MaxtDesign Cookie Consent – Google Consent Mode v2 vs Pressidium Cookie Consent

The MaxtDesign Cookie Consent Manager That Actually Works Most WordPress consent plugins either don’t actually control tracking (they just show a form) or they’re so bloated they slow down your site significantly. MaxtDesign Cookie Consent is different: proper Google Consent Mode v2 implementation in under 10KB. Why This Plugin? For Site Owners: You need CCPA/GDPR compliance but don’t want to sacrifice site performance or deal with complex configuration. For Developers: You want clean, efficient code that follows WordPress standards and doesn’t conflict with other plugins. For Agencies: You manage multiple client sites and need a reliable, lightweight solution that just works. Key Features ✓ Actually Controls Tracking Unlike “checkbox theater” plugins that only show forms, this plugin properly implements Google Consent Mode v2, ensuring GA4 and Google Ads respect user choices. ✓ Blazing Fast (<10KB) Zero performance overhead. No database queries during page load. Pure localStorage-based consent management. ✓ Three Style Presets Choose from Minimal, Modern, or Bold popup styles. Customize colors to match your brand. ✓ Works Everywhere Compatible with any theme. Works with Elementor (optional). Mobile responsive. Accessibility compliant (WCAG 2.1 AA). ✓ Developer-Friendly Clean code following WordPress standards. Two shortcodes for easy integration. No jQuery dependency. Vanilla JavaScript. ✓ WP Consent API Ready Acts as a provider for the WordPress Consent API standard. With the free WP Consent API plugin active, your visitors’ choices are respected site-wide by WooCommerce and other consent-aware plugins automatically. ✓ Privacy-First No server-side user tracking. No external API calls. User consent stored locally. GDPR/CCPA compliant by design. What is Google Consent Mode v2? Google Consent Mode v2 (GCM v2) became mandatory in March 2024 for GA4 and Google Ads in the EU. It’s Google’s framework for managing user consent signals across their advertising and analytics products. This plugin implements all four required consent types: analytics_storage – Google Analytics cookies ad_storage – Advertising cookies ad_user_data – User data for advertising ad_personalization – Personalized advertising Without proper GCM v2 implementation, your GA4 and Google Ads tracking may be unreliable or non-compliant. How It Works Visitor arrives → Consent popup appears (customizable position, style, timing) User chooses → Three options: Accept All, Analytics Only, or Decline All Consent stored → User choice saved in localStorage (privacy-friendly, no server tracking) GCM signals updated → Google Analytics and Ads respect the user’s choice immediately No repeat popup → Cookie remembers they’ve seen popup (configurable duration) Popup Customization Style Presets: * Minimal – Clean and subtle * Modern – Rounded and polished * Bold – Strong and prominent Position Options: * Top banner * Bottom banner * Center modal Animation Options: * Slide in * Fade in * No animation Color Customization: Primary color picker to match your brand Shortcodes Display Current Status: [mdcc_consent_status] Shows consent chips: “Analytics: On/Off” and “Ads: On/Off” Manage Consent Interface: [mdcc_manage_consent title="Your Privacy Choices"] Full consent management with Accept/Analytics/Decline buttons and current status display. Both shortcodes update in real-time when consent changes. Optional Elementor Integration Prefer to use a custom Elementor popup? Simply enter your Elementor Popup ID in settings, and the plugin will use your custom popup instead while maintaining proper GCM v2 functionality. Technical Specifications Size: <10KB total (CSS + JS combined, gzipped) Performance: Zero database queries during page load Storage: localStorage-based (no server-side user tracking) Dependencies: None (vanilla JavaScript, no jQuery) Compatibility: WordPress 5.8+, PHP 7.4+ Standards: WCAG 2.1 AA accessible, mobile responsive Perfect For WordPress sites using GA4 or Google Ads CCPA/GDPR compliance requirements Performance-conscious developers Agency client sites needing scalable consent management Anyone tired of bloated consent plugins What This Plugin Doesn’t Do Not a cookie scanner – Doesn’t automatically detect all cookies on your site Not a full compliance suite – Focuses on consent management for Google tracking Not multi-platform tracking – Free version handles GA4/Ads only (Pro version coming with Facebook, Hotjar, etc.) For comprehensive cookie auditing and multi-platform tracking control, consider our Pro version (launching 2025). Coming in Pro Version Facebook Pixel control Hotjar tracking control LinkedIn Insight Tag TikTok Pixel Custom script control Consent analytics dashboard Geolocation-based prompts White-label mode for agencies Privacy Policy MaxtDesign Cookie Consent does not collect, store, or transmit any user data. All consent preferences are stored locally in the user’s browser using localStorage. No information is sent to external servers. However, this plugin manages consent for third-party services (Google Analytics, Google Ads). Those services have their own privacy policies: Google Analytics Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy Google Ads Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads It is your responsibility to include appropriate disclosures in your site’s privacy policy about the tracking services you use. Support For support, please use the WordPress.org support forum. Credits Developed by MaxtDesign – https://maxtdesign.com Special thanks to the WordPress community for feedback and testing.

Pressidium Cookie Consent makes it easy to add a stylish, customizable cookie consent banner to your website and conditionally load third-party scripts (analytics, performance, targeting, etc.) based on the user-selected preferences to help you comply with EU GDPR cookie law, CCPA, and similar regulations. ⚙️ Fully customizable Easily modify the cookie consent banner and settings modal text. Pick one of the built-in color presets to match your website’s aesthetic, or adjust the color of individual components via our convenient color picker. Choose from a variety of layouts, positions, and transitions directly from the WordPress dashboard. 🪶 Lightweight The plugin is built on top of the Cookie Consent JS library by Orest Bida, a standalone vanilla JavaScript library with no third-party dependencies, that loads blazingly fast and won’t slow down your website. ♿ Accessible An a11y friendly plugin — fully accessible and WAI-ARIA compliant. 🌐 Translatable Modify any text in the cookie consent banner and settings modal, and provide translations. Choose the language auto-detection strategy you prefer — either read the user’s browser language or read the markup of the current page to identify its primary language. 📱 Responsive Fully responsive and mobile-friendly cookie consent banner and settings modal. 🙅 Block scripts Control which scripts are loaded based on the user’s preferences. List the URLs of the scripts you’d like to block (both exact matches and regular expressions are supported) and prevent them from running until the user has given consent. 🧹 Auto-clear cookies Automatically delete cookies when a user opts-out of a specific category inside cookie settings. ✋ Force consent Block the user from interacting with the page until they consent to your cookie policy. 🔁 Re-consent Ask users to consent again when you update your cookie policy. 📝 Consent records Record user consents to be able to provide proof of consent for auditing purposes. 🎛️ Floating settings button Add a floating settings button to your website that allows users to change their cookie preferences at any time. 🤖 Hide from bots Automatically parse the user agent to detect bots, crawlers, and webdrivers. If one is detected, you have the option to hide the cookie consent banner from them. 🧩 Google Consent Mode (GCM) integration Integrate with Google Consent Mode (GCM) to adjust how Google tags behave based on the user’s consent preferences. Supports both Google tag (gtag.js) and Google Tag Manager (GTM) implementations. 🚪 Google tag gateway integration One-click PHP proxy to quickly route traffic to Google tag gateway for advertisers. ✨ AI integration Integrate with AI to generate translations and cookie descriptions. Supports both GPT and Gemini. 🧱 Block for the WordPress Block Editor Add the Pressidium Cookies Table block for the Block Editor to display a dynamic table listing all cookies under the selected category, making it easy for users to understand what cookies are being used on the site. ⌨️ Control it programmatically Programmatically control the plugin. Conditionally show/hide the cookie consent banner and/or the settings modal, accept one (or more) cookie categories, erase cookies, load previously blocked scripts, etc. About Pressidium This is a free and open source WordPress plugin developed by Pressidium®. Pressidium offers Managed WordPress hosting for web professionals designed to optimize the performance, security, and scalability of WordPress websites. With a strong emphasis on reliability, Pressidium utilizes high-available architecture to ensure your website’s uptime.