This definitive guide details the best free cookie notification plugins for WordPress, enabling you to make your website compliant with the EU Cookie Law (ePrivacy Directive) and other global regulations like the GDPR and CCPA. I’m not a legal professional and this text will show you how to comply – without the effort – with these high-quality free cookie notification WordPress plugins.
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 actions across the website so that it can remember something about you at a later time, such as login status or items in a shopping cart. Understanding this is the first step to managing them responsibly.
The EU ePrivacy Directive (also known as the Cookie Law) came into force in the UK on 26th May 2012 and elsewhere in Europe shortly afterward to require explicit cookie consent. If you own a website, you need to get informed permission from users before deploying non-essential cookies. It was designed to protect online privacy by making users aware of how their data is collected and used online. It’s an amendment to an older piece of legislation.
Why is Compliance Critically Important?
There is a penalty for disobeying the European Union ePrivacy directive and the GDPR, but as long as you make a genuine effort to comply you are better protected. Supervisory authorities are actively testing websites and enforcing rules, particularly against pre-checked boxes and making rejection as difficult as acceptance. Fines can be substantial, but proactive compliance is your best defense.
How Do You Obtain Valid Consent?
Consent must be freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous. There are two main types – explicit and implied. Explicit consent is where a user must actively click to accept cookies. Implied consent involves notifying your visitor that your website uses cookies and if they continue browsing, it’s assumed they agree. Note that implied consent is often not considered sufficient under strict interpretations of the GDPR and should be avoided for best practices.
Major regulatory changes are on the horizon aimed at reducing “cookie fatigue” and simplifying compliance. The European Commission’s Digital Omnibus proposal, presented in late 2025, seeks to overhaul the current system. While these are not yet law, understanding them is crucial for future-proofing your website.
- One-Click Accept/Reject: Mandatory, equally prominent “Accept All” and “Reject All” buttons on cookie banners, ending deceptive designs.
- Browser-Level Consent: Users may set global privacy preferences in their browser, which websites must automatically respect.
- Fewer Repetitive Banners: Consent decisions will be valid for longer periods, reducing prompts on repeat visits.
- New Legal Bases for Cookies: The strict “opt-in” requirement may be relaxed for some non-intrusive cookies, potentially allowing other legal bases like legitimate interest.
- Stricter Global Enforcement: Authorities in the UK, EU, US states, and India are increasing coordinated enforcement, especially against deceptive “dark patterns”.
The WordPress community has several of the best cookie consent plugins that can help you comply with the directive. The following are several of the best free cookie notice WordPress plugins which are certain to make life easier for website owners. The table below provides a strategic overview to help you choose based on your primary need.
| Plugin Name | Best For | Key Free Features | Primary Compliance Focus | Direct Download Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cookie Notice by dFactory | Simple, customizable banners | Custom message, refuse button, accept on scroll, multilingual support | GDPR, CCPA, ePrivacy | Download Plugin |
| Cookie Law Info | Customization & basic cookie audit | Customizable bar, scroll acceptance, “show again” tab, cookie audit table | GDPR, CCPA, ePrivacy | Download Plugin |
| EU Cookie Law | Automatic script blocking | Blocks scripts/iframes pre-consent, customizable banner, responsive | GDPR, ePrivacy Directive | Download Plugin |
| Italy Cookie Choices | Blocking third-party cookies | Blocks third-party scripts, banner templates, scroll acceptance | EU Cookie Law, Italian rules | Download Plugin |
| Termly (GDPR/CCPA Banner) | Simplicity & geo-targeting | Auto-creates policy page, geolocation, dismiss on scroll/click/timer | GDPR, CCPA, ePrivacy, Global Laws | Download Plugin |
| UK Cookie Consent by Termly | Extreme ease of setup | Zero-configuration banner, auto-generated policy page, simple dismissal | GDPR, PECR | Download Plugin |
Quick Selection Guide:
It is the best and most popular cookie notice WordPress plugin by dFactory. It lets you elegantly inform users about cookies 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 is the list of features.
- Customize the cookie message
- Redirect users to a specified page for more cookie information
- Set cookie expiry
- Link to more information 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
Download Cookie Notice by dFactory
You can inform users and change the colors, fonts, styles, position, and how it behaves when ‘accept’ is clicked. It has a Cookie Audit module to show your website users what cookies your website uses neatly in a table on a privacy page. There is a show again tab which dismisses the notice or shows it again. The plugin can be configured for implied consent, an approach aimed at reducing website visitor dropout. Features:
- Fully customizable to match your own website’s brand: customize the colors, styles and fonts
- Option to place 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 via a “show again” tab
- (Optional) “show again” tab is fully customizable including position shown on page and styles
- “Cookie Audit” shortcode to create a well-styled page for ‘Privacy & Cookie Policy’
- WPML compatible
- qTranslate support
EU Cookie Law has the capacity to lock scripts before acceptance (as required by Italian Law – Garante della Privacy guidelines). It is a robust solution for your website to comply with the European cookie law with an elegant popup. It can automatically block embeds, iframes, scripts and objects. You can customize it to match your website design 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
Italy Cookie Choices will let you block third-party cookies. It complies with the Italian cookie legislation as well as the broader European cookie law, displaying the notice only the first time a guest visits your site. Italy cookie choices adds only inline CSS and Javascript, so it doesn’t make your website slower. It has a Third-party cookie eraser to block all 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)
The only WordPress plugin that helps you comply with the EU GDPR’s cookie consent and CCPA’s “Do Not Sell” Opt-Out regulations. Get visitor consent for cookies using a fully customizable cookie consent bar on your website to comply with EU GDPR. Display a fully customizable notice with a ‘Do Not Sell’ link on your website to comply with CCPA. Supports WPML so your translation needs are covered.
Download WP Cookie Notice for GDPR & CCPA
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 populates a page on your website with information about your cookie policy and adds a link to the notification bar.
Other Features in the new version 2.0 include:
- Two dismissal methods – either on click by the user or timed
- Two types 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 positions – 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 period
- Set the cookie version – updating a version will reset the cookie on all user sites
Important Update: This plugin is now developed by Termly. The free version supports sites with up to 10,000 monthly unique visitors and requires a free Termly account.
Download UK Cookie Consent by Termly
While the free plugins above are excellent, your compliance needs may grow. For advanced features like automatic cookie scanning, detailed consent logging, and Google Consent Mode v2 integration, consider these highly-rated freemium plugins from the official directory:
- CookieYes: Over 1 million active installs. Offers automatic cookie blocking, a comprehensive scanner, and policy generator. Its free version is robust, with premium plans unlocking geo-targeting and advanced analytics.
- Complianz: Another plugin with 1M+ installs. Uses a wizard to guide setup for multiple laws (GDPR, CCPA, LGPD) and can generate legal documents.
- Real Cookie Banner: Focuses on strict GDPR/ePrivacy compliance with automatic script blocking and pre-built service templates.
- GDPR Cookie Compliance by Moove: A user-friendly plugin with 300,000+ installs, featuring customizable banners and local consent storage.
- WPConsent: Provides automatic script blocking for known trackers, a built-in scanner, and multiple banner layouts.
Choosing a plugin is the first step. To ensure long-term compliance as laws evolve, you should adopt these strategic practices:
- Eliminate “Dark Patterns” Immediately: Ensure your “Reject” button is as prominent and easy to use as your “Accept” button. Avoid pre-ticked boxes, guilt-tripping language, or making rejection require multiple clicks.
- Implement Granular Consent Controls: Where possible, allow users to choose categories of cookies (e.g., Essential, Analytics, Marketing). This respects user autonomy and aligns with best practices.
- Ensure Technical Accuracy: Your plugin must actually block scripts before consent. Studies show a significant portion of implementations fail here, defaulting to “granted” and creating liability. Test with browser developer tools.
- Plan for Global Audiences: If you target India, prepare for multilingual consent in 22+ languages. For Brazil, ensure your banner is in Portuguese. US state laws require recognizing the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal.
- Monitor Regulatory Updates: The EU’s Digital Omnibus proposal is a key development to watch. While no action is required yet, understanding the shift towards browser-level signals and simplified banners will prepare you for 2026-2027 changes.
Conclusion and Final Recommendation
When you search for Cookie Notice WordPress plugins you’ll never come short of options as there are several WordPress cookie consent plugins to choose from. They all bring something a little different to the table, all the above plugins are the best of them.
For most users seeking simple, effective compliance today, Cookie Notice by dFactory or Cookie Law Info are outstanding free choices. If you need automatic script blocking for stricter compliance, EU Cookie Law is powerful. For the absolute simplest setup, UK Cookie Consent by Termly works instantly.
Ready to Secure Your Website?
Don’t let compliance be an afterthought. Choose a plugin from our reviewed list above, implement it today, and browse with confidence knowing you’re building a trustworthy foundation for your visitors.
What’s your favorite plugin to show cookie notice? Did I miss any? I’d love to hear what you think! If you like, you can also check best plugins for WordPress here.
