CMP
A consent management platform (CMP) is the software that shows the cookie banner, blocks trackers until the visitor chooses, records the choice and passes it to tags, advertising frameworks and Google Consent Mode.A CMP does five jobs: it informs visitors about the cookies and purposes in use, collects their choice through a banner and a preferences center, prevents non-essential scripts and embeds from running before that choice, stores the decision and the proof of it, and communicates the decision to other systems, through a data layer event, Google Consent Mode signals, the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework API or Global Privacy Control handling.
The term is also used in a narrower, technical sense. Under the IAB TCF, a CMP is a registered provider that generates the TC String for advertising vendors, and since January 2024 Google requires publishers who serve AdSense, Ad Manager or AdMob ads to visitors in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland to use a CMP certified by Google and integrated with the TCF. Cookiequiet is not a Google-certified consent management platform for the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework, so sites that show those Google ads to European visitors need a certified CMP for the ads; everything else (Google Analytics 4, Google Ads conversion tracking, Meta Pixel, embedded videos, chat widgets) works with its Consent Mode v2 integration.
Choosing a CMP comes down to the blocking (does it really hold the tags), the record (what proof is kept and for how long), the signals it emits, the design controls (an equal Reject all), the languages, and the pricing model, which for many vendors is per pageview. See the comparison with Cookiebot.