CookieYes Free Plan Changes: What You Need to Know (And Better Alternatives)
If you use the free plan of CookieYes, you would have got the email today about them announcing a significant change to their pricing and service plans effective December 01, 2024. As a long-time user of their free service (and cheerleader) Here are my thoughts and guide you through what this means for existing users.
What's Changing?
CookieYes, after a commendable five-year streak of no price adjustments, has decided to revise its plans:
- Pageviews will drop from 25,000 to 15,000 per month for the Free plan users. This could potentially force those with slightly higher traffic websites to reconsider their options or upgrade.
- Cookie Scans will be limited to 5 per month compared to the current unlimited scans. This is a significant reduction for users who frequently update or manage multiple sites but realistic is nothing.
- Languages Support will now be restricted to just one default language, moving away from the previous offering of 170+ languages. Another nothing burger.
- Subdomain Consent Sharing, Multi-user Access, and Chat Support are being stripped from the Free plan but will remain accessible for current settings only. This means you can’t change or update these settings anymore.
The Immediate Impact
One of the more frustrating aspects of CookieYes's policy has always been their lack of a grace period. Once you hit your limit, on pageviews, the cookie banner simply deactivates. This gives users no buffer to arrange an upgrade. Analytics just suddenly stops working, and all your smart bidding gets ruined. If you regularly go over 15k page views, I would upgrade or move proactively.
Is It Time to Look Elsewhere?
Given these changes, it's prudent for users to reevaluate their choice of cookie consent tools:
- Upgrade to Basic: If CookieYes has been integral to your site's infrastructure, upgrading might seem like an obvious choice. We are so used to getting things for free, maybe this is just returning to normality. Cookieyes have been great. However, it's worth considering whether the loss of functionality in the Free plan is worth the cost, or if other services might offer better value.
- Alternative Solutions: Here's where I'd like to share an alternative that might catch your interest. illow.io offers a free tier that supports up to 100k views, which could be a perfect fit for smaller to medium-sized websites. For WordPress users, Complianz is another excellent free alternative that doesn't skimp on features.
Why Consider Moving?
The digital marketplace offers several other consent management platforms. If sticking with CookieYes isn't feasible, platforms like illow.io and the free version of Complianz for WordPress might be worthy of consideration. Illow.io, for instance, provides 100,000 views, which for some users may better suit their needs without immediate costs.
Final Thoughts
Change is inevitable, and companies like CookieYes need to evolve to meet regulatory and business demands. The free lunch has ended. Upgrading isn't a bad choice and neither is sticking with the free plan if you page views are less than 15k a month. Its still pretty good for a free plan.
If you do move, illow.io (I use this on here) is the obvious choice for general people and complianz if you have wordpress and want a free version. Complianz isn't the easiest to configure though, so illow probably is best for even people on WordPress. Personally, if you can afford it, just pay cookieyes, you have a business to run and penny pinching here isn't going to make a dent in the overall scheme of things.
Ben has a BEng (Hons) in Computer Science and 20 years of experience in online marketing, specialising in SEO, lead generation and affiliate marketing. After spending over a decade as an igaming affiliate, he has decided to concentrate on GA4 training and SEO Audits.
