In a first but certainly not last for The Content Technologist, a product reviewed in 2019 is retiring and is no longer available to consumers. Metomic.io, which provided a user-friendly and not-unattractive cookie compliance notice, is focusing on a new data compliance product, and the cookie compliance widget will no longer be available as of March 1.
Iubenda is a good-looking freemium cookie widget and privacy management alternative whose name sounds like it should be a contraception brand – and a great replacement for Metomic.
Protecting user data is critical to any content business, and most cookie consent widgets accomplish diddly squat to actually comply with privacy legislation like GDPR, CCPA and Brazil’s new privacy law LGPA. Also, they’re exceedingly ugly and especially annoying if they keep popping up once you’ve already consented.
If you use a third-party analytics solution or any other third-party tools like Google Analytics and you have European users, even if you don’t have advertising features enabled, you should have a cookie consent widget to comply with GDPR.
This website doesn’t attract nearly enough traffic from California (or anywhere) to need to worry about CCPA, but Iubenda can guide you through that process as well.
Iubenda at a glance
Iubenda’s free cookie notification autogenerates cookie consent widgets for GDPR and CCPA so that websites like this one can remain compliant. You can configure and customize the widget to brand colors, as well as add an explicit “Reject” button. The tool features integrations with the CMS Wordpress, Magento, Joomla! & PrestaShop, as well as constantly updating its widget to include privacy protections for other services. I’m told the widget only shows to users in the EU; hopefully the widget on this site is working for y’all across the pond.
Iubenda also offers other low-cost privacy policy, cookie policy, and terms of service solutions that are significantly less shady than downloading a template that you Googled once or editing a privacy policy from 20 years ago without the help of a lawyer. Solutions include:
- Cookie policy, privacy policy, and terms of service autogeneration based on the tech on your site
- Incorporation with consent mode in Google Analytics 4, so users can continue using your website without cookie tracking
- Consent management at scale, so you can delete data at customer request
- Internal privacy management solutions for companies and agencies.
Again, not a legal expert, but according to outside reviews it’s extremely compliant. (And by all means, especially if you’re robust enough to require a terms of service and not just a sole proprietor newsletter/consultancy, get a lawyer to review your auto-generated TOS please. That’s not really an area you should skip over.)
I’m in the process of incorporating Iubenda into GA4 for The Content Technologist, and I’ll likely complete their compliance certification this year (mostly because I want to know more about it and help clients comply — and not because I’m anticipating making a ton of money as a privacy widget reseller). I like its interface and clear language; most competing privacy widgets are both unattractive and hard to understand. It’s definitely a lower cost consent and data management solution than many of those that were marketed for early GDPR compliance.
Iubenda is a great Metomic replacement, as well as a way to comply with growing privacy legislation and avoid annoying your users without spending thousands of dollars in legal or high-end software fees.