Complianz vs CookieYes: WordPress Privacy Suite vs SaaS CMP (2026)

Complianz and CookieYes both scan cookies, block non-essential scripts and collect consent, but they are built around different operating models. Complianz is a WordPress-first privacy suite with regional legal-document workflows. CookieYes combines a WordPress plugin with a hosted CMP account, pageview limits and cloud-managed scanning/reporting.

Compare	Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent BannerFree; Premium Personal $59/year for 1 site Remove	CookieYesFree; Basic $10/month/domain; Pro $25/month; Ultimate $55/month Remove
Pricing model	Freemium	Freemium
Starting price	Free; Premium Personal $59/year for 1 site	Free; Basic $10/month/domain; Pro $25/month; Ultimate $55/month
Free version	Yes	Yes
Sites included	1 Personal; 5 Professional; 25 Agency	1 domain per plan
Lifetime option	No	No
Refund policy	30-day money-back guarantee	14-day free trial on paid plans
Setup level	Intermediate	Beginner-friendly
WordPress.org rating	4.7/5 (1,658)	4.8/5 (3,231)
Active installs	1M+	1M+
Best for	WordPress sites that want a self-hosted privacy suite combining consent management, cookie scanning, legal documents, regional configuration, and Google consent frameworks.	Sites that want a cloud-managed CMP with automated scanning, cookie auto-blocking, consent logs, Google integrations, and a central dashboard.
Not ideal for	Sites that want a cloud CMP dashboard across many non-WordPress properties or only need a minimal cookie banner.	Sites that want consent data and configuration fully self-hosted in WordPress or want to avoid pageview-based plan limits.
Tested version	7.5.5	3.5.6
Last reviewed	2026-09-24	2026-09-24
Features
Cookie consent banner	Yes	Yes
Automatic script / cookie blocking	Yes	Yes
Cookie / tracker scanner	Yes	Yes
Consent records / proof	Paid plan	Yes
Regional / geo targeting	Paid plan	Paid plan
Google Consent Mode v2	Paid plan	Yes
IAB TCF support	Paid plan	Paid plan
Global Privacy Control	Yes	Paid plan
Cookie / privacy policy generator	Yes	Yes
Broader legal-document suite	Paid plan	Limited
Third-party content blocking	Yes	Yes
Multisite / cross-domain consent	Paid plan	Paid plan
Self-hosted consent data	Yes	No
Consent analytics / A-B testing	Paid plan	Yes
Multilingual consent experience	Yes	Paid plan

The compliance scope is different

Complianz goes beyond a banner. Premium includes region-specific consent handling, legal-document generation, records of consent, data-request processing and hybrid scanning. That makes it closer to a WordPress privacy suite than a single-purpose CMP.

CookieYes concentrates more heavily on cookie consent operations: automatic scanning, blocking, consent logs, banner configuration, policy generators and hosted account management. It covers multiple privacy regimes, but it does not try to replace the same breadth of WordPress legal-document workflows.

Consent Mode and advertising frameworks

CookieYes includes Google Consent Mode v2 even on its free plan. IAB TCF v2.3 and GPC are gated to higher paid tiers. That makes the free tier useful for ordinary analytics consent, while publishers using programmatic advertising need to compare Pro or Ultimate.

Complianz Premium includes Consent Mode v2, records of consent and advertising-framework support including its certified CMP integration. For sites using AdSense or complex ad-tech, compare the exact TCF configuration rather than assuming any GDPR banner is sufficient.

Scanning and blocking are ongoing operations

A cookie scan is only a snapshot. New payment widgets, chat tools, embeds and marketing scripts can appear after plugin or theme changes. Complianz Premium uses a hybrid scan and live CookieDatabase sync; CookieYes paid tiers increase scan depth and can schedule scans.

Whichever tool you use, make consent QA part of releases. Test a fresh browser with no consent, accept analytics only, reject all optional categories, and verify that blocked resources actually stay blocked. A polished banner is meaningless if a tag fires before the visitor chooses.

Pricing behaves very differently

Complianz Premium currently starts at $59/year for one site, with 5-site and 25-site tiers. There are no pageview thresholds on the listed Premium plans, so cost is mainly tied to site count.

CookieYes Free is limited to 5,000 pageviews per month. Basic is $10/month per domain with 100,000 pageviews, Pro $25/month with 300,000, and Ultimate $55/month with unlimited pageviews. That makes traffic growth part of the long-term cost model.

Consent evidence needs an owner

Both products can support consent records in paid workflows, but storing proof is only useful if the business knows how long it must be retained, who can access it and how a withdrawal request is handled. Treat consent logs as compliance records, not analytics decoration.

For agencies, document which client owns the CMP account, scan history and proof-of-consent data. That becomes important during handoff: losing access to a vendor dashboard can create a compliance problem even if the WordPress plugin remains installed.

Which operating model fits?

Consider Complianz when legal documents, regional logic and a WordPress-first privacy workflow matter. Consider CookieYes when a hosted dashboard, pageview-based service model and centralized CMP operations are easier for the team to manage.

Do not choose based on banner presets alone. Map the site’s ad stack, analytics, embeds, traffic, jurisdictions and evidence requirements first, then compare the minimum plan that supports those requirements.

A consent audit should test behavior, not settings

The strongest way to compare Complianz and CookieYes is to build a small audit matrix around real services: analytics, advertising, video embeds, maps, chat, payment tools and form tracking. For each one, record whether it loads before consent, which category unlocks it, whether revoking consent stops future requests, and whether the policy text describes the behavior accurately.

This catches a common failure mode: the CMP dashboard says a service is categorized correctly, but a theme script, tag-manager trigger or cache layer still loads it too early. Complianz and CookieYes can both be configured well, but neither can compensate for a deployment process that never tests the network behavior.

Account and data ownership matter during agency handoff

CookieYes adds a vendor account to the ownership chain, while Complianz keeps more of the workflow inside WordPress. Agencies should decide whether the client or agency owns the CMP account, billing relationship, consent logs and scan history before launch.

A clean handoff should leave the client with admin access, exportable records and a documented list of active services. Otherwise a future agency may inherit a visible banner but no reliable way to verify how it was configured.

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