5 Best GDPR Plugins for WordPress
As one of the biggest and most significant efforts to regulate the digital sphere to date, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation gave its member countries’ citizens expanded rights over how their data is gathered, stored, and used. Consent, which under new regulations had to be informed and affirmative, became one of the most important tools for data subjects to exercise control over their data.
Consent also became one of the easiest areas where website owners could implement the change. WordPress contributed by adding a comments checkbox which allows users to consent to their data being stored when leaving comments on WordPress websites. Plugins helped a lot, too, even though most did little more than adding consent for cookies.
Some did more. In this article, we’ll show you a mix that includes:
Qode Themes: Top Picks
View Collection
Let’s start with something fundamental – a plugin that gives your website visitors the option to accept or reject cookies. It’s called GDPR Cookie Consent (CCPA Ready), and as its name says, it could double as a cookie consent plugin for CCPA, the California Consumer Privacy Act.
With this plugin, you can add a cookie banner either in the footer or the header and customize it so that it doesn’t stand out from the rest of your website. You can set the banner to disappear after a while, but also to be accessible again with a “show again” tab.
The paid version of the plugin adds interesting options such as location-based exclusions, so you can only target EU citizens. You’ll also get more flexibility with how the consent bar appears, and you can add it as a widget or a pop-up.
Need a cookie consent plugin that can cover more acronyms than you could remember in your lifetime? Then Complianz – GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent is the right plugin for you. Not only will it help with GDPR and CCPA compliance, but it’s also ready for AVG, DSGVO, CNIL, PERC, COPPA, PIPEDA, and CASL.
Still, it wouldn’t be fair to say that all the plugin does is trying to impress you with the number of acronyms it can help you with. Besides its major role in giving users the options to consent or reject cookies, this plugin can help with things like blocking third-party cookies, and even automatic anonymization of IP addresses for Google Analytics.
If you opt for the paid version, you can enjoy A/B testing, IP location-based cookie consent, and simultaneous setting of multiple regions as targets.
Another plugin that helps your website comply with GDPR cookie guidance, Cookie Notice for GDPR and CCPA will allow you to customize the message that appears in front of your website’s visitors, and also do a couple more interesting things.
This plugin can, for example, redirect the visitors to a dedicated page where they can get all the information you want them to have about your cookies. You can set the expiration date for the cookies, choose the position of the cookie message box, and have it play an animation after the user accepts a cookie.
This plugin doesn’t come with a paid version. It’s completely free and open source.
Moving on to more advanced plugins, The GDPR Framework by Data443 packs a bit more of a punch than the rest. It doesn’t advertise as a plugin that will help you achieve 100% compliance, but it’s still of great help to anyone struggling to navigate the landscape.
The plugin handles consent by letting you give users a timeframe in which they can decide. However, its major selling point is the way it handles DSARs or Data Subject Access Requests. With the plugin, even people who are not members of your website can view and export the data you have on them, as well as request its deletion.
The plugin has a whole system for tracking, managing, and withdrawing consent, and it can help you create a GDPR- compliant privacy policy. Finally, it comes with reporting options that are related to DSARs.
We’ll close on a plugin that carries the same name as the legal framework. GDPR, as its creators say, is there to help data controller, data processor, and data protection officers in meeting their obligations to have silly titles.
The plugin’s offering begins with a regular consent management option. It develops further by offering tools to erase and delete the data gathered on the user. It also supports data portability for those who have the appropriate rights under the GDPR. And in case there’s a data breach, the plugin has batch email notifications.
Let’s Wrap It Up!
Meeting the requirements of the GDPR can be tough. Some big publishers decided that it isn’t worth the effort, closing their doors indefinitely for European visitors. But for the most part, the internet adapted to the new change, which is why we have plugins to help us with GDPR compliance today.
Keep in mind, however, that no plugin will get you to 100% compliance. GDPR is a complicated set of regulations, and adhering to it involves more than just getting consent for data gathering. Thanks to these plugins, however, you can at least check consent on your GDPR compliance checklist.
