Cookie and privacy solutions can be quite taxing when it comes to performance. Many of them aren’t coded with speed or Core Web Vitals in mind, and are extremely heavy due to their large JS and CSS files. However, the are definitely better ones out there. Today, we’ll share some of the cookie and privacy plugins that we personally like working with, and the base size of the CSS and JS (both file and inline) that they add to the front-end of your WordPress site.
Depending on what feature you enable in the plugin, it might be slightly larger. But the base of a plugin is usually a good indicator if the developer cares about quality and lightweight code.
Note: We aren’t lawyers, so in terms of laws and regulations and which settings to use, this is an area we can’t provide advice.
WPConsent
WPConsent is one of the newer cookie and privacy WordPress plugins on the market. But it is developed by the team at Awesome Motive, who have a vast amount of knowledge when it comes to building and maintaining plugins over the past decade plus. You might be familiar with some of their other products like WPCode, WPForms, WP Mail SMTP, etc.
Size and features
- Base front-end JS size: 4.6 KB
- Base front-end CSS size: 3 KB
- No jQuery dependency
- Free and pro versions
- Support for script blocking
- Support for Google Consent Mode
Lightweight Cookie Notice
The Lightwight Cookie Notice plugin was built in the EU from the ground up with performance in mind. As their tagline says, stay compliant with all the regulations without impacting your loading speed and user experience.
Size and features
- Base front-end JS size: 11.2 KB
- Base front-end CSS size: 1 KB
- No jQuery dependency
- Free and pro versions
- Support for script blocking
- Support for Google Consent Mode
Complianz
Complianz is probably the oldest of the cookie solutions out there. It’s from the developer of Really Simple Security, which many have probably used at some point in their WordPress journey. If you need more customization and options, Complianz probably has the most.
Size and features
- Base front-end JS size: 11 KB
- Base front-end CSS size: 4 KB
- No jQuery dependency
- Free and pro versions
- Support for script blocking
- Support for Google Consent Mode
If you have another lightweight cookie or privacy solution that you prefer, let us know. We’re always looking for better alternatives.
