For most visitors, your cookie banner is likely the first decision point. A strong Consent Management Platform (CMP) turns that split second into trust by offering just-in-time explanations, granular controls, and region-aware options that feel native.
A modern CMP scans your site for cookies, categorises them, displays region-aware consent pop-ups, records user preferences, and integrates with tools like Google Consent Mode v2 and IAB TCF for ad compliance.
In this article, we compare the best CMPs for Performance, compliance, features, user experience, multi-language flows, pricing, etc., making it easier to choose based on your needs.
What is a Consent Management Platform (CMP)?
A Consent Management Platform (CMP) is a software tool that helps websites collect, manage, and record user consent for cookies and other tracking technologies.
It helps websites stay compliant with data privacy laws like the General Data Protection Regulation, California Consumer Privacy Act, and Brazil’s Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados.
Without a CMP, websites face technical hurdles, such as manually blocking cookies before consent, managing complex regional banner rules, and integrating consent signals with analytics or ad tools.
A CMP automates these processes: it scans cookies, controls scripts, stores consent logs, and syncs preferences across systems. This makes compliance efficient, reduces human error, and ensures that no tracking occurs before user approval.
How to choose the best Consent Management Platform (CMP)
When selecting a Consent Management Platform (CMP), look for features that balance compliance, usability, and brand fit. Use this checklist to find the right one for your website:
- Compliance coverage: A solution that complies with the privacy laws relevant to your organisation. It is best to opt for tools that support major regulations, offering pre-built templates.
- Ad and analytics integrations: Works seamlessly with Google Consent Mode v2, IAB TCF v2.2, and Microsoft Consent Mode for accurate consent signalling and compliant data tracking.
- Ease of setup: Offers no-code installation, simple CMS or tag manager integrations, and an intuitive dashboard for cookie scanning and management.
- Automation: Includes automatic cookie scanning, geo-targeting, cookie blocking before consent, and scheduled compliance scans.
- Customisation and branding: Allows full control over banner design, including logo, colours, button text, fonts, and layout to match your brand identity.
- Multilingual and accessible: Supports multiple languages and auto-translations.
- Consent logs and reports: Keeps audit-ready consent records, provides analytics or reports, and offers easy data export for regulatory proof.
- Scalability and support: Adapts to your traffic needs with flexible pageview and scan limits, backed by responsive customer support and regular updates.
- Budget and plan size: Compare pricing based on your traffic. Choose the appropriate CMP that suits your needs and budget.
Which is the best Consent Management Platform: 11 CMPs compared
In this section we compare the following top CMPs:
With so many Consent Management Platforms (CMPs) available, choosing the one that truly fits your business can take some thought. To help, we’ve rounded up the 11 best CMPs, from lightweight tools for small websites to enterprise-grade solutions, along with their features, pricing, and what to expect.
CookieYes
CookieYes is one of the best and most widely used Consent Management Platforms (CMPs) globally, trusted by businesses for its proactive compliance and effortless setup.
Recognised as a Gold-tier Google CMP Partner, CookieYes also fully supports Microsoft Consent Mode signals.
What does it offer?
With just a single scan, CookieYes detects all cookies on your website and automatically categorises them into necessary, functional, analytical, and advertising types. It lets you create fully customisable consent banners, adjusting the layout, design, and text to match your brand.
You can even use custom CSS, add branding elements, and display banners in over 30 languages. CookieYes also lets its users geo-target banners based on visitors’ locations.
The CMP integrates seamlessly with Google Consent Mode v2 and IAB TCF v2.2, ensuring accurate consent signalling for analytics and ads. It also supports all major CMS platforms, allowing easy installation and automatic updates on WordPress, Shopify, Wix, and others. It also offers a free WordPress plugin.
CookieYes covers the following jurisdictions:
- Europe / UK: GDPR (EU & UK) and their cookie laws
- United States: CCPA, CPRA, and other US state privacy laws
- International / Other jurisdictions: Australia, Brazil, Singapore, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Canada, South Africa, and Quebec
Beyond cookie banners, the tool provides for full compliance automation:
- Blocks third-party cookies before consent
- Stores user consent logs for proof
- Scans behind login areas
- Generates detailed cookie audit reports.
CookieYes also includes both privacy policy and cookie policy generators, allowing users to create ready-to-use policies within minutes.
Pricing
Pricing is straightforward and scalable:
- Free Plan: For blogs and personal sites (up to 5,000 pageviews/month and 100 pages per scan)
- Basic ($10/month): For small businesses, offering advanced customisation and higher scan limits
- Pro ($25/month): For medium-sized businesses with growing traffic, includes geo-targeting and scheduled monthly scans
- Ultimate ($55/month): For large sites, with unlimited pageviews and weekly scans.
CookieYes strikes a balance between simplicity and sophistication, ideal for website owners who want to stay compliant without heavy technical work. There is also a 14-day free trial for all plans.
Best rated for ease of use, technical support, cookie management and easy implementation.
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Cookiebot
Cookiebot is also a Google-certified consent management platform and offers features like banner customisations, auto-blocking, categorisations, monthly scans, and geo-targeting.
The CMP offers banner templates for key privacy regulations such as GDPR, LGPD, CCPA, and a few other US state laws. Additionally, Cookiebot supports around 50 languages and banner customisations using CSS.
While for some the platform is intuitive and provides easy implementation, some find managing several domains difficult.
Starting with a free plan that supports up to 50 subpages, Cookiebot’s paid tiers range from $8 (Premium Lite) to $96 (Premium Extra Large) per month, offering additional features and scalability. It also offers a 14-day free trial for all paid plans.
OneTrust
OneTrust is widely regarded as the heavyweight of enterprise consent and privacy management. It covers consent across web, mobile, OTT and connected TV, with advanced data mapping, auditing and preference‑management tools.
The platform’s multi-channel consent and preference centre allows organisations to give users unified control over their privacy settings.
While OneTrust’s extensive customisation and breadth of features make it exceptionally powerful, they can also make the initial setup more complex for new users. Onboarding may require technical assistance to configure integrations and workflows fully.
Pricing is not publicly available, as plans are customised based on enterprise requirements. However, reviews on popular platforms suggest that costs can add up quickly as usage scales, especially for organisations managing multiple properties or requiring advanced modules.
Despite this, OneTrust remains highly regarded for its proactive updates, comprehensive legal coverage, and commitment to staying ahead of global privacy trends. It supports around 200 languages.
It is understood that OneTrust does not provide any free plans, but a free trial may be available on request.
Termly
Termly is a lightweight consent management platform popularly built for small websites, bloggers, and startups that want straightforward cookie compliance. It has an intuitive dashboard, and setup is simple.
It helps users meet major privacy laws like GDPR, CCPA, and LGPD through easy-to-set-up cookie banners, automatic cookie detection, and consent logging.
The platform also offers policy generators for privacy and cookie policies, giving users a unified tool for website compliance.
It provides a free plan featuring basic consent and policy tools. For $14 to $20, the paid plan expands on these features by adding automatic cookie scanning, banner customisation, and complete access to policy templates.
Termly is also a Google Gold CMP partner. While it lacks the advanced automation and analytics of enterprise CMPs, Termly remains an affordable and accessible option for smaller sites that need essential privacy compliance with minimal effort.
Didomi
Didomi is an enterprise-grade consent management platform built for organisations that need deep customisation, advanced analytics, and cross-device consent. It supports over 45 languages and major privacy regulations, including GDPR, CCPA, and LGPD.
The platform offers geo-targeted banners, A/B testing tools, and robust APIs for integrating consent signals across web, mobile, and connected TV. Businesses can track user preferences, store detailed consent logs, and generate audit-ready reports.
Pricing is custom and quote-based, with no public information on any free plan.
While setup may require technical expertise based on some reviews, Didomi boasts of its flexibility, scalability, and support for multi-channel consent experiences.
Consent Manager
Consent Manager by Iubenda is an enterprise-level CMP for both websites and mobile apps. It provides extensive customisation options, allowing users to add their brand logo, select cookie and preference icons, and even receive support from a dedicated account manager.
The dashboard is feature-rich, which may feel a bit complex at first, but it offers a comprehensive overview once users get familiar with it. Like most in this list, Consent Manager is also a Google Gold CMP Partner.
The platform supports 30+ languages and multiple consent modes, including Facebook, Meta, and Adobe. It also includes built-in policy generators to help maintain compliance.
Consent Manager offers a free plan covering up to 3,000 pageviews per month, with limited customisation, one crawl per week, and no privacy policy generator. Paid plans start from $25 (Starter) and range through $64 (Essential) and $237 (Professional), up to the Ultimate plan, with each tier providing additional features and support.
No reviews on G2 yet
Trust Arc
TrustArc is an enterprise-focused consent and privacy management platform primarily built for large organisations managing global compliance. It helps businesses automate consent collection, policy management, and risk assessment under major regulations.
The platform offers advanced features such as geo-targeted consent banners, cross-device preference syncing, and data governance tools that extend beyond cookie compliance. TrustArc integrates with marketing and analytics platforms to maintain compliant data flows while giving users transparency and control over their choices.
Pricing is customised and generally suited for enterprise budgets. While it doesn’t offer a free plan, TrustArc stands out for its broad compliance coverage, scalability, and strong support for multi-regional privacy frameworks. The product page has no mention of any free trial.
Osano
Osano stands out with its unique “No Fines, No Penalties” pledge. The platform automates consent collection, cookie management, data subject access requests (DSARs), and vendor risk monitoring, all within a real-time dashboard.
It supports consent banners and cookie blocking in over 50 countries and 45 languages, allowing businesses to visualise consent activity and tailor notices based on visitor location.
The live map preview feature enables higher plan users to click on regions to find the tailored banner layout for that region.
The platform includes an interactive product tour and a free plan designed for small websites (5,000 monthly visitors). Paid plans start at around $199 per month, offering additional features such as analytics, geo-targeting, and premium support.
A free trial of the Plus plan is also available, and businesses with advanced needs can opt for a custom enterprise plan tailored to their requirements.
While reviewers appreciate Osano’s legal protection, ease of use, and automation, they note that banner customisation options are somewhat limited and advanced features are locked behind higher-tier plans.
Its pricing can be steep for startups, but Osano remains a strong choice for organisations prioritising legal assurance, automation, and comprehensive privacy governance over low-cost simplicity.
CookieScript
CookieScript is a versatile consent management platform that helps websites comply with privacy laws such as the GDPR, CCPA, and LGPD. It automatically scans websites for cookies, categorises them, and displays customisable consent banners that adapt to regional regulations.
The platform integrates with Google Consent Mode v2, IAB TCF v2.2, and popular CMS platforms like WordPress, Shopify, and Wix, making setup straightforward for both technical and non-technical users. It also provides detailed consent logs, automated scanning, cookie audit reports, and cross-domain consent for advanced plans.
It is user-friendly and offers a free plan for smaller websites, with paid plans starting at around 8 Euros per month based on pageviews and features.
With its balance of automation, integrations, and affordability, Cookie Script is a practical choice for businesses looking for simple, reliable cookie compliance.
Ketch
Ketch is a data privacy platform based in the United States, designed to help organisations manage user consent, preferences, and data rights across multiple systems.
The platform offers highly customisable banners and preference options. It enables real-time synchronisation of consent signals across marketing, analytics, and data storage tools. Ketch also includes data mapping, policy enforcement, and DSAR management capabilities, giving privacy teams full visibility into data use.
Despite its rich feature set, because Ketch offers broad customisation and deep system integrations, onboarding may be more involved than lightweight CMPs. But for enterprises seeking automation, scalability, and strong data governance, Ketch is positioned as a compelling solution. Currently, it is a silver-tier CMP partner with Google.
It offers a free plan, a starter plan for $150, plus for $333 and a pro plan for custom pricing tailored to enterprise requirements. All in all, Ketch pricing is more appropriate for enterprises. A free trial is also available directly from the website.
Usercentrics
Usercentrics is a Google Gold CMP Partner that offers multi-regulation consent compliance for websites and mobile apps. It supports both IAB TCF v2.2 and Google Consent Mode.
The onboarding process is smooth, and the dashboard is easy to use, making it simple to set up and manage consent workflows. It offers extensive banner customisations, cross-domain and cross-device consent management, advanced styling controls, and A/B testing options, allowing users to tailor banners for both aesthetics and compliance.
Usercentrics provides automated monthly cookie scans, geo-targeting, cross-domain consent sharing, and granular preference management.
Pricing starts at $8 per month for 1,500 sessions, covering a single regulation. If you want to cover multiple privacy regulations, choose higher-tier plans starting from $16 per month. While there is no free plan, Usercentrics offers a 14-day free trial across all paid tiers.
FAQ on the best Consent Management Platforms (CMPs)
A Consent Management Platform (CMP) is a tool that helps websites collect, manage, and record user consent for cookies and other tracking technologies in compliance with data privacy laws such as the GDPR, CCPA, and LGPD.
A CMP displays a cookie banner/consent notice when users visit a website, allowing them to accept, reject, or customise their cookie preferences. It then stores and manages this consent information securely, ensuring the website only activates cookies based on the user’s choices.
Modern CMPs also offer features like automated cookie scanning, geo-targeting, multilingual banners, and audit-ready consent logs to simplify ongoing compliance.
In short, a CMP helps businesses stay transparent, compliant, and trustworthy while giving users clear control over their data privacy choices.
Yes, you likely need a Consent Management Platform (CMP) if your website uses cookies, analytics, or tracking tools and receives visitors from regions covered by GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, or LGPD.
A CMP helps you collect and manage user consent in line with these laws. It displays cookie banners, controls tracking before consent, and keeps audit-ready records for compliance.
Even if you’re not legally required yet, using a CMP builds trust and transparency, improves data accuracy, and prepares your business for future privacy regulations.
In short, if your site tracks users in any way, a CMP is the simplest way to stay compliant and earn visitor trust.
Safna is the resident data privacy writer at CookieYes, where she breaks down privacy laws into actionable insights for businesses. The rest of her time is a mix of music, zest, and an ongoing soft spot for Christmas movies.
