Our readers have often asked us about the best GDPR plugins for WordPress that can improve compliance.
To help them, we downloaded the most popular GDPR plugins and used them to make our real websites GDPR-compliant.
After much trial and error, we realized that not every plugin is created the same, and each GDPR plugin has slightly different functions. This makes it a bit difficult to choose the right plugin for your website’s needs.
Now that we already tested these plugins, we can tell you exactly what you need to improve compliance for your WordPress site.
In this article, we will share some of the best GDPR plugins for WordPress that you can use to make your website GDPR-compliant.
If you are in a hurry, then take a quick look at our expert picks to make a decision.
| # | Plugins | Best For | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | MonsterInsights | Collecting GDPR-friendly analytics data | $99.60/yr + Free |
| 🥈 | WPForms | GDPR-compliant forms | $49.50/yr + Free |
| 🥉 | Cookie Notice for GDPR | Creating cookie notification popup | Free |
| 4 | OptinMonster | Adding a privacy policy field to popups | $5.97/month |
| 5 | CookieYes | Creating an alert bar for cookies | $100/yr + Free |
| 6 | Smash Balloon | Adding GDPR-friendly social media feeds | $299/yr + Free |
| 7 | Complianz | Creating cookie notices for different regions | $59/yr + Free |
| 8 | PushEngage | Sending GDPR-compliant push notifications | $19/month + Free |
| 9 | Real Cookie Banner | Adding a cookie notice banner | €59/yr + Free |
What Is GDPR and Why Does It Matter?
GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation. It is a European Union (EU) law that gives individuals in the EU specific rights over accessing and controlling their data on the internet.
GDPR applies to all organizations globally that collect or process data relating to individuals in the EU. For instance, if you live in the United States and run a business website or online store with customers in Europe, then you need to comply with GDPR.
Due to the dynamic nature of websites, no single plugin can offer 100% GDPR compliance. However, many popular plugins have added GDPR-friendly options to ensure that your website follows the law.
Disclaimer: we are not legal experts, but we have written the ultimate WordPress GDPR guide that you can refer to for more details. When in doubt, always consult an Internet law attorney.
How We Test And Review GDPR Plugins
To give you some solid recommendations, we tested the most popular GDPR plugins on our real websites. When doing that, we paid special attention to the following criteria.
Ease of Use: For this showcase, we have included plugins that are beginner-friendly and do not require any coding language to be used on your website.
Different Use Cases: We have tried to include plugins that will help you add different GDPR-friendly features like a cookie consent banner, GDPR-compliant forms, cookie notification popups, social media feeds, push notifications, and more.
Reliability: We have only included the plugins that we tested ourselves on real websites. Plus, we went through documentation and reviews to ensure that these plugins were GDPR-compliant.
Why Trust WPBeginner?
WPBeginner has a team of experts with years of experience in WordPress, SEO, hosting, online marketing, and more. We thoroughly test and review each plugin mentioned in the list to give you the best recommendations.
For details, see our editorial process.
Having said that, here is our list of the best WordPress GDPR plugins to improve compliance.
1. MonsterInsights – GDPR-Friendly Google Analytics
MonsterInsights is the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. It lets you easily add Google Analytics tracking code to your site and displays powerful reports within your WordPress admin.
With MonsterInsights, it’s easy to anonymize or even disable personal data tracking. GDPR requires you to get explicit consent before you collect or process personal identifying information from EU residents, such as IP addresses.
To automatically anonymize data, simply use the MonsterInsights EU Compliance addon.
What if you want to track personalized data using Google Analytics? Then, you simply need to get consent from your users. This can also be easily done with MonsterInsights.
The MonsterInsights EU Compliance add-on integrates seamlessly with the Cookie Notice plugin. That plugin is included below at #3 on our list. This means MonsterInsights will not load the analytics script until the user gives explicit consent.
Plus, MonsterInsights is compatible with Google Analytics’ built-in cookie opt-out system as well, and it works seamlessly with Google Analytics’ Chrome browser opt-out extension.
Pricing: MonsterInsights costs $99.60 per year. This includes the EU Compliance addon.
You can read our complete MonsterInsights review for more details.
2. WPForms – GDPR-Friendly Contact Forms
WPForms is the best contact form plugin for WordPress with built-in GDPR compliance.
You can use WPForms to create all sorts of forms, including contact forms, registration forms, order forms, booking forms, surveys, and more.
To make your forms compliant, just go to the plugin’s Settings page and check the box next to the GDPR enhancements option.
Now, you can disable user tracking cookies and the IP address storage option. It will apply the GDPR Enhancement settings to all your forms, and you can also manage the settings in each form manually.
You can also enable extra GDPR options. These include disabling user tracking cookies and disabling storing details of the user’s browser and operating system.
Another option with WPForms is to turn on GDPR protection for individual forms instead of all your forms. To do this, you just need to check a box in the setting for each form.
WPForms also lets you add a special ‘GDPR Agreement’ checkbox field to your forms. You can add this to your form just like any other field.
Pricing: WPForms costs $49.50 per year. There’s also a free version of WPForms that’s GDPR-compliant.
3. Cookie Notice for GDPR & CCPA
Cookie Notice for GDPR & CCPA is a free WordPress cookie notification popup plugin that lets users give or refuse consent for you to use cookies. It helps you comply with GDPR and CCPA (the California Consumer Privacy Act).
You can customize the cookie notice for your users and include links to your privacy policy or legal pages. It’s quick and easy to get Cookie Notice up and running on your site.
For step-by-step instructions, just see our guide on how to add a cookies popup in WordPress.
The plugin is SEO-friendly and compatible with WPML if you have a multilingual website. It also integrates seamlessly with MonsterInsights and holds on to Google Analytics code until a user consents.
Pricing: Cookie Notice is completely free. There’s no premium version.
4. OptinMonster – GDPR-Friendly Popups and Lead Gen Forms
OptinMonster is a lead generation tool and one of the best popup creators for WordPress. It lets you create a wide range of email newsletter signup forms and optins that you can display in different ways on your site.
With OptinMonster, you can ensure that your email signup forms are GDPR-compliant. It’s easy to add a privacy policy field with a customizable checkbox. Users can then only submit the form once they’ve checked the box.
If your organization is audited for GDPR compliance, then OptinMonster also has a GDPR Audit Concierge team that can help you out. Plus, their friendly customer service team is always happy to answer questions about GDPR.
Even better, OptinMonster lets you target visitors based on their location. That way, you can ensure you’re showing GDPR-compliant optins to customers in EU countries.
Pricing: OptinMonster costs $5.97 per month (billed annually). For geolocation targeting, you need the Growth plan, which costs $39.97 per month.
5. CookieYes
CookieYes covers CCPA as well as GDPR. It lets you create an alert bar on your site with Accept and Reject options so that the user can decide whether to accept or reject cookies.
With this plugin, it’s straightforward to customize the cookie notice with your choice of colors, fonts, styles, positioning, and more. You can put the cookie notice bar at the top or the bottom of your website.
Note that you need to list the specific cookies that the plugin restricts. The plugin can’t automatically block all cookies, or it could break your website.
Pricing: The basic version of GDPR Cookie Consent is free. You can upgrade to the premium version for $100 per year.
6. Smash Balloon – GDPR Friendly Social Media Feeds
Smash Balloon offers a set of popular social media plugins that embed Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube feeds on your website.
All of these plugins come with a built-in GDPR compliance feature that you can easily enable. Once you do that, Smash Balloon plugins won’t load social media feed content directly from platforms like Facebook servers until a user gives consent.
Plus, social media feed images will be loaded from your own website’s storage in order to minimize reliance on external servers that can raise GDPR concerns.
Other than that, the plugins also integrate well with popular GDPR cookie consent plugins like Complianz or Cookiebot to manage user consent for social media feed loading.
Pricing: The GDPR compliance feature is available in the free plans for all the Smash Balloon plugins. However, you can also buy the all access bundle for $299.
7. Complianz
Complianz lets you easily create cookie notices for different regions (EU, UK, US, or Canada). You can use it to create a GDPR ‘cookie wall’ and other types of banners.
With Complianz, there’s a built-in option to scan your site for cookies. This lets you automatically add cookie descriptions to your site.
The plugin has a simple, user-friendly setup process. It takes you step by step through getting the plugin up and running on your site.
The premium version lets you view statistics, use A/B testing to improve your cookie accept ratio, generate legally approved documents, and more. It’s also compatible with WordPress multisite networks.
Pricing: Complianz premium costs $59 per year for a single website. There is also a limited free version.
8. PushEngage – GDPR Friendly Push Notifications
PushEngage is the best push notification software on the market that asks for explicit consent from users before sending notifications, making it GDPR-friendly.
It only collects essential data for sending notifications like device ID and push notification token and shows another explicit consent notice to EU users.
Other than that, the software makes it super easy to stop receiving alerts at any point by just clicking on the ‘unsubscribe’ button. It also allows users to choose if they want to receive auto respondant and trigger notifications or not.
Plus, PushEngage allows users to access and rectify their personal data according to their liking.
Pricing: It has a free plan while the pro plan cost starts at $19/month.
9. Real Cookie Banner
Real Cookie Banner is a free consent management WordPress plugin. It lets you add legal information to your cookie banner to get user consent and avoid legal problems.
It offers over 100 templates to add the cookie banner notice to your site quickly. Moreover, there are several customization options to change the color, text effects, and more. You can see the preview of the banner before saving your changes.
The plugin has a content blocker feature that works with most WordPress themes and plugins. It makes sure you have full control to display content after getting consent from your website visitors.
It provides you with the knowledge and a checklist to make a cookie banner that makes your site fully GDPR-compliant. Real Cookie Notice supports multiple languages, and you can add the cookie notice in your language.
Pricing: Real Cookie Notice is free. The Pro version costs €59 per year for a single website.
Bonus Entries
GDPR Cookie Compliance (Moove)
GDPR Cookie Compliance is a plugin that lets users enable or disable cookies on your site.
The cookie consent notice is fully customizable and editable, so you can use your own text, logo, colors, and fonts.
The premium version includes a ‘cookie wall’ that prevents users from seeing your site until they accept or reject cookies. You can also target users based on location and see stats about how many users accepted your cookies.
You need to add the scripts that use cookies into the plugin’s settings. Otherwise, it can’t block them.
Pricing: The basic version of GDPR Cookie Compliance is free. The premium version offers more features and costs £59 (GBP) per year for a single site.
Cookiebot
Cookiebot is a highly customizable WordPress GDPR plugin. It lets you display a consent banner on your website to manage user consent required by GDPR, ePR, CCPA, and global legislation.
It provides a cookie policy to display all relevant and updated information on your site. You can also display exclusive optins for users with a specific age.
The plugin runs regular website scans to delete third-party cookies. It holds the cookie and user tracking until the user consents to ensure compliance.
The plugin supports multiple languages for your consent banner and cookie declaration. Cookiebot gives you a secure storage facility to keep your cookie information that you can present as proof when needed.
Pricing: Cookiebot has a free version. The premium Small plan of the plugin costs €12 per month.
Which Is the Best GDPR Plugin for WordPress?
The plugins you need for GDPR depend entirely on your needs.
If you are not sure which to pick, then here are the absolute must-have plugins:
- Use MonsterInsights to add and control your Google Analytics tracking easily. It’s the best Google Analytics tool for WordPress, making it very straightforward for you to comply with GDPR policies about analytics data.
- Use WPForms to create GDPR-compliant contact forms, registration forms, booking forms, and more. Adding GDPR compliance to your forms is as simple as checking a box.
- Use OptinMonster to target the users in the EU region and show the GDPR-compliant popups.
- Use Cookie Notice for GDPR & CCPA to display a cookie notification on your site. It integrates with MonsterInsights and has many different options to customize how cookie consent works on your site.
We hope this article helped you learn about the best GDPR plugins for WordPress. You may also want to check out our other WordPress guides that can help improve your overall website.
Best WordPress Guides to Improve Your Website
- Must-Have WordPress Plugins for Business Websites
- The Ultimate WordPress Security Guide (Step by Step)
- The Ultimate Guide to Boost WordPress Speed & Performance
- How to Automatically Add a Disclaimer in WordPress (Easy Way)
- Ultimate WordPress SEO Guide for Beginners (Step by Step)
- How to Improve Accessibility on Your WordPress Site
- How to Know if Your WordPress Website Uses Cookies
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Olaf
The best solution, at least for me, is the so-called all-in-one approach. Since I’m not a lawyer, I rely purely on plugins. That’s why I’ve come to appreciate Complianz. It includes everything necessary, and in the paid version, it perfectly adapts the website to all the legal nuances that may arise in the EU (we primarily build websites in Germany, where GDPR applies and is strictly enforced). Plus, the cost of the plugin isn’t that high for the peace of mind that everything should be covered legally.
Joseph Maina
How do these GDPR plugins handle user consent for data processing, and are they regularly updated to align with evolving compliance regulations? Additionally, do these plugins offer support for customizations tailored to specific website requirements, such as multilingual support or integration with other third-party tools for comprehensive data management?
WPBeginner Support
Each plugin has it’s own method, you would want to check with the plugin’s support for their current method and if they would cover the specific needs you are looking for. The plugins are updated regularly.
Admin
Mrteesurez
Thanks for this post.
I don’t use to consider or check for GDPR in plugins, I just downloaded and installed but I believe using a GDPR compliant plugins is safer than ignoring it especially those having users in that location, European countries.
If one didn’t has users from any European countries, is it still relevant ?
WPBeginner Support
It is still a good thing to keep in mind as websites can be found globally so you may have European users in the future.
Admin
Julie
This really isn’t clear enough, the article is about the 9 best GDPR plugins, then at the end you state the minimum ones which indicates you need more than one, but just gloss over reasons why,
Can you make this more clear for true WP Beginners? This is not a WP expert post.
WPBeginner Support
The plugins we mention have different uses so it would depend on what you want to have on your site for which to use which is what the section at the end goes over. If you share what you had confusion about we will try our best to clarify
Admin
Jiří Vaněk
I have a question about using the GDPR compliantz plugin together with Google Analytics. When the user clicks on the website that prohibits the use of cookies, his visit to the website is counted with Google Analytics or not. My question is whether when users click on the prohibition of cookies, whether it affects the traffic statistics.
WPBeginner Support
It would depend on how your Google analytics is set up for if it blocks the tracking or if it allows anonymized tracking. You would want to reach out to the plugin’s support and they can help elaborate on what it is set to do.
Admin
Jiří Vaněk
Thank you for the advice. First, I’ll definitely check whether and how anonymous tracking is set up. It’s possible that this is affecting my statistics, but I really appreciate the guidance.
Moosa Lubega
what does impact my website if I don’t install the GDPR compliance plugin?
WPBeginner Support
We would recommend taking a look at our article below for a better understanding of GDPR and how it affects your site:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/the-ultimate-guide-to-wordpress-and-gdpr-compliance-everything-you-need-to-know/
Admin