Which GDPR plugin should I use?

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Do I need a cookie management plugin?

If you were asking this question, you would be in the same situation as I was. Although GDPR regulation was announced 1 year ahead, nobody speculated on that opportunity. Hence, we came close to May 25th without a clear path for GDPR implementation.

As you may know, one of the requirements refers to Cookie Policy. Websites that are available for EU shouldn’t collect any cookies without a prior consent. I’m not going to explain now what a cookie is, because that’s a different discussion.

Consequently, digital marketers have been asking the question: “How can I be GDPR compliant when using/collecting cookies? To be GDPR compliant regarding cookie usage you need:

  1. a cookie policy dedicated landing page
  2. a cookie management plugin

Let’s say you manage to create the content for a cookie policy landing page (although that’s not easy as some may assume), what do you do about the cookie management?

What’s the best GDPR plugin out there?

There are tens, maybe hundreds of cookie plugins out there. Nevertheless it’s very hard to choose a good one. But what does it mean a good cookie management plugin? Depending on your profile you should think about the following when choosing a cookie management plugin/extension/app (whatever you want to call it):

  • does it require coding skills?
  • do I need to manually add the cookies?
  • do I need a multi-language plugin?
  • do I need geolocation to display the consent banner?
  • how can I add my branding to the consent banner?
  • how much does it cost? should I get a free plugin?

Now, I’m going to save you some time and point you in the right direction. I’ve been testing several solutions and it came down to these two: Cookiebot.com and Civicuk.com Both come with free versions with restricted functionalities and both offer premium versions with many features. Check the links and you will see both of them in action.

If you don’t have a developer in your department or if you don’t want to spend time configuring the plugin I will recommend Cookiebot. It automatically scans the website and creates a list with the cookies. It doesn’t find all of them, but most. That’s going to save you some time. You can install it without much effort. On the other hand Cookiebot is more expensive than Civicuk: $13/month + VAT vs. £39/year + VAT.

If you need help configuring your cookie management plugin, please write me an email at mihnea@yodametrics.com