Cookie notice tools are hard to compare, because every one of them describes itself the same way. Customisable. GDPR-ready. Installs in minutes.
Here is what actually differs, starting with the thing that matters most.
1. What happens when someone clicks "no"?
This is the whole ballgame, and it is rarely answered on a pricing page.
A tool that shows a banner and writes down the answer has done the easy half. The half that counts is making sure the optional things (your visitor statistics, your ads, your embedded videos) genuinely do not run until someone agrees.
Ask it plainly: if a visitor refuses, what stops running? If the answer involves your developer wiring things up, that is a real answer, but it means there is work on your side.
2. Does it remember people?
If someone says no today and your banner asks again tomorrow as though nothing happened, that is a problem. It is annoying for them, and it means the choice is not really being kept.
Easy to test: make a choice, close your browser completely, come back. Does it remember?
3. Can people change their mind?
Someone who said no in January should be able to say yes in March without digging through browser settings.
That usually means a small button or a footer link that brings the cookie settings back. If the only way to change a decision is clearing your browser history, that is a gap.
4. Does it keep a record?
If you are ever asked to show that someone agreed, you need something to point at. Some tools keep a log of who chose what and when. Many do not.
Whether you need this depends on how cautious you want to be. Worth knowing before you are asked, rather than after.
5. Will it slow your site down?
A cookie banner loads on every single page, and it has to load early. A heavy one makes your whole site feel slower, which affects both your visitors and how you rank in Google.
Ask how big it is. If a consent banner is measured in hundreds of kilobytes, that is worth a raised eyebrow.
6. Does it work with Google Analytics and Google Ads?
If you use either, and you have visitors in Europe, Google now expects to be told what each visitor agreed to, rather than simply being switched off.
Handled well, you keep more useful information about the people who did say yes. Handled badly, you lose numbers you were perfectly entitled to have. Ask whether the tool supports Google Consent Mode.
7. Will it look like your site?
Not vanity. A banner is the first thing a visitor sees, and one that clearly does not belong gets dismissed on reflex.
Check you can change the colours, the shape, the font and where it sits, and check that is included on the plan you are actually buying, not just the expensive one.
8. What does it cost as you grow?
Some tools charge per website, some per visitor, some per answer collected. Those add up very differently.
If your traffic went up tenfold next year, what would you be paying? Better to know now.
If you only ask two questions
Ask these:
What actually stops when someone says no? and does it remember them next time?
Those two separate the tools that work from the tools that look like they work.
Our Cookie Notice tool is built around both, works with Google Consent Mode, and takes its styling from your site rather than fighting it.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. If your site handles anything sensitive, it is worth asking someone qualified where you are.