CookieBoss: Cookie Consent & GDPR Compliance

No. Without an account the plugin shows its default banner: opt-in for every visitor, in your site's language, with Google Consent Mode v2 and optional Blocking Mode, and nothing sent outside your site. Connect a free account (cookieboss.io/signup, no credit card) when you want your own banner design, cookie scanning and consent statistics.

Yes. The plugin and the default banner are free with no time limit. A free CookieBoss account covers one site; its banner uses one language and shows a small "Powered by CookieBoss" link. Paid plans start at €9/month for more languages, more frequent scans and no link; multi-domain plans start at €19/month. See cookieboss.io/pricing.

Yes, with or without an account. The plugin sets the Consent Mode v2 default state (all consent types denied, security_storage granted) in the page head before any Google tag loads, and the banner sends the update when the visitor chooses. Google requires Consent Mode v2 to use Google Ads measurement and personalisation for visitors in the EEA. Turn it off under Settings → CookieBoss if you set Consent Mode defaults elsewhere, for example in Google Tag Manager.

Yes. Page caching is no problem: the banner decides what to show in the visitor's browser, so a cached page works for everyone. The consent script and the Consent Mode defaults also carry the attributes that caching and optimisation plugins use to leave a script alone (data-cfasync="false", data-no-optimize, data-no-minify, data-no-defer, data-noptimize). LiteSpeed Cache, Autoptimize, SiteGround Optimizer and Cloudflare Rocket Loader respect these. If a "delay JavaScript" setting still holds the banner back, exclude it by hand. Use the keyword cookieboss, which matches the script both before connecting (served from your site) and after (served from cdn.cookieboss.io), and wait_for_update, which matches the Consent Mode defaults:

• WP Rocket, File Optimization: add both keywords to "Excluded JavaScript Files" and to the "Delay JavaScript execution" exclusions.
• LiteSpeed Cache, Page Optimization → JS Settings: add both to "JS Excludes", and to "JS Deferred / Delayed Excludes" if enabled.
• W3 Total Cache, Performance → Minify: add the CookieBoss script to "Never minify the following JS files".
• Autoptimize, JavaScript Options: add cookieboss, wait_for_update to "Exclude scripts from Autoptimize".

Without an account, there is no data to store: the banner runs on your site and the visitor's choice stays in a cookie in their browser. With a connected account, consent data is stored on Cloudflare with the database region-pinned to the EU (Western Europe). The service is operated by Transformination OÜ, a company registered in Tallinn, Estonia, which acts as your data processor; a Data Processing Agreement is available. The banner script itself is delivered from Cloudflare's global network so it loads fast everywhere.

All three put a consent banner on your site and support Google Consent Mode v2. What sets CookieBoss apart:

• The banner works without an account, and the default banner makes no external requests at all.
• Connected sites load a script compiled for their own settings, so visitors download only what that site uses.
• It is run by an EU company, with consent data stored in the EU.
• Its focus is your consent rate within the law: consent statistics on every account, and A/B tests of banner variants with significance testing on the Business plan.
• If you already use Cookiebot or Cookie Information, the plugin's import wizards bring your configuration over.

The script loads with defer, so it does not block page rendering. The default banner is a single file served from your own site: about 30 KB compressed, most of which is the banner text in 53 languages; WordPress.org requires plugin code to be human-readable, so it is not minified. A connected site loads a minified script compiled for its own settings and languages, typically around 10 KB compressed.

When enabled, the plugin prevents known tracking scripts (Google Analytics, Meta Pixel and others) from running until the visitor consents to the relevant category. It changes their script type to text/plain and adds a data-cookieconsent attribute; the banner restores them after consent.

You don't need one: "Connect to CookieBoss" sets it for you. To enter it by hand, log in to app.cookieboss.io, open your site, and copy the Site ID from the Installation Script section.

Yes. Enable "Admin Preview Mode" in the settings to hide the banner and unblock all scripts when logged in as an administrator. Visitors still see the banner normally.

The default banner uses a neutral bottom-bar design. To change layout (bottom bar, modal, preference center), colours, texts or animations, connect a free account and edit the banner in the CookieBoss dashboard.

URL passthrough passes ad click information (gclid, dclid) through page URLs even when ad_storage consent is denied. This improves Google Ads conversion modeling without setting cookies.

When enabled, ad click identifiers are removed from network requests when ad_storage consent is denied. This provides stricter privacy but may reduce conversion modeling accuracy.