75% of WordPress websites fail basic GDPR consent banner requirements (Secure Privacy, 2025). If you’re choosing between Complianz, CookieYes, and WPConsent, the good news is all three are capable plugins that handle cookie consent properly. The right choice depends on what matters most to you: multi-region compliance depth, setup simplicity, or keeping consent data on your own server.

Here’s the honest comparison—without affiliate bias—plus a reality check on what consent plugins actually solve and what they can’t.

Three Plugins, Three Philosophies#

Complianz, CookieYes, and WPConsent dominate the WordPress cookie consent space in 2026. Complianz has over 1 million active installations with a 4.8-star rating on WordPress.org. CookieYes serves over 1.5 million websites as a Google-certified CMP. WPConsent, the newest contender, takes a WordPress-native approach that stores everything locally.

Each plugin was built with a different priority in mind, and that priority shapes everything about how it works.

Complianz started in 2018—the same year GDPR became law—and has stayed focused on WordPress and Shopify. It uses a wizard-based setup that walks you through region-specific compliance requirements. CookieYes also launched in 2018 but expanded beyond WordPress into a SaaS platform serving any website type. WPConsent, backed by the WPBeginner team, was built specifically for WordPress with no external dependencies.

Complianz: Multi-Region Compliance Depth#

Complianz covers more privacy regulations than most store owners know exist. Beyond GDPR and CCPA, it supports ePrivacy, DSGVO, TTDSG, POPIA, APA, RGPD, and PIPEDA. If you have visitors from multiple countries, this breadth matters.

Complianz’s wizard-based setup automatically adjusts questions and settings based on which privacy laws apply to your site. It scans your site for cookies, generates legally-vetted privacy policies, and blocks third-party scripts until consent is given.

The premium version starts at €59/year for a single site and adds A/B testing for consent banners, detailed statistics, and multisite network support. The free version handles most compliance basics.

The downside? Complianz can feel overwhelming. The number of questions in the setup wizard and the range of configuration options can confuse beginners who just need a working cookie banner. That depth is its strength and its weakness.

You may be interested in: Google Consent Mode V2 Is Killing Your Analytics

CookieYes: Simplicity and Scale#

CookieYes takes the opposite approach to Complianz. Where Complianz gives you granular control over every compliance detail, CookieYes focuses on getting you compliant fast with minimal friction.

CookieYes automatically scans and categorises cookies on your site, so you don’t need to manually identify what’s tracking visitors. The auto-blocking feature prevents non-essential scripts from firing until consent is given. Setup typically takes under 10 minutes.

The SaaS model means consent data is stored on CookieYes servers rather than your WordPress database. That trades data ownership for easier maintenance—you don’t need to worry about database bloat or backup size. CookieYes is also a Google-certified CMP with IAB TCF v2.2 support, which matters for publishers running programmatic advertising.

Premium plans start at $100/year and add geo-targeting, advanced analytics, and priority support. The free version works for basic compliance but has pageview limits—high-traffic sites will need to upgrade.

The trade-off is clear: CookieYes is the easiest to set up, but your consent data leaves your server. For stores with strict data residency requirements, that’s a dealbreaker.

WPConsent: WordPress-Native Data Ownership#

WPConsent was purpose-built for WordPress. All consent data stays in your WordPress database. Nothing gets sent to external servers.

Unlike Complianz and CookieYes, WPConsent stores detailed consent logs directly on your server—giving you complete data sovereignty. For WooCommerce stores handling customer transactions, keeping consent records alongside order data simplifies compliance audits.

The setup wizard detects and blocks tracking tools automatically, including Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and other common marketing scripts. The free version is surprisingly full-featured compared to competitors’ paid tiers.

WPConsent also offers no pageview limits on the free plan—a significant advantage over CookieYes for growing stores.

The limitation? WPConsent is newer than both Complianz and CookieYes. Its plugin ecosystem integration is still catching up, and multi-region compliance support is less mature than Complianz’s extensive legal framework.

Feature Comparison: What Actually Matters#

All three plugins support Google Consent Mode V2, which Google now requires for personalised advertising in the EEA. All three block non-essential cookies until consent. All three offer customisable banner designs.

The real differences come down to three decisions: where consent data lives, how much compliance depth you need, and what you’re willing to pay.

For data ownership, WPConsent wins. Everything stays in your database. Complianz also stores data locally as a WordPress plugin. CookieYes sends consent records to its cloud servers.

For compliance depth across multiple regions, Complianz leads. Its support for 10+ privacy frameworks and automatic policy generation is unmatched. CookieYes and WPConsent cover the major regulations but with less granularity for obscure regional requirements.

For getting started quickly, CookieYes is the fastest path to a working consent banner. WPConsent is close behind. Complianz requires the most configuration time.

You may be interested in: Google Consent Mode V2 Data Loss: What Broke After July 2025 Enforcement

The Problem None of These Plugins Solve#

Here’s the thing. A cookie consent plugin manages consent. It does not recover the data you lose when visitors reject cookies.

40-70% of EU visitors reject cookie consent (GDPR studies, 2023). When they click “reject,” your GA4 and Facebook Pixel stop collecting data entirely for those sessions.

That’s not a bug in your CMP plugin. That’s consent working as designed. But it means the analytics data you’re using to make ad spend decisions is based on only 30-60% of your actual visitors. Your ROAS calculations are wrong. Your audience insights are skewed. Your attribution is incomplete.

No cookie consent plugin—whether Complianz, CookieYes, or WPConsent—can fix this. They’re built to block tracking when visitors say no. That’s their job.

Server-side tracking works alongside your CMP to maintain measurement within consent boundaries. By collecting events on your own server first, a first-party tracking architecture like Transmute Engine™ processes data on your subdomain before routing it to GA4, Facebook CAPI, and other platforms. Events flow through infrastructure you control, respecting consent signals while reducing the measurement gap that browser-based blocking creates.

Key Takeaways#

• Complianz is best for multi-region compliance with 10+ privacy frameworks, wizard-based setup, and automatic policy generation at €59/year
• CookieYes is best for fast setup and Google-certified CMP status across 1.5 million websites, starting at $100/year
• WPConsent is best for WordPress-native data ownership with no pageview limits and consent data stored in your local database
• All three support Google Consent Mode V2 and block non-essential cookies until consent is given
• None of them solve the measurement gap created when 40-70% of EU visitors reject cookies—server-side tracking is needed for that

Frequently Asked Questions#

Choose the right CMP for your WordPress store, then pair it with server-side tracking for complete measurement. Learn how at seresa.io.