In the world of cookie banners, Borlabs Cookie was the dominant plugin for WordPress websites for a long time. But at the end of 2020, with Real Cookie Banner has launched a promising alternative on the market that has now convinced over 120,000 website operators.
In this blog post, I will present Real Cookie Banner in more detail and show you all the features, advantages and disadvantages so that you get a good overview of the plugin.
And who knows, maybe after reading this article you'll think: "I really need to switch to Real Cookie Banner!" 😉
What is Real Cookie Banner?
Real Cookie Banner is a WordPress cookie plugin that informs your website visitors about the cookies set and the services on your website that process personal data. It enables you to integrate services such as Google Analytics in a legally compliant manner, Matomo or Facebook by obtaining and storing the user's consent where necessary.
A special feature of the plugin is the content blocker, which only loads external content such as tweets or YouTube videos after the user has given their consent.
The strength of Real Cookie Banner lies in its extensive range of functions, which at the same time makes it easy to use. This has led to the plugin becoming increasingly popular. Even beginners can easily set up and customize the design, as the usability is excellent.
Especially since the update to version 2.6, which includes the service scanner, Real Cookie Banner has established itself as the leading solution on the market.
You also benefit from clear statistics and can contact the German developer team and the German-speaking support team, who will be happy to help you with any problems.
Advantages
- Wide range of functions
- Setup wizard
- 150+ service templates, 120+ content blocker templates
- Service scanner
- Comprehensive statistics
- German support
- Optics customizable in detail via the Customizer
- Design templates for the cookie banner
- Beginner-friendly backend
Disadvantages
- Subscription model (we would prefer a one-off payment)
Prices & voucher code
Real Cookie Banner offers you various packages (see below) that are suitable for all requirements. This is an annual contribution.
The prices are valid for one year, during which you receive free updates and free (German-language) premium support. The prices are staggered as follows:
- A website: 59 € gross (single)
- 3 websites: 89 € gross (starter)
- 5 websites: 129 € gross (Professional)
- 10 websites: 229 € gross (Business)
- 25 websites: 299 € gross (Agency)
(as at: October 2023)
Savings tip: With the code WPSPACE you save 20% on the plugin during the order process in the first year.
Top features
Real Cookie Banner has many important functions. The most important ones are presented below:
Service scanner
Real Cookie Banner's service scanner is a useful tool that automatically analyzes the services and cookies on your website that may require consent from visitors.
With the service scanner, you can ensure that you have a complete overview of all services and cookies used that are relevant under data protection law. This makes it easier to comply with legal requirements, in particular the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The scanner searches the website for embedded services such as Google Analytics, Facebook or other third-party tools. It also recognizes cookies that are set by these services to track user activity or process personal data.
Using the service scanner saves you a lot of time and ensures that you don't forget any important services or cookies that require consent. It helps you to configure the cookie banner correctly and provide visitors with clear information about data collection and the use of cookies.
Nevertheless, it is important to note that the service scanner is not infallible and may not be able to detect all cookies and services. It is therefore advisable to check the results of the scanner and, if necessary, manually add further services to ensure compliance with data protection regulations.
Extensive templates
Under "extensive templates" from Real Cookie Banner refers to ready-made settings and configurations for various cookie banner content and functions.
With these templates, you don't have to create every aspect of the cookie banner from scratch, but can instead choose from a variety of pre-set options. This saves time and effort when setting up and designing the cookie banner.
The templates include different designs for the cookie banner itself, so you can change the look of the banner with just one click. There are also templates for integrating and blocking specific services such as Google Analytics, Facebook or other external content.
By using these templates, you can be sure that the correct settings for consenting to cookies and blocking services have already been made. All you have to do is select the appropriate templates and add specific information, such as an ID, if necessary.
And in the event that you have embedded external content from services, Real Cookie Banner also provides more than 120 content blocker templates for this. This allows you to easily and efficiently load content from over 120 services after user consent.
The extensive templates make setting up Real Cookie Banner much easier and at the same time offer flexibility to adapt the cookie banner to the individual requirements and style of your website. This makes the plugin particularly user-friendly and efficient.
Content blocker
The content blocker allows you to block the loading of embedded external content such as YouTube videos, social media posts or other third-party resources until the user actively consents to data processing.
If you have embedded external content from platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, Instagram or other third-party providers on your website, this can often be associated with cookies and trackers that collect and transmit personal data. This can affect the privacy of users and jeopardize data protection.
The content blocker prevents this external content from being loaded automatically as soon as the page is accessed. Instead, a placeholder or a message is displayed informing the user that external content is blocked until they consent to cookies.
The external content is only activated and loaded once the user has given their consent in the cookie banner. This gives users full control over which cookies they want to allow and which external content should be displayed on the website.
This function contributes to compliance with data protection regulations and gives users the opportunity to make conscious decisions about the use of their data. At the same time, it offers website operators the assurance that their website is designed in compliance with data protection regulations and meets the requirements of data protection laws. The Content Blocker is therefore an important tool for protecting user privacy and ensuring a trustworthy user experience.
Since version 3.0, you can even choose between different designs, which can be set separately for each content blocker:
The additional "Hero" option can, for example, make an embedded YouTube video look like a normal embedded video. To do this, you can simply select the "Download preview image and output locally" setting.
The ability to download the preview image of the video and output it locally gives the video player additional functionality. This improves the loading time of the video, as the preview image is loaded directly from the local source, which has a positive effect on the user experience.
Simple design customizations
Would you like to customize your cookie banner? No problem!
With the Real Cookie Banner you can make changes to the design of the cookie banner directly in the WordPress Customizer and see how these changes work in a live preview. You have access to more than 200 options with which you can customize the appearance of the banner.
You can customize the colors, fonts, font sizes, shadows, buttons and other visual elements of the cookie banner to your taste. Even the fade-in animation of the banner can be designed according to your ideas.
This means that you can easily adapt the cookie banner to the design and style of your website without the need for in-depth technical knowledge. Thanks to these simple design adjustments, you can ensure that the cookie banner fits perfectly into the overall image of your CI and the design of your website.
Consent history
Here you can view the previous recording and storage of the consents that visitors to your website have given with regard to the use of cookies and data processing in a bundled form.
When a visitor sees the cookie banner and gives or rejects consent, this action is recorded in the consent history. This means that any consent given by users is recorded together with the exact time and content of the cookie banner.
The consent history allows you as a website operator to track which users have given which consents. This is particularly important in order to comply with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (Art. 7 GDPR), as you as the operator are obliged to be able to prove that you have given your consent.
The consent history thus gives you a clear overview of your visitors' data protection decisions and enables you to document and verify compliance with legal requirements. This promotes user trust in your website and ensures that you fully comply with data protection regulations.
Notice for the protection of minors
This integrated function, which informs website operators that persons under the age of 16 may not give their consent to the use of certain cookies or data processing without the consent of their legal guardians, is also part of the Real Cookie Banner.
According to the Art. 8 GDPR parents or legal guardians must also give their consent for the consent to be legally valid.
The youth protection notice from Real Cookie Banner is an important addition to strengthen website privacy policies for the protection of minors. It sensitizes users and their legal guardians to the legal requirements and enables website operators to handle the consent of minors responsibly.
By drawing attention to the legal provisions, the youth protection notice helps to ensure that user consent and the use of cookies and personal data are legally compliant and in accordance with data protection. This is particularly important in order to protect the privacy and interests of children and young people and to create a trustworthy environment for all users.
Separate consent to data processing in the USA
This specific option refers to obtaining separate consent from visitors when certain services or cookies transfer data to the USA.
After the ECJ declared the EU-US Privacy Shield invalid, there are uncertainties regarding the permissibility of data transfer to the USA, even if standard contractual clauses are used.
With this function, website operators can inform users transparently and comprehensively that certain services or cookies send their data to the USA and obtain separate consent to ensure that the data transfer complies with legal requirements. This provides additional security and legal compliance with regard to data processing in the USA.
Comprehensive statistics
Receive detailed and comprehensive information about cookie consent and the use of the cookie banner on your website.
These statistics show you how many visitors have seen the cookie banner, how many of them have accepted or rejected it and which services or cookies have been accepted or rejected particularly frequently. You gain insights into the behavior of users in relation to cookie consent.
The data is presented in clear graphs and charts and can be filtered by various criteria to gain specific insights. This allows you to analyze the effectiveness of the cookie banner and, if necessary, make adjustments to improve the consent rate and ensure data protection compliance. The extensive statistics provide valuable information to optimize the user experience and strengthen data protection on your website.
Excellent support
Real Cookie Banner was created by devowl.io GmbH, who have already developed other well-known plugins.
The support is just as good as the quality of the plugins. If you have a question for the German company, you will promptly receive a helpful and competent answer from the German-speaking support team.
This saves you a lot of nerves and, above all, time compared to other cookie content solutions with English-language support. 💪
Multilingualism
Real Cookie Banner is available with the plugins WPML, Polylong, TranslatePress and Weglot compatible. This means that multilingual websites are no problem for the tool.
The plugin not only provides you with a suitable version for each language, but can also forward the consent to all websites within the multisite, so that multiple display of the cookie banner is avoided.
Geo-Restriction
Geo-restriction refers to a function that allows website operators to show the cookie banner only for certain countries and hide it in other countries.
With geo-restriction, you can specify that the cookie banner is only visible to visitors from certain countries, while it is not displayed to users from other countries. This can be useful to ensure compliance with certain data protection regulations in different countries or to provide an optimized experience for users in countries with stricter data protection requirements.
However, it is important to be careful when using geo-restriction and ensure that you fully understand the legal requirements in the countries concerned. In some countries, certain types of cookies or services may be allowed without consent, while in others they may require consent. Therefore, it is advisable to keep the cookie banner active if you are unsure or cannot ensure that certain countries do not require cookie consent.
Conclusion on the Real Cookie Banner
As you can see, the Real Cookie Banner with its extremely versatile and user-friendly functions is one, if not the, optimal solution for every website.
With its numerous functions such as the service scanner, extensive templates, simple design customizations and consent history, it offers a comprehensive solution to meet the legal requirements for cookie usage and data protection regulations.
The option to block external content with the content blocker and the transparency of the youth protection notice demonstrate a responsible approach to data protection. The "Separate consent to data processing in the USA" and the "Geo-restriction" show that the plugin takes current legal developments into account and also meets international requirements.
Overall, the Real Cookie Banner is a recommended choice for anyone looking for a simple, effective and legally compliant solution for cookie consent and privacy compliance on their website.
Is a Pro version worthwhile?
In fact, the Pro version of Real Cookie Banner offers an extended range of functions that can be very valuable for many website operators.
Although there is a free version of the plugin, it is important to note that the range of functions is limited in the free version. The templates for service and content blockers, the consent to data processing in the USA and the statistics feature are only available in the Pro version.
If you run a website that requires many services and want to manage the cookie banner comprehensively and conveniently, the Pro version of Real Cookie Banner is definitely the better choice. The templates and statistics functions make setup and management much easier, saving you time and effort.
The free version can still be useful if you want to try out Real Cookie Banner or if your website uses few or no cookies, so that an extensive cookie banner is not necessary.
