cookie crawler automatically scans and categorises cookies. It supports multi-language banners and detailed audit trails, making it perfect for international websites. It also has cross-domain consent and re-consent mechanisms that streamline user experience while maintaining compliance across multiple domains. Its highly customisable cookie banners can be tailored to match your website’s design.
Compliance
consentmanager ensures that your website complies with TDDDG, GDPR, ePrivacy, CCPA, and other laws.
Pricing
With a free plan for small websites and scalable paid plans, consentmanager offers flexibility for businesses at different stages. But it is a bit on the expensive side, with plans starting at $21 a month. It’s agency plan goes up to $211 supporting 20 domains, and there’s an enterprise plan for high-scale operations.
Pros and Cons of consentmanager
Pros
- Integrated cookie crawler and multi-language support
- Cross-domain consent and re-consent mechanisms
- Detailed audit trails and reports
- Scalable pricing options
Cons
- May require expertise for setup and configuration
How to Choose the Right Consent Management Platform?
Choosing the right CMP depends on the type of website or business you have, the audience you serve and your specific compliance needs. Your decision will be based on factors like the size of your operation, the number of domains you manage, the traffic on your website and your budget.
For small websites or blogs, simplicity and affordability are key. These users need a basic CMP to comply with laws like GDPR and CCPA without getting into technical complexities. CookieYes is good for small-scale operations, has a free plan and a user-friendly interface and features like geo-targeting. CookieFirst is also a good option for personal blogs and small websites, a cost-effective way to manage cookies with essential features like cookie scanning and policy generation.
As businesses grow from small to medium-sized operations, their compliance needs get more complex. Higher website traffic, multiple subdomains and the need for scalable solutions require CMPs that balance affordability with advanced functionality. Tools like CookieFirst offer scalability at competitive prices with features like Google Consent Mode and consent audit trails. CookieScript is another good option for medium-sized businesses, offering advanced customisation and detailed compliance tracking to meet evolving needs.
Agencies managing multiple clients or websites need CMPs that support cross-domain consent and multi-site management. Such platforms need to be versatile and scalable with features like white-label options for branding and advanced reporting to show compliance to clients. consentmanager is a top choice for agencies, has robust cross-domain consent features and multi-language banners and can manage multiple websites under one account. CookieScript also caters to agencies with its emphasis on customisation and multiple domain support.
For large enterprises, the stakes are even higher. These businesses have multiple domains, international audiences and extensive third-party integrations. They need CMPs that can handle massive website traffic, unlimited scalability and advanced compliance tools. Cookiebot by Usercentrics is a great choice for enterprises because of its robust automation, high scalability, and IAB TCF compliance. consentmanager also stands out with its custom enterprise plans, API integrations, dedicated account managers and in-depth audit capabilities.
Several factors to consider when choosing a CMP.
- First, the size of your business. Small blogs or websites can thrive on free or low-cost plans; larger operations need premium features.
- Next, how many domains do you need to manage? Cross-domain consent management is crucial when managing multiple websites.
- Traffic volume is another factor; high-traffic websites need CMPs that can handle millions of monthly views.
- Scalability is important for growing businesses and your budget will determine if you start with a free tier or invest in a premium plan.
- Finally, think about your audience. Websites with global reach need CMPs that support multiple languages and comply with international privacy regulations like GDPR, CCPA and LGPD.
By evaluating these considerations, you can choose a CMP that not only ensures compliance but also streamlines your workflow and fosters user trust.
Wrapping Up
Even with all these automated tools, consent management can seem like a lot of work. But it is essential for your business. And that’s not just to avoid fines. Websites with proper consent management can win the trust of the visitors and foster a good relationship with their users. And a proper CMP can help you with that.
Based on your needs, there is the right CMP for you, and it will do more than just legal compliance for you. By considering your business size, audience, and budget, you can make an informed choice that simplifies compliance while building trust with your users. So, explore the options, test out the features, and find the platform that works best for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best CMP?
Depending on your business and size, there can be more than one best CMP. CookieYes is great for small to medium-sized businesses looking for a simple compliance solution. Cookiebot is for larger businesses that require detailed reporting. CookieFirst is for businesses that want flexibility and scalability. Ultimately, the best CMP is one that fits your operational needs and budget.
Does Google have a consent management platform?
Google doesn’t have its own consent management platform. Instead, it works with certified CMP partners that integrate with Google’s services. Notable partners include CookieYes, Cookiebot and CookieFirst all of which are certified by Google and work with Google Consent Mode and Google Tag Manager. These partnerships allow you to manage consent for your users while being compliant with various data privacy regulations.
Related articles:
Cookie Consent Requirements
CookieYes vs Cookiebot
CookieYes vs CookieScript