Icegram Cookie Manager – GDPR Cookie Consent Plugin (Fast, Free & Easy) vs SureCookie – Smarter Cookie Consent solution

Icegram Cookie Manager is a lightweight WordPress cookie consent plugin that helps you add a GDPR, CCPA, and ePrivacy cookie banner in minutes, without slowing down your site. Install it, customize your message, and hit save. Done. Your visitors are informed. Your site stays compliant. You get back to what matters. No SaaS. No monthly fees. No complicated setup. Just a simple, effective cookie notice that works. Built for sites that want compliance handled without slowing down performance. Part of the Icegram family – trusted by 100,000+ WordPress users worldwide. Same team. Same quality. Same commitment to building tools that actually do what they promise. Cookie compliance shouldn’t give you a headache. ⚡ Why Choose Icegram Cookie Manager? Lightweight and fast. Minimal JavaScript. No external requests. No impact on performance or Core Web Vitals. It’s genuinely easy to set up. No developer needed. No confusing menus. You can go from Install → Activate → Live banner in under 5 minutes. It actually looks good. Pick your colors, write your message in your own voice and match your brand. The banner blends naturally into your site; it doesn’t scream “legal obligation slapped on at the last minute.” Visitors get real control. Since v1.0.2, visitors can review and set their own cookie preferences before giving consent — giving them transparency and giving you stronger compliance coverage. Compliance-ready: Supports GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, and ePrivacy requirements. Completely free: No premium version, no feature restrictions, no subscriptions. Fully compatible with modern WordPress versions. Icegram Cookie Manager handles the core requirements most WordPress sites have: Display a compliant cookie consent banner Allow users to accept or manage cookies Keep the banner visible until action Link to your privacy policy Work with analytics, ads, and embedded content No extra setup. No additional tools required. Features Banner customization Custom cookie message Editable button text Top or bottom placement Custom colors (background, text, button) Mobile responsive Consent management Cookie preference controls Privacy policy linking Persistent banner until user action Performance Lightweight code No external API calls No SaaS dependency Compatibility WordPress 5.0+ Tested up to 6.8.5 PHP 7.0+ Do you need a cookie consent plugin? Certainly, yes. If your site uses any of the following, you’re using cookies and your visitors have a legal right to know: Google Analytics, GA4, or any analytics tool Facebook Pixel or advertising/retargeting scripts Embedded YouTube or Vimeo videos WooCommerce or any cart/checkout functionality Any third-party widget, chat tool, or social sharing button Compliance support Icegram Cookie Manager helps you meet notice and transparency requirements under: GDPR (EU & UK) CCPA / CPRA (California, US) ePrivacy Directive (EU cookie law) PECR (UK) ℹ️Note: This plugin helps display cookie notices and collect consent. It does not provide legal advice. Who is this plugin for? Bloggers Small business owners WooCommerce store owners Developers and agencies Any website using cookies Built by the team behind Icegram plugins used on 100,000+ WordPress sites. Icegram Cookie Manager is built by the same team behind: Icegram Express: Email marketing, newsletters & automation. Icegram Engage: Popups, CTAs & lead generation. Icegram Collect: Forms & lead capture. Icegram Mailer: Reliable email delivery for WordPress We’ve been building WordPress tools for 10+ years. We know what site owners actually need and what they don’t.

Most cookie plugins either: Just show a banner Or make setup feel like preparing for a law exam SureCookie exists because there should be something better. Something accurate. Something simple. Something modern. Something built properly for WordPress. SureCookie automatically detects the cookies running on your website, categorizes them intelligently, blocks non-essential scripts before consent, and stores consent logs directly inside your WordPress database. No traffic limits. No SaaS visitor caps. No complicated configuration maze. Just clean, real enforcement. Try the live demo of SureCookie. How SureCookie Actually Works There are 4 things that matter when it comes to consent: Detection has to be accurate: If you do not know what cookies are actually running on your site, everything else falls apart. SureCookie scans with a real browser, not guesswork. Enforcement has to be technical: A banner asking for permission means nothing if scripts are already firing. SureCookie blocks non-essential scripts at the code level before consent is given. Data has to stay under your control: Consent logs belong on your server. Not locked inside a third-party SaaS dashboard you cannot fully control. Setup has to be simple: Compliance should not require a weekend of configuration. SureCookie gets you from install to enforcement in minutes. Everything in SureCookie revolves around that. Real Browser Cookie Detection This is important. Most tools try to guess cookies by scanning HTML. That is not accurate. SureCookie uses a Playwright-powered scanning engine at https://library.surecookie.com/. When you run a scan, it loads your website in a real browser environment. Not static source code. An actual browser session. That means it detects: Cookies injected dynamically Scripts loaded after interaction Conditional third-party trackers Tag manager injected scripts Things that only appear after page load It visits your website like a real user would. That is the difference. Once detected, cookies are categorized intelligently and automatically. Smart Categorization After detection, SureCookie categorizes cookies into: Essential Functional Analytics Marketing Most cookies are categorized automatically using a continuously improving detection database. Everything is editable. The goal is simple: Nobody should have to manually research every random cookie string just to get compliant. Script Blocking Before Consent This part is critical. Showing a banner is not compliance. Before consent: Analytics does not run Marketing pixels do not fire Tag managers do not execute Embedded videos do not load tracking Social widgets are paused Consent is enforced at execution level. Not just visually. Consent Logs Stored Locally All consent logs are stored inside your WordPress database in a dedicated custom table. View logs from the admin dashboard Export for compliance documentation Delete anytime Control retention periods Compliance data stays on your server. Not in an external SaaS dashboard. Performance by Design SureCookie is lightweight from the ground up. No jQuery dependency Minimal frontend footprint Dedicated database table for logs No heavy background processing Blocking non-essential scripts before consent also reduces unnecessary third-party requests, which improves page load performance as a side effect. Designed in 2026, Not 2019 Many WordPress plugins are outdated. Too many toggles. Too much legal jargon. Too much friction. SureCookie is designed to feel modern. The onboarding is structured: Scan your site Review detected cookies Confirm categories Activate enforcement That is it. Setup should feel good, not overwhelming. No Visitor-Based Limits Whether a site has 1,000 visitors or 1,000,000 visitors, SureCookie works the same way. No caps. No surprises. No usage-based pricing tiers. Built for the WordPress Ecosystem SureCookie works with: SureCart WooCommerce Easy Digital Downloads Page builders Analytics tools Marketing integrations Multisite setups Consent logic applies across your site. Who This Is For Site owners who want real enforcement, not just a banner eCommerce stores handling customer data Agencies managing multiple client sites Developers who care about clean implementation Businesses operating in regulated regions If the goal is just the simplest possible banner without caring about detection accuracy, SureCookie is probably not the right fit. If the goal is modern, accurate, performance-conscious consent management, it is. Important Note SureCookie provides the technical infrastructure for consent management. Legal compliance depends on your policies and jurisdiction. Always consult a qualified legal professional when needed. External Services Cookie Scanning: SureCookie connects to https://library.surecookie.com/ to provide real browser-based cookie scanning and smart categorization. When you run a cookie scan, SureCookie sends the URLs of your selected pages to the scanner. A real Playwright-powered browser visits those pages, just like an actual user would, and detects every cookie, tracking script, and third-party service running on your site. Detected cookies are then automatically categorized using a continuously improving detection database. Scanner Registration & Authentication: Before your first scan, SureCookie performs a one-time registration handshake with library.surecookie.com/api/register. The request includes your site URL, the WordPress administrator email, and the SureCookie plugin version so the SaaS can associate scan results with your site. The SaaS issues a per-site credential which is stored locally in your WordPress database (the surecookie_site_credentials option) and used to sign every subsequent scan request with HMAC-SHA256. To prove that the registration is initiated by an admin who actually controls the domain, the SaaS makes a single follow-up GET request to https://yoursite.example/wp-json/surecookie/v1/site-verify/{token} and confirms the token matches before issuing the credential. No user content or personal data is sent during this handshake — only the site URL, the administrator email, and the plugin version. Credentials are automatically invalidated and re-issued if the site moves to a new domain. Consent IP Logs: For region-aware consent, visitor IP addresses are processed through MaxMind integration to determine country-level location, so the correct Country gets into the consent log. PDF Export (PDFObject): SureCookie allows administrators to download consent logs as PDF files. This feature uses the PDFObject library, loaded from the cdnjs Cloudflare CDN: https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/pdfobject/2.1.1/pdfobject.min.js. PDFObject is used solely to render the consent log data as a PDF in the browser. No user data is sent to the CDN — the library file itself is fetched and executed locally in the browser. PDFObject is MIT-licensed and GPL-compatible. Data Stored Locally All consent data is stored inside your WordPress database: User consent choices (categories accepted or rejected) Timestamps of consent actions Masked IP address, country and user session ID Cookie scan results Plugin configuration settings Privacy Policy SureCookie processes data through its API service at library.surecookie.com to empower cookie scanning and region-aware consent. Here is exactly what happens and why. What we send to surecookie.com: When your site is connected to the billing portal, the plugin sends only: An opaque account identifier (UUID) — never your email address. The site URL, plugin version, and the URLs you’re scanning. For Pro users: an HMAC signature derived from your license key (the license key itself never crosses the wire after activation). Your admin email is never transmitted on scan requests, scan polling, or any other recurring call after authentication completes. What Is Processed and Why: Cookie Scanning: When you run a scan, page URLs are sent to the scanning service where a real browser detects cookies and scripts. Detected cookie information (names, domains, durations) is used to categorize cookies and improve detection accuracy across all SureCookie installations. Region Detection: Visitor IP addresses are processed through MaxMind to determine country-level location for applying the correct Country into logs. IP addresses are masked before being stored in your database. Consent Records: Consent choices, timestamps, and user session ID details are logged locally in your WordPress database for compliance documentation. Where Data Lives: All consent logs, scan results, and settings are stored in your WordPress database Data sent to library.surecookie.com for scanning and geolocation may be temporarily stored for processing Nothing is sold, shared with third parties, or used for advertising Since visitor data is processed through SureCookie’s services, this should be mentioned in your site’s privacy policy. Full details: https://surecookie.com/privacy-policy/ Data Retention and Control: Consent logs and scan results can be viewed, exported, or deleted anytime from your WordPress admin Retention periods are configurable in plugin settings Security: All data transmission uses HTTPS encryption API communications are secured with authentication tokens For questions about data processing, visit https://surecookie.com/support/ About Brainstorm Force SureCookie is built by Brainstorm Force, the team behind Astra and other widely used WordPress products. Support Support Forum Documentation