5 Best Free Cookie Notification WordPress Plugins for the EU Cookie Regulations

Below is a list that we gathered for you to install on your website to make sure you let users know your website uses cookies. Please don’t take it as a official legal advice, it’s more of a recommendation. Consult a specialist for more details.

What is Cookie?

A cookie is a small piece of data that a website asks your browser to store on your computer or mobile device. It keeps track of your movements within the site so that it can remember something about you at a later time.

What is EU cookie law and why you should follow the directive?

What? The EU ePrivacy Directive (AKA the Cookie Law) come into force in the UK on 26th May 2012 and elsewhere in Europe shortly afterward to require cookie consent. If you own a website, you will need to get the permission of users before deploying cookies. It was designed to protect online privacy by making users aware of how their information is collected and used online. It’s actually not a new law – the European Union just changed an old law.

Why? There is a penalty disobeying the European Union ePrivacy directive, but as long as you make an effort to comply you are safe.

How? There are two types of consent – explicit and implied. Explicit consent is, where a user must actively click on an accept that it is okay to use cookies for your website. Implied content involves just notifying your visitor that your website uses cookies and if they continue browsing, it is assumed that they’re fine with it.

Available plugins

1. Cookie Consent

Simplicity is the most popular aspect of this plugin, as it hardly takes a second to get up and running. Simply install and activate the plugin to automatically add the cookie notification bar without any configuration. It automatically creates and populate a page on your site with the information about your cookie policy and  adds a link to the notification bar.

Other Features in the new version 2.0 includes:

• Two dismissal methods – either on click by the user or timed
• Two type of dismissal elements – either button or ‘x’ close
• Option to show the notification on the first page only – subsequent pages visited by the user will not display the message
• Three position – either top or bottom bar, or floating in one of the corners of the screen
• Better translation support
• Better responsive support
• Update styles from within the customizer
• Inherits your theme styles where possible
• The option to use an absolute or external URL to link to for further information
• Set the cookie duration
• Set the cookie version – updating a version will reset the cookie on all user sites

2. Cookie Notice by dFactory

It the best and most popular cookie notice WordPress plugin by dFactory. It allows you to elegantly show cookies consent to users to comply with the EU regulations.

The plugin comes with some unique features like customizing, option to accept the cookie on scroll, option to refuse functional cookies, cookie message box positions, WPML and Polylang compatible, translation ready with 16 languages, set cookie expiry.

Following are the list of features.

• Customize the cookie message
• Redirect users to specified page for more cookie information
• Set cookie expiry
• Link to more info page
• Option to accept cookies on scroll
• Option to set on scroll offset
• Option to refuse functional cookies
• Select the position of the cookie message box
• Animate the message box after cookie is accepted
• Select button style from none WordPress and Bootstrap
• Set the text and bar background colors
• WPML and Polylang compatible
• .pot file for translations included

3. Cookie Law Info

You can change the colors, fonts, styles, position, and how it behave when clicked ‘accept’ on the page.  It has got a Cookie Audit module to show your site users what cookie your site uses neatly in a table on privacy page. There is a show again tab which dismisses the notice or shows it again.  The plugin uses implied consent as this approach is aimed at reducing website visitor dropout.

Features:

• Fully customizable to match  your own website’s style: customize the colors, styles and fonts
• Option to put cookie bar in header or footer
• (Optional) accept cookie policy if the user scrolls
• (Optional) automatically close the cookie bar after a delay (delay is configurable)
• (Optional) cookie bar can be permanently dismissed or accessible through a “show again” tab
• (Optional) “show again” tab is fully customizable including position shown on page and styles
• “Cookie Audit” shortcode to create a nicely-styled page for ‘Privacy & Cookie Policy’
• WPML compatible
• qTranslate support

4. EU Cookie Law

EU Cookie law has an ability to lock script before acceptance (as required by Italian Law – Garante della Privacy dispositions). It is a powerful solution for your website to comply the European cookie law with an elegant popup. It can automatically block embeds, iframes, scripts and objects.

You can customize it to match it to your website layout and have many options to control behavior before and after acceptance.

Advanced Features

• Block scripts if cookies are not accepted
• Automatic block of iframes, embeds, scripts and objects
• Complete set of developer Shortcodes and PHP Functions
• Manual and Automatic set width and height of blocked content

Features

• Customizable banner (color, position, strings)
• Consent by Clicking, Scrolling and Navigation
• Set your page, popup or custom URL for Cookie Policy
• Set cookie expiry
• Fully responsive for tablets and smartphones
• Compatible with mobile themes and plugins
• Compatible with multi-language plugins
• Certified for WPML
• Shortcode to revoke cookie consent
• Shortcode to show a list of cookies
• Compatible with Disqus and Jetpack InfiniteScroll

5. Italy Cookie Choices (for EU Cookie Law)

Italy Cookie Choices allow you to block third-party cookies. It complies with the Italy cookie law as well as European cookie law showing the visitors only the first time he visits your website.

Italy cookie choices add only inline CSS and Javascript, so it doesn’t make your website slower. It has got a new Third party cookie eraser to block all the cookies.

Other features

• Display banner in front-end
• Three templates (standard, big buttons, small buttons)
• Three positions (top, dialog, bottom) Or custom style
• Content banner customizable with HTML tags
• URL and buttons text customizable
• Acceptance on mouse scroll
• Acceptance on the second view
• Block third party script in page
• Add custom script to not block (all page)
• Add custom script to block (wp_header and wp_footer)
• Multilanguage (WPML, Polylang, Ceceppa)

In conclusion

You can choose from the list above the one that fits you best. What’s your favorite plugin to show cookie notice? Did I miss any? Please comment in below.