The best free cookie banners in 2026 and the limits of each

The free cookie banner plans of 2026 differ less in features than in limits. Cookiequiet Free has no pageview limit and includes geo-targeting and a 30-day consent log for one website; CookieScript Free stops at 10,000 pageviews a month, Termly Free at 10,000 banner views, CookieYes Free at 5,000 pageviews, and Usercentrics and CookieHub Free at 1,000 sessions. The open-source scripts Silktide Consent Manager, Klaro and tarteaucitron.js have no limit at all, but you configure them in code and they keep no hosted consent log.

How do the free plans compare?

Read on each vendor's own pricing page on 21 October 2026 (CookieYes and Termly on 20 October 2026). "Not stated" means the page did not say.

What does "free" usually leave out?

Four things, in order of how often they matter.

Traffic. A 5,000 or 10,000 pageview cap is a small blog. A shop with 300 visitors a day passes 10,000 pageviews in the first two weeks of a month. What happens next varies: CookieHub's free banner stops showing until you upgrade, which leaves the site without consent collection; others bill or push an upgrade.

Geo-targeting. Without it, you either show an opt-in banner to everyone, including visitors in countries that do not require one, or to no one. Most vendors sell it on a mid-tier plan: CookieYes Pro at $25 a month, Termly Pro+ at $20, Usercentrics Plus at €15. Cookiequiet, Cookie Notice and Compliance, and Enzuzo (one region) include some on Free.

The consent log. Proof of consent is what you show an authority. A 7-day or 1-month log proves little; a 12-month log covers most complaints. See how long to keep consent records.

Branding. A small link in the banner is harmless for a personal site; some businesses mind it.

Which free banner suits which site?

• One business website on any platform, any traffic: Cookiequiet Free. No pageview cap, Reject all next to Accept all, blocking until consent, Google Consent Mode v2, geo-targeting and a 30-day log. It takes one script tag before your other scripts and no plugin or tag-manager configuration; the scan fills the cookie table and prefills the policies, which the How it works page puts at about five minutes from sign-up to a live banner.
• A WordPress site, staying inside WordPress: the free Complianz plugin (over 1 million active installations) or the free Real Cookie Banner. Both have no traffic cap; geolocation and some features are paid.
• A developer who wants no vendor at all: Silktide Consent Manager, Klaro or tarteaucitron.js. Free, unlimited, but you declare each service and handle proof of consent yourself.
• A small site that needs the IAB TCF for ads: no free plan above includes the TCF; Cookiebot's TCF starts on Premium, CookieYes on Pro.

Is a free cookie banner compliant?

A free plan can be compliant if the banner blocks non-essential cookies until consent, shows Reject all as prominently as Accept all, lets visitors withdraw, and records the choice. Several free plans fail one of these: Cookiebot Free has manual blocking only, which works if you mark every script; a 7-day log is thin proof. The longer answer, with the cases where free is not enough, is in is a free cookie banner enough. Before choosing, run the free cookie scanner on your site to see what loads before consent.

When does it make sense to pay?

When you have more than one site, need a log longer than a month, want to remove branding, or need policies in several languages. Cookiequiet Starter is €3 per website per month or €29 a year with the same unlimited pageviews, no branding, a 1-year log and policies in every language; Pro, at €9 a month or €99 a year, keeps the log 5 years and adds the AI design agent. The pricing page lists the rest.