Cookiebot

ALMOST

A weekend of work, and real gaps remain.

A cookie consent banner with an automatic scan of what your site actually sets, plus a record of each visitor's choice for compliance purposes.

Promptfree, for everyone, and the only version there is

Build a consent banner. The hard part is knowing what to declare.

BEFORE ANY CODE
- The banner is easy. Knowing what your site sets is not
- Open the storage inspector on a clean profile and list every cookie, including ones set after interaction

STACK
- A small script, one endpoint, SQLite

THE BANNER
- Reject must be exactly as easy as accept — same size, same prominence. This is the requirement most banners fail
- Categories, not a single switch: necessary, analytics, marketing
- No pre-ticked boxes, ever

ENFORCING IT
- Scripts do not load until consent. A banner that appears after the tracker fired is worse than none
- Use type="text/plain" and rewrite to a real script tag on consent

THE RECORD
- Store choice, categories, timestamp, banner version and a hashed identifier
- The version matters: consent to an old wording is not consent to a new one

Include the loader, the banner and the consent record.

What you lose

A crawler that finds every cookie and tracker on your site, including ones a third-party script sets without telling you
A stored consent record you can produce if a regulator asks
Wording kept current as guidance changes across jurisdictions

If you would rather not build

No third-party scripts, which removes the problem entirely

The escape hatch

open source · no votes, no paid placement

Klaro

Open-source consent management that blocks scripts until consent.

klaro-org/klaro-jsfree · open source

cookieconsent

A small, dependency-free consent banner with categories.

orestbida/cookieconsentfree · open source

Why this verdict

our own opinion · changed only by a person

58/100

Verdict kinda at 58. The banner is an afternoon; the scan that tells you what to declare, and the stored record, are what the fee covers.

History

tracked since 10 Aug 2026 · nothing is ever overwritten

Interest · last 30 dayspeak 2/day

01213 Jul18 Jul23 Jul28 Jul2 Aug7 Aug11 Aug

— views— prompt copies none yet— votes none yet

Questions about Cookiebot

answered from the record above

Is Cookiebot free?

No — the plan we track is $15 a month. From around €15/month billed monthly per domain, priced on the number of pages scanned.

Can you replace Cookiebot by building your own?

ALMOST. A weekend of work, and real gaps remain. Replacement score 58 out of 100, build time a weekend. Read what you lose before you decide.

How much does Cookiebot cost?

$15 a month on Starter — $180 a year. Recorded 10 Aug 2026.

What do you lose by replacing Cookiebot?

A crawler that finds every cookie and tracker on your site, including ones a third-party script sets without telling you; A stored consent record you can produce if a regulator asks; Wording kept current as guidance changes across jurisdictions. If any of those carry weight for you, keep paying.

Is there an open-source alternative to Cookiebot?

Yes: Klaro, cookieconsent. The prompt on this page is for when you want it your way instead.

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