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Cookiebot

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Cookiebot by Usercentrics is a comprehensive Consent Management Platform (CMP) designed to help websites achieve and maintain compliance with various data privacy regulations such as GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, VCDPA, and POPIA.

Cookiebot review: pros and cons

Its core functionality revolves around automating the process of obtaining, managing, and documenting user consent for cookies and online tracking. In this Cookiebot review, we’ll explore how the platform performs in real-world use, how effective it is at simplifying compliance, and whether it’s the right fit for your website’s privacy needs.

Main Value Propositions:

  1. Full control of cookies and trackers: Powerful scanner that checks websites monthly, identifies cookies and tracking technologies, automatically categorizes them and blocks until consent is given
  2. Trustworthy consent collection: Pre-built templates or custom consent banners, provides transparency about data collection
  3. Secure consent storage and monitoring: Cookie reports, consent dashboard, consent stored up to 12 months, audit logs available

Key Features Mentioned:

  • Website scanner to check privacy compliance
  • Automated cookie and tracker categorization
  • Multiple integration options
  • Minimal ongoing maintenance after setup
  • Extensive documentation and premium customer support
  • Geotargeted compliance for relevant markets and regulations

Cookiebot review

Target Audience (Initial Assessment):

  • Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs)
  • Marketers needing better data for insights
  • Tech teams requiring easy integration
  • Legal teams needing compliance assurance
  • WordPress and Wix users (specific plugins mentioned)

Problems Solved:

  • GDPR and privacy regulation compliance
  • Cookie and tracker management
  • User consent collection and storage
  • Website privacy compliance automation
  • Legal complexity navigation in data privacy landscape

Pricing Structure and Business Model

Plan Price (per month) Domains Subpages Features
Free $0 1 Up to 50 Limited features
Premium Lite $8 1 Up to 50 All premium features
Premium Small $16 4+ domains* Up to 350 All premium features
Premium Medium $34 1 Up to 3,500 All premium features
Premium Large $56 1 Up to 7,000 All premium features
Premium Extra Large $96 1 More than 7,000 All premium features

Technical Capabilities and Integrations

  • Google-certified CMP partner
  • Supports Google Consent Mode v2 (mandatory from March 2024)
  • Automates consent signaling for Google services (Analytics, Ads, Tag Manager)
  • Conversion modeling for analytics data from non-consenting users
  • Maintains ad performance while ensuring compliance
  • Prevents advertising disruption or revenue loss
  • Instant scanning: Comprehensive report in under 2 minutes
  • Automated detection: Identifies all cookies and tracking technologies
  • Automatic categorization: Classifies cookies into necessary, functional, analytics, performance, and advertisement categories
  • Detailed reporting: Shows purpose, provider, and data collected by each cookie
  • Cloud-based solution: No technical expertise required
  • Monthly automated scans: Continuous monitoring for new cookies/trackers

WordPress Integration:

  • Easy setup: Publish banner in minutes with setup wizard
  • Automatic functionality: “Set it and forget it” approach
  • Design integration: Fully customizable banner that matches site design
  • Compliance coverage: GDPR, CCPA, and Google Consent Mode v2
  • Professional appearance: Maintains design integrity

Key Technical Features:

  • Cross-domain consent sharing
  • Multi-language support (47+ languages)
  • Geotargeting capabilities
  • Banner auto-translation
  • User consent expiration management
  • Privacy trigger functionality
  • IAB TCF 2.2 Framework compliance
  • Global Privacy Control (GPC signal) support

Integration Ecosystem:

  • WordPress plugin
  • Google Tag Manager
  • Microsoft UET Consent Mode
  • CMS integrations: Umbraco, HubSpot, WordPress
  • Wix app available
  • Custom HTML/CSS/JavaScript support

Customer Review Analysis

What Customers Value (Positive Feedback) What Customers Dislike (Major Complaints)
Automated Functionality – Works well when stable Billing Transparency – Unexpected charges, price hikes
Compliance Coverage – Broad regulatory support Customer Service – Slow, unhelpful, hard to reach
Quick Setup – Fast implementation when successful Technical Issues – Integration bugs, unreliable features
Google Integration – Smooth with Consent Mode Implementation Difficulty – Setup often harder than claimed
Multi-language Support – Wide language availability Account Management – Difficult to cancel or downgrade
Cost-effectiveness – Good value when functioning well Business Practices – Perceived unethical billing/treatment

Recommendations for Potential Users

Consider Cookiebot if:

  • You need Google Consent Mode integration
  • You have technical expertise to handle potential issues
  • You’re willing to closely monitor billing and account management
  • You need comprehensive multi-regulation compliance

Avoid Cookiebot if:

  • You prioritize customer service and support quality
  • You need reliable billing practices and transparency
  • You’re a n (Content truncated due to size limit. Use page ranges or line ranges to read remaining content)

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, Cookiebot offers a Free plan for one domain with up to 50 subpages, but it has limited features. Premium plans are paid.

Yes, Cookiebot is a legitimate and widely used Consent Management Platform (CMP), trusted by over 600,000 customers and used on 2.3 million websites. It is also a Google-certified CMP.

Cookiebot automatically blocks all cookies and trackers until explicit user consent is obtained. It doesn't 'remove' existing cookies in the sense of deleting them from a user's browser, but rather prevents them from being set or activated without consent.

Key benefits include simplified privacy compliance, increased user trust and transparency, minimized data loss with Google Consent Mode v2, time and resource savings, reduced legal risk, enhanced data quality for marketing, and seamless integration with various platforms.

Cookiebot automatically detects all cookies and trackers on a website and employs various blocking methods to prevent them from being set until explicit user consent is obtained. It also supports Google Consent Mode and Microsoft UET Consent Mode to modify how tags function based on consent.

Yes, Cookiebot uses patented scanning technology to regularly scan your website to identify all cookies and tracking technologies in use, and automatically categorizes them.

The analysis indicates that Cookiebot is designed for seamless integration and hassle-free maintenance, with no disruptions or impact on website performance mentioned as a benefit. This suggests it does not significantly slow down websites.