7 Best WordPress cookie plugins for GDPR in 2023
In this article, we talk about one of those essential plugin categories in WordPress. That is why we have compiled a list of the best WordPress cookie plugins to comply with the European law on cookies.
In this article, we talk about one of those essential plugin categories in WordPress. That is why we have compiled a list of the best WordPress cookie plugins to comply with the European law on cookies.
In addition, we will review the regulation, specifying the important points to consider in our WordPress website.
If you’d rather skip this part, you can skip straight to the list of the best cookie consent plugin in wordpress to comply with the cookie law, but considering how expensive, such fines are, if I were you, I’d read the entire article.
What is the cookie law?
Important notice: We are not experts in the field of law, but we know a lot about the subject of cookies and the legality of web pages. If you have legal questions or you manage a portal with high visibility, it is best to consult a specialized lawyer or read the official documentation.
The regulations governing the emission of cookies on web pages derive from the European directive 2002/58 / EC created in 2012.
This regulation obliges all residents of EU member states who own a website (regardless of whether it is in WordPress) to obtain the informed consent of users for the use of any cookies not essential.
Essential and non-essential cookies
Essential cookies are those that, for example, guarantee security in online banking operations and non-essential cookies are, in short, all those that are not an essential part of the website’s functioning.
In most web pages, the cookies used as a general rule are navigation cookies that can use services such as Google Analytics, an advertising system such as Google Adsense or some other service that requires registration and therefore fall into the non-essential group and is necessary to obtain such consent.
What are cookies used for?
In the case of the navigation cookies mentioned above, cookies are information taken from the computer of the reader or web user so that navigation can be easier. For example, in this case, statistics.
In other cases, these cookies show advertisements based on other web pages of services or products that we have previously visited and, therefore, are assumed to be of interest to us.
Finally, another fairly common use of cookies is recognizing users’ origin when assigning commissions in affiliate marketing.
How to comply with the cookie law in WordPress
As if using such widespread services as Google Analytics, Adsense or Amazon affiliations were not enough, WordPress also includes its cookies to optimize some aspects of the CMS.
WordPress cookies
Any standard installation uses cookies to support many of the benefits of WordPress, such as authenticating users connecting to a WordPress site or when a reader leaves a comment on your blog, for example.
WordPress uses the local browser memory to save the changes when a registered user writes a message.
Also, several WordPress plugins can add their cookies, for example, if you are using a plugin to show the last viewed posts or similar functionality.
How to obtain consent for the use of cookies on our WordPress website?
We could go on for dozens of lines talking about how absurd this law is given the spread of cookies or how unfair it is compared to other much more abusive services, but instead of focusing on the problem, we will look for solutions.
To comply with the GDPR Law is necessary to acquire the informed consent of the users of your website, “informing users about the use of cookies in simple language and free of jargon”.
The necessary information you need to have available on your website includes:
- Why and what do you use cookies for
- What type of cookies do you use on your website?
- Who can access the information stored in these cookies, i.e. whether they are own or third-party cookies?
- Inform that your WordPress website cookies will not be used for any other purpose
The most used method by most WordPress websites is to insert a notification in the form of a bar or box with a wordpress cookie consent plugin that includes:
- Short information text on the use of cookies
- Link to the section of your website where you expand the information with all the points described above
- Consent button to accept the use of cookies and hide the information
What are the best Best WordPress cookie plugins?
1. GDPR Cookie Consent by Woosa – Best cookie consent plugin wordpress
Let’s start the ranking with our Woosa wordpress gdpr cookie consent. Its success lies in several factors, although everything can be summarised in its high degree of customization.
And we’re not just talking about the fact that it allows you to place the bar above, below or floating wherever you want. Here are some customizations you can do:
- Setup and configuration with the use of a shortcode.
- Intuitive editor to customize the design.
- Multilingual WPML plugin supported with this GDPR Cookie Consent & Compliance plugin for WordPress.
In short, a complete solution to insert a cookie notice in WordPress.
2. GDPR Cookie Compliance
If you are looking for a plugin to help you make your website GDPR compliant, check out the Moove Agency plugin.
Options for this plugin include:
- Branding customization (upload your logo) and banner positioning.
- Configure the cookie information bar.
- Text box summarizing privacy and settings.
- Options to customize information on necessary cookies, third-party cookies and any additional cookies.
- Configure cookie policies and more.
It has a clean design and can help you cover various areas needed to be GDPR compliant. If you have different types of cookies and you have a banner advertising system, affiliation or some other third party system that requires cookies, this plugin can be very useful.
3. EU Cookie Law for GDPR
The next option in this comparison is the EU Cookie Law for the GDPR plugin. If you are looking for something simple, this plugin might be for you.
Options for this plugin include:
- Blocking of iframes, embeds and scripts on your blog/website
- Customization of the duration for the acceptance of cookies
- Ability to give consent by scrolling and browsing (not recommended)
- Compatible with subdomains and multisite installations
- Appearance customization options
- Custom content in the popup
As a disadvantage of using this plugin, we can report the notification bar and popup, which do not provide many configuration options.
4. Simple Cookie Notification Bar
Simple Cookie Notification Bar is a WordPress plugin with a very simple configuration and appearance that allows you to manage the warning and compliance with the cookie law.
It is easy to configure, and its configuration options are:
- Message to inform your users that your website uses cookies
- Text of the button with which you accept the use of these cookies in your WordPress
- Button text and URL to redirect the “more information” tab
5. Cookie Consent
Cookie Consent is a service that offers us the possibility to download the necessary code, consisting of several CSS and JavaScript files, to add a cookie notice not only in WordPress but on any website.
This cookie policy serves to indicate to users of our website that a site uses cookies to navigate, save sessions, record statistics, etc.
As mentioned above, remember that no matter how little we like it, we are legally required to add it to our WordPress if we reside or target a public resident in the European Union.
In this case, it is not a WordPress plugin but a much more customizable tool that allows us to add this cookie notice to our website through different visual aspects.
6. Cookiebot
Cookiebot is a very interesting cookie plugin that is based on a different concept from other plugins: it automatically scans your website for cookies!
But despite its innovative concept, it shows obvious weaknesses in content blocking:
First of all, you can’t block so much content. Secondly, the plugin only shows placeholder text instead of blocked content, which unfortunately can’t even be edited.
Furthermore, Cookiebot is loaded via an external and non-local script, which is personally not particularly respectful of privacy.
Benefit:
- Easy installation
- Automatic cookie analysis, where all cookies on your website are collected and categorized
- Compatible with many third-party plugins, such as Jetpack
- Compatible with any website, not just WordPress
- Features a content blocker to block embedded content
Disadvantages:
- Requires the creation of a user account, through which most configurations are performed.
- Cookiebot requires an external script to be loaded
- Content blocking does not block all external resources
- Content-Blocker only blocks cookies from external resources, but not the entire connection (i.e. IP addresses are shared due transmitted to external services)
7. Cookies GDPR Cookie Consent & Compliance Notice
It works flawlessly, has a lot of options and likes how it looks.
It offers many configuration options that allow you to integrate the cookie notice with your site design without hassle, changing colours, styles and fonts. You can show the warning in the footer or header, hide it after some time has passed (and specify that time in milliseconds) or after the user has started scrolling, customize the message and buttons, etc.
Another positive point is that the plugin allows you to manually specify which cookies you use and then present them, via a shortcode, in a perfectly formatted table.
How to know if your WordPress uses cookies
After all of the above, not sure if you need to add a cookie notice plugin to your WordPress site? Although technically, some very specific types of cookies are exempt, and it is not necessary to notify the user that they are used, it is good to consult it to be sure. If in doubt, use one of the best WordPress cookie plugins we have recommended. It’s better to be safe than sorry!
Knowing which cookies your website (or anyone else’s) uses is very simple:
-
In Google Chrome
- Log into your domain or the web domain you want
- Press F12, and a tab will open on the right in your browser
- In the top menu of that screen, click “Application.”
- In the left column menu, click on the small arrow that appears next to “Cookies.”
- At this point, you will be able to see the name of the cookies used by the site (“Name” column)
- How to check which cookies a website uses in Chrome
-
In Firefox
- Open the browser menu (the three horizontal lines in the upper right corner)
- Click Options> Privacy and Security
- Look for the link “remove cookies individually.”
- In the search engine, enter your domain or the domain of the web you want (without “http: //” or “www”)
- Now you can see the cookies used on the web (“Cookie name” column)
If you do not know what a specific cookie is for, copy its name and search for it on Google: you will quickly find the explanation. For example, Google Analytics clearly explains each specific cookie it uses in its developer manual.
Conclusion
In this article, we’ve curated a list of the best wordpress cookie plugins and most of which have complementary functions. If you simply want to display a simple cookie approval banner or if you need a comprehensive cookie authorization tracking system, Woosa’s GDPR Cookie Consent is ideal.
