The need for data consents started with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, which has set the gold standard for data privacy regulations. It has also served as an inspiration for legislation in other countries.
For example, the scope and applicability of Brazil’s General Law for the Protection of Personal Data is similar to the GDPR. The California Consumer Privacy Act is one of the most stringent data protection privacy laws in the US and also borrows heavily from the GDPR.
Differences aside, most data privacy regulations share one goal – give individuals more control over their personal data. At the same time, with the rising popularity of web & mobile analytics, organizations have to take compliance seriously.
With a consent management platform (CMP), consent collection is easier and more transparent. That’s why companies implement CMPs.
“People are actively demanding privacy protection — and legislators are reacting. If your organization operates globally, focus on standardizing operations in accordance with the GDPR, and then adjust as required for local requirements.”
Bart Willemsen, Vice President and Analyst at Gartner
What is a consent management platform?
A consent management platform is a piece of software that enables a website or app to comply with GDPR, CCPA and other data privacy regulations. CMPs allow websites to inform visitors about the types of data they want to collect and ask users for consent for specific processing purposes.
Consent management platforms let you:
- Collect and handle user consent
- Display consent banners and pop-ups to users
- Prevent tags from running before you obtain legal consent
- Manage data subject requests
- Fire tags used in ad networks based on a user’s consent decision
Get more details on consent collection and data flow in the analytics ecosystem:
Types of consent management platforms
There are two types of consent management platforms available on the market today.
Standalone consent management platforms focus on one task and offer a variety of consent-related features. The team responsible for its maintenance has to take care of synchronizing it with other tools, such as marketing automation platforms, analytics systems, customer data platforms, BI tools, etc.
Integrated consent management platforms are chosen by organizations that want to manage everything in one place. With one stack, where data collection and consent processing happen, your team will save time and effort.
Free comparison of 9 leading consent management platforms
Compare over 30 differences between Piwik PRO, TrustArc, OneTrust, Cookiebot, consentmanager.net, Tealium, Quantcast, Crownpeak and Uniconset
When you should use a consent manager
Getting visitors’ consent is required to collect data. A CMP helps effectively manage your stack’s compliance. To find out whether you should use one or not for your website, app or product, check if it performs any of these actions:
- applying personal data for purposes such as remarketing, content personalization, behavioral advertising, analytics, email marketing
- automation of decision making e.g., profiling
- transfer of data overseas: mostly applicable to organizations processing EU residents’ data outside of the EU
If any of these points apply to your business, getting a CMP will probably help, though the laws differ from country to country.
Read more:
What’s covered in our CMP comparison
We’re aware that getting the right software for your business is a complex task. We’ve done in-depth research on leading consent management platforms to help you find the best fit for your business.
From that detailed research we present you with key features of, and differences between, 9 consent management platforms.
We covered TrustArc, OneTrust, Cookiebot, consentmanager.net, Tealium, Quantcast, Crownpeak, UniConsent and Piwik PRO.
Here’s what you’ll learn from this comparison.
General overview:
- Hosting options
- ISO 27001 certified organization
- GDPR and CCPA compliance
- Data ownership
- Overall performance and the latency
Features and functionalities
- Cookie banner & policy
- Reporting & dashboards
- Re-consent options
- Export report
- Real-time geotargeting
- Language auto-detection
- Cookie whitelisting
- Zero-cookie load
Banner customization options
- Set consent for specific purposes
- Visual customization
- Pop-up & banner layout
- Customize consent text
- A/B testing
Data subject requests
- Handle data subject requests
- Verify data subject identity
- Store the history of consent
- Data subject request widgets
Customer care
- Email support
- Dedicated customer success
- Personalized implementation & onboarding
- Custom integration & development
Comparison of the 9 leading consent management platforms
Compare the 38 key differences to determine which CMP fits your business needs: Piwik PRO, TrustArc, OneTrust, Cookiebot, consentmanager.net, Tealium, Quantcast, Crownpeak and UniConsent.
