Best WordPress GDPR Plugins 

Are you looking for a comprehensive list of the best WordPress GDPR plugins? I have curated a list of the top GDPR plugins for WordPress that will really speed up the process. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy regulation issued by the European Union (EU) has made it compulsory to make every WordPress website GDPR proof. In this guide, I have listed some of the cherry-picked solutions for you. So, let’s check them out.

All websites that collect data and gather information related to people in the European Union must be GDPR compliant. There are several WordPress GDPR plugins that can help website owners meet the requirements and avoid privacy violations

All the WordPress plugins listed in this guide are entirely responsive and come with easy settings and features that help you meet the General Data Protection Regulation guidelines and other requirements such as data access, data eraser, cookie consent, privacy policy, data breach notification, and a lot more.

After successfully installing a plugin, you can easily start showing cookie consent. Moreover, you can employ another layer of protection to guard your data and keep the user’s information safe.

What is GDPR?

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation. It is a European Law that gives individuals in the EU safeguard their right to privacy by controlling the access of  their data on the internet. On 25 May 2018, the European Union (EU) proclaimed the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy policy.

It states that every website serving the European Union region users is obligated to follow the GDPR. No matter if you are a European resident or not but if you are serving or expanding your business in the European region, you have to make sure that your site is completely GDPR compliant.

However, since the websites are dynamic no single plugin can be fully GDPR compliant. But there are many top WordPress GDP plugins to make sure the website abide to compliance requirements.

What is WordPress GDPR Compliance?

The GDPR came into effect in 2018 to get control over the data breach and enhance data protection and privacy throughout the entire European Union. All the WordPress website owners are obliged to take user consent while making use of cookies. Also, if the site is collecting personal information, they need to declare it to the visitor and ask for their consent. However, if the visitor is not comfortable with it they should be allowed to leave the site.

This means you must follow the data protection principle while creating any new product or launching any new site. This also means that you can not use any user’s personal information, store it, or sell it to any advertiser unless you can justify it.

In addition, it refers to the eight rights for the data privacy, allowing individuals have more control over their data and information and how it is used in the long run. Here is what you need to know about GDPR compliance:

• Right to access
• Right to object
• Right to be informed
• Right for data portability
• Right to rectification
• Right to be forgotten
• Right to restrict processing
• Right to withdraw consent

Best WordPress Plugins for GDPR Compliance

1. GDPR Cookie Consent

The GDPR Cookie Consent plugin is the best WordPress plugin that helps you make your WordPress site comply with GDPR. This plugin facilitates you to include a customizable cookie consent notification on your website. However, the consent bar can also be used to inform users about cookie usage. Moreover, you can include the link to the policy page as well.

Features

• You can display customizable cookie consent notifications.
• It lets you display a notice with Accept and Reject options.
• It allows you to even block the cookies if the users have not given their consent.
• WPML compatible.
• You can place the cookie bar either in the header or footer.
• Delay is configurable.
• Cookie Audit shortcode to design beautiful Privacy & Cookie policy.
• Consent withdrawal.

Pros

• It allows you to show a consent bar only for European Union users.
• You can easily manage cookie categories.
• Highly compatible with caching servers.
• You can permanently dismiss the cookie banner.

Cons

• It does not block all cookies.

2. Cookie Notice for GDPR & CCPA

This Cookie Notice for GDPR & CCPA is one of the widely used WordPress plugins. It allows you to sophisticatedly inform users that your site is using cookies. That further helps you comply with the European Union General Data Protection Regulation cookie law and CCPA policies. You can effectively and effortlessly create your custom cookie messages to announce the usage of cookies on your WordPress website.

Features

• There is an option to create custom cookie messages.
• It is fully GDPR compliant.
• You can easily link the privacy policy page.
• Completely SEO friendly environment.
• There is an option to set on a scroll offset.
• It lets you animate the message box after the cookie is accepted.
• It allows you to set the text and bar background colors.
• Polylang and WPML compatible.

Pros

• It is a free WordPress plugin.
• It lets you revoke user consent.
• You can position the cookie message box.
• You can choose between three button styles.

Cons

• More advanced features are available in the pro plan.

3. CookieYes

The next plugin in the list is CookieYes WordPress plugin. It is an amazingly lightweight and elegant WordPress solution to make your site fully compliant with the European Union (EU) GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) with ease. It is coupled with several useful features such as popups and alternatives to the lock scripts before they are  accepted. In fact, CookieYes is a popular GDPR plugin for WordPress with over 1 million installations and 4.9 stars

Features

• Show a beautiful-looking consent banner.
• Easily apply consent on click, scroll, and delay.
• Lets you customize text and colour for the consent banner.
• Also, customize consent buttons and the link to the privacy page.
• Use cookie policy page generator.
• Option to manually add the cookies to the list.

Pros

• You can easily manage this plugin on your site.
• It is really simple to configure.
• This WordPress plugin is fully customizable.

Cons

• CookieYes does not block all the third-party services scripts automatically. So you need to set it up manually.

4. Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent

Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent is another powerful comprehensive GDPR management WordPress plugin. In order to manage customer privacy and make your site abide by General Data Protection Regulation, you can use this plugin. It also provides you several other useful features such as Geo IP cookie consent, Consent statistics, built-in website scanning functionality, and a lot more.

Features

• It comes with smooth integration with WP Consent API.
• You can easily configure a cookie notice for a specific region.
• You may also use one cookie notice across the globe.
• It automatically detects whether or not you need a cookie notice.
• It comes with a periodical cookie scan if you need to make any changes to the cookie.
• Seamless integration with WordPress privacy features.

Pros

• It includes cookie pop-ups.
• It is a free WordPress plugin.
• You can manage your cookies with the Tag manager.
• You can easily block third-party cookies such as Instagram, Facebook, Recaptcha, Google Map, Twitter, and many more.

Cons

• More advanced features come with the premium plan.

5. GDPR Cookie Compliance

GDPR Cookie Compliance is one of the simplest WordPress plugins available. This plugin helps you provide cookie information to your users. More so, it will help you control what cookies are stored. You can use this plugin to ask for user consent also. It allows you to use the entirely customizable fonts, colors, and your own logos to your website.

How to Install GDPR Cookie Compliance

Here are the steps to install GDPR Cookie Compliance with your site.

Step 1: Download it through your WordPress dashboard only.

However, you can check out the steps to install a WordPress plugin here if you are not sure about it.

Step 2: Activate the plugin.

Step 3: Head to GDPR Cookie Compliance main menu link and adjust all the settings.

You can set the plugin as per your requirements. You are all set to use the plugin however you like.

Features

• Easily editable – You can easily change the text.
• Fully customizable – You can upload your own logos, use colors of your choice, and use fonts of your choice.
• You can choose between two unique layouts.
• It lets you set the position cookie consent banner either at the top or at the bottom of the page.
• You can also include the Accept and Reject button.
• It lets you manage the consent expiration settings.
• You can share your custom settings between sites with ease.
• It completely supports the caching server.

Pros

• It is a free plugin to use.
• It has a beautifully simple user interface.
• All designs are mobile responsive.
• It is available in ten languages.

Cons

•  This plugin does not support subdomains.

6. iubenda – Cookie and Consent Solution for the GDPR & ePrivacy

This Cookie and Consent Solution for the GDPR & ePrivacy WordPress plugin is an all-in-one solution. It consists of the functionality of two robust alternatives to make your website fully GDPR as well as ePrivacy compliant. It comes with an entirely customizable cookie banner. However, it allows you to automate the implementation of GDPR and ePrivacy by blocking scripts. Managing cookie consent is pretty easy with it.

Features

• It enables you to record, review, and manage the GDPR records of consent for your web-forms.
• You can easily manage the cookie-related consent including the widgets and third-party cookies before the consent is received.
• Making your site GDPR compliant is a cakewalk with iubenda.
• It also auto-detects and limits prior-blocking.
• It supports the California Consumer Policy Act (CCPA).
• Smooth integration with Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF).
• It comes with a beautiful interactive user interface.

Pros

• It is a free WordPress plugin.
• It provides you with a fully customizable cookies banner.
• The user interface is highly interactive.
• It comes with built-in compatibility with Contact Form 7, WP Forms.

Cons

• Since it is a free plugin, so, there’s no phone support.

7. GDPR

GDPR is another popular WordPress plugin meant to meet the data regulations and make your site GDPR compliant. It makes the personal data accessible to the owner of the site and helps them to adhere to GDPR regulations. It is specifically meant to provide aid to Controllers, Data Protection Officers, and Data Processors to effortlessly make your site GDPR comply.

Features

• It comes with Privacy Preference management for cookies with banner notification.
• Privacy Policy page configuration with version control.
• It allows you to re-assign the user data on deletion requests.
• Easy telemetry tracker for visualizing.
• It gives you the right to access data by the data subject.
• You can use the emails to access the data from the admin dashboard.
• It gives you permission to publish the contact information.
• The Admin is allowed setting the outgoing email limitation.

Pros

• Effortless consent management.
• Cookies can be activated or blocked based on user preference.
• Easy opt-out-link management.
• Data breach notification logs.

Cons

• Support can be a concern for some since it is an open-source WordPress plugin.

Note: Merely installing a WordPress GDPR plugin to your website does not make it comply with the GDPR privacy policy. However, you are required to configure it correctly because every website uses distinct cookies. Therefore, you have to configure according to your website cookies.

If you are in a hurry, check out this quick catchup on the top WordPress GDPR plugins.

Best WordPress GDPR Plugins Comparison Table 2023

How to Choose the Best WordPress GDPR Plugin?

All the above-listed WordPress plugins are fairly loaded with features and functionalities that you would need to create a fully GDPR ready website. However, as I have already mentioned in this guide, the top features, pros as well as cons of all the plugins. Thus, you can easily choose the best plugin that can help you serve your site users worry-free.

You can check out the list and make sure your chosen plugin is capable of providing:

• The right to inform your users about the information you are collecting from them.
• It has the right rectification.
• It should include the right to data portability.
• Restricting unauthorized processing.
• Right in relation to automated data handling.

However, you should consider using both WordPress GDPR and GDPR Cookie Consent as your first options.

Note: I am not a lawyer and I do not guarantee that your site will be 100% compliance. Instead, I strongly recommend you to GDPR law in some detail.

WordPress GDPR Plugins – Final Thoughts

I hope this guide has helped you learn about the WordPress GDPR compliance pretty well. However, the main objective of this guide is to make you aware of the GDPR and show you how GDPR law works on your website. Every website has its own reasons to collect user information. Thus, it is surely not possible for a single plugin to serve you well. Here in this guide, I have mentioned some of the best free WordPress GDPR plugins to choose from. All these plugins are feature-rich and are capable of providing you a fully GDPR compliant website.

Since GDPR compliance is essential so you must make sure to choose the best WordPress GDPR plugin for your website. The plugin you choose should depend upon your website size, important regulations, and your website requirements.

Notably, in this article, I have tried to demystify the General Data Protection Regulation. Also, I hope I was able to make it less overwhelming for beginners as well as SMEs concerned about GDPR compliance. You can quickly use any of these WordPress GDPR plugins and make your site ready for European traffic. And don’t forget to share with me which GDPR plugin did you install to make your WordPress site GDPR-ready in the comments below.