Axeptio vs Cookiebot: What's the Better Choice?

Axeptio and Cookiebot are two consent management platforms. They are both designed to enable websites to gather consent to cookies and then implement all of the administrative tasks associated with implementing the stated preferences of each website visitor.

The services of these two platforms are closely tied to rules such as GDPR, CCPA, and Quebec’s Law 25. This comparison will assist those online businesses that are in the final stages of choosing a compliant consent management platform and have narrowed down the decision to these two systems. 

What are Axeptio and Cookiebot?

Axeptio and Cookiebot are privacy compliance tools designed to help organizations manage user consent for cookies and track data privacy preferences.

Axeptio enables businesses to collect and manage user consent for cookies and personal data processing. It provides customizable cookie banners, privacy policies, and tracking features to ensure compliance with regulations like GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive. Axeptio is implemented as a cloud platform that manages consent in a transparent and automated way, ensuring that subscribers remain compliant with data privacy laws.

Cookiebot is another CMP, and it has been in operation since 2012. It's a well-known cookie consent platform, and it automates the collection of consent from website visitors. The tool scans websites to detect cookies, generates clear consent banners, and provides reports to ensure compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy laws. 

Both tools are designed to streamline cookie consent processes, enhance user trust, and maintain compliance with evolving data protection regulations.

Axeptio Pros and Cons

Axeptio divides its plans into those to protect brands and those to manage cookie preferences. We will examine the latter when looking at the CMP for this comparison.

1. Axeptio Cookie Banner

Axeptio provides interactive cookie banners with engaging designs, helping businesses collect and manage user consent transparently. The platform includes tools for A/B testing, multilingual support, and cross-device consent management.

The cookie banner offered by Axeptio is highly customizable, allowing businesses to tailor the design and functionality to match their brand while maintaining compliance. The platform focuses on optimizing opt-in rates through light-hearted engagement. It avoids dark patterns and aims for realistic consent rates to ensure genuine user approval.

This platform integrates with analytics tools and offers APIs for data tracking and reporting. It also includes a vendor scanner tool, Shake, to detect and categorize website trackers, ensuring complete compliance. Its cross-platform capabilities extend to mobile apps, making it a versatile solution for various digital environments.

2. Contractual Consent Management

Axeptio’s Contractual Consent Module enhances the customer experience by presenting Terms & Conditions (T&Cs) in an engaging, user-friendly format. It uses a cheerful, aesthetically pleasing design with elements like interactive tables of contents and instructive illustrations, making legal documents clearer and more accessible to users. 

The module incorporates version management, allowing businesses to efficiently update and manage contract changes. It notifies users of any significant updates while ensuring minor adjustments don't disrupt the user experience. 

Businesses can require users to download PDFs of T&Cs before accepting them, ensuring full understanding and compliance. Axeptio’s approach to contractual consent aims to streamline legal processes, improve user experience, and enhance trust.

3. Subscriptions Management

The Axeptio Consent Widget is a customizable tool designed to help businesses collect and manage user consent for personal data processing. It ensures compliance with GDPR by offering clear, user-friendly, and legally sound consent options. The widget allows users to decide on the types of data processing they accept, including marketing preferences and the frequency of communications.

Axeptio provides features like "YES, NO, and YES, BUT." It enhances user engagement and ensures businesses can tailor consent requests to individual preferences, ultimately improving the user experience.

The widget also supports auditing by storing timestamped consent records and pseudonymous identifiers, ensuring compliance with GDPR's requirements. This audit trail proves crucial for businesses, as they can track and retrieve consent details when needed. 

Pros of Axeptio

• Axeptio’s graphics are approachable and disarming
• Customizable consent banners that can be tailored to match the brand
• Compliance with GDPR, ePrivacy, and CCPA regulations

Cons of Axeptio

• The free tier does not store user preferences, leading to repeated consent requests
• Some users may find the variety of privacy settings overwhelming
• Setup may require additional time and effort to fully utilize all functionalities

Overall Thoughts on Axeptio

Axeptio provides a fun and quirky presentation that performs all of the necessary interactions with users to get consent for cookies. However, all is not rosy at the business and, despite being in operation long enough for the interface to be a little dated, the system’s administration can be a little chaotic. 

One subscriber reports on G2 Reviews that his company’s subscription rate was changed without any warning:

Axeptio is forging a niche in the cookie consent market and overall, its customers are pleased with the service. Four plan levels mean that the platform is able to cater to a wide audience. The free tier is particularly appealing for low-volume websites.

Cookiebot Pros and Cons

Cookiebot is one of the major players in the cookie consent market and it partners with another brand called Usercentrics. The two companies merged in 2021 but both still maintain brand independence

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1. Google Consent Mode Compliance

Cookiebot is an official Google Consent Mode vendor, enabling websites to adjust the behavior of Google services, such as Google Analytics and Google Ads, based on users' consent choices. 

Google Consent Mode, when used with Cookiebot, helps websites make sure they’re not sending tracking data to Google services if users have not given explicit consent. For example, if a user denies consent for analytics cookies, Consent Mode modifies how Google Analytics interacts with the site, ensuring that no personal data is sent until consent is given.

Cookiebot’s integration with Google Consent Mode provides businesses with detailed reports and data on consent status across different users and regions. It supports multi-language features, making it ideal for international websites. 

2. Privacy Policy Generator

The Cookiebot Privacy Policy Generator helps businesses quickly create GDPR-compliant privacy policies without requiring legal expertise. It operates a three-step process that generates a personalized privacy policy, ensuring the inclusion of the necessary legal language and clauses tailored to each website's data collection practices.

The generator lets businesses create a privacy policy that aligns with specific data collection methods, improving clarity and legal compliance. The tool allows for quick customization, making it easy to incorporate essential details like data collection purposes, user rights, and third-party data access.

The generated privacy policy is ready for immediate use, and businesses can place it anywhere on their site for easy user access, such as in the footer or main menu. 

3. Regulatory Coverage

Cookiebot covers the following regulations:

• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – European Union
• California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) – United States (California)
• Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (LGPD) – Brazil
• ePrivacy Directive (EU Cookie Law) – European Union
• UK GDPR – United Kingdom
• Swiss Federal Data Protection Act (FADP) – Switzerland
• Australia Privacy Act – Australia
• Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) – Canada
• New Zealand Privacy Act – New Zealand
• Japan's Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI) – Japan

The system is able to detect the website visitor’s location and adjust the cookie consent banner and data handling processes accordingly. 

Pros of Cookiebot

• Global compliance coverage, including GDPR, CCPA, and LGPD.
• Easy onboarding, including branding and customizations
• Automatically scans websites for cookies and trackers 

Cons of Cookiebot

• The free plan requires a lot of manual work
• Relies on the generation of a cookie for record keeping
• Installation requires the user to insert code into a website

Overall Thoughts on Cookiebot

Cookiebot has extensive regulatory coverage and its Google Consent Mode can save website owners a lot of time in ensuring that visitors’ wishes are respected, at least in terms of Google trackers. 

However, given the success of Cookiebot in the corporate world, it is surprising to see under the hood and discover that a lot of the work in setting up a Cookiebot system involves manual steps. The Free plan, while attractive to small website owners, has very little automation in it. 

Not all subscribers to Cookiebot are happy with their purchasing decision. This G2 reviewer was definitely not pleased with the poor customer support offered by the Cookiebot team:

Axeptio vs. Cookiebot: Who Wins in 2025?

Both Axeptio and Cookiebot offer a free edition for small websites. However, Cookiebot is geared more towards large multinational organizations and doesn’t seem to put much effort into supporting its small business customers.

Axeptio’s presentation has fun and cheerful graphics, but that isn’t going to appeal to all types of businesses. For example, a funeral home isn’t going to want funny cookies smiling and waving all over its website.

Overall, Axeptio will appeal to SMBs, and Cookiebot is better for international enterprises.

Axeptio vs. Cookiebot: Consider Enzuzo Instead

If you're still on the fence about which provider to consider, check out Enzuzo. Here's why it's a great alternative to both Axeptio and Cookiebot.

1.Robust Enterprise Support & Features

Enzuzo serves customers like the Power Corporation of Canada, Lucy Group and the U.S. State Department. It provides a host of enterprise-grade features, including a new cookieless analytics tool which gives companies insights into consent behavior, pageviews, acceptance rates, and more. 

All enterprise customers get a dedicated account manager, a personal Slack channel, whiteglove onboarding, and priority customer support (24-hour SLA). What's more, Enzuzo is an official Google Consent Mode partner putting it in the top tier of CMPs. 

Enzuzo is highly flexible with lots of customization options. These enable businesses to tailor their consent management banners and policies to meet specific regulatory requirements, such as GDPR or CCPA.

Users can customize the appearance, behavior, and language of their cookie banners, as well as configure settings based on regional preferences. The platform also supports advanced features like automated updates for legal policies and cookie scans, ensuring that businesses stay compliant with minimal manual effort.

2. International coverage

Enzuzo offers comprehensive international coverage, making it a valuable tool for businesses operating globally. The platform is fully compliant with major privacy regulations like GDPR (Europe), CCPA (California), LGPD (Brazil), and Quebec's Law 25.

Enzuzo’s cookie consent management system and privacy policy tools are designed to ensure businesses stay compliant with international laws, offering tailored consent options based on specific geographic regions and legal requirements. The platform supports over 25 languages, making it easy for businesses to adapt their cookie banners and privacy policies to different locales.

Enzuzo’s ability to automatically update its legal policies in line with evolving regulations further ensures businesses are consistently aligned with international privacy standards.

👉 Read the Lucy Group case study

3. Competitive pricing

Enzuzo’s pricing offers flexibility for businesses of various sizes, with a subscription model that includes different tiers based on website traffic and feature needs. Enzuzo’s pricing is transparent and includes a free trial, allowing smaller businesses or startups to try the platform before committing to a paid plan.

For example, Enzuzo's Pro Plan gives you 5 users and 10 domains for only $79 / month. Comparable plans on Axeptio and Cookiebot are priced higher.

The paid plans range in price based on the number of monthly visitors and the features required, making it scalable for both small websites and large enterprises. Additionally, Enzuzo offers more affordable options for businesses focusing on privacy compliance without needing extensive customization.

In comparison, Axeptio and Cookiebot also offer subscription models, but their pricing structures can be more expensive, particularly for businesses with high website traffic. Axeptio offers tailored pricing based on specific requirements and features, such as advanced customization, which can drive up costs. Cookiebot tends to be pricier for higher-traffic sites.

Learn how Enzuzo can be your consent management platform of choice. Book a complimentary call today to learn more 👇