CookieYes and tarteaucitron can both manage consent for third-party services, with free and paid options available. Behind that similarity, their operation and especially their business models are quite different.
CookieYes provides a SaaS product organized into several tiers with scanning, reports, consent logs and different features depending on the subscription. tarteaucitron originated as an open-source project and its Pro version follows a model that is much less dependent on website count or audience size.
As with my other comparisons, I should make clear that I develop tarteaucitron. The goal is therefore not to claim artificial neutrality but to compare practical differences and also point out situations where the other solution provides something tarteaucitron deliberately does not.
CookieYes provides a free plan and several paid tiers
CookieYes has a free plan for small websites followed by several paid subscriptions. Tiers differ notably by the number of pages that can be scanned, monthly traffic and available features.
Traffic is therefore part of the pricing model. Several plans include a monthly pageview allowance, with additional usage charges possible beyond that limit. The highest plan includes unlimited pageviews.
Each domain has its own subscription. CookieYes also provides a specific partner program for agencies managing multiple clients.
tarteaucitron Pro uses a much simpler model
tarteaucitron Pro counts neither pageviews nor domains. One licence covers unlimited websites and unlimited traffic.
For a single small website, this difference is not necessarily decisive. For an agency or organization operating many websites, it completely changes how CMP costs are calculated.
A new client or domain does not require another tarteaucitron subscription. This is deliberate: I have always wanted to avoid a model where cost mechanically increases every time another website is added.
Both have a free version, but they are not the same kind of free
CookieYes provides a free tier of its SaaS service with traffic, scanning and feature limits.
The free version of tarteaucitron is different because tarteaucitron.js is published as open source under the MIT licence.
It can be downloaded and hosted directly on a website. There are no pageview or domain quotas imposed by tarteaucitron.io because its operation does not depend on a SaaS subscription.
In return, integration is manual and maintaining the installed version is the website owner’s responsibility. The Pro version exists partly to automate that work.
CookieYes uses a cookie scanner
CookieYes scans website pages to identify cookies and technologies that are present. Scan frequency and the number of pages that can be scanned depend notably on the selected plan.
This feature is useful for establishing and maintaining an inventory.
tarteaucitron Pro does not rely on the same mechanism. Its automatic detection operates in the browser when the page loads. The objective is to recognize supported services and prevent them from loading when the required consent is not yet available.
A scanner and an automatic blocker are complementary concepts but they are not synonymous. Finding a cookie during a scan and preventing a script from executing before consent are two different operations.
Consent logs
CookieYes provides a consent log for storing information relating to collected consents.
tarteaucitron deliberately does not maintain an individual consent registry. I do not want to collect and store additional visitor information simply to prove that the CMP operates.
For an organization that considers an integrated registry a requirement, CookieYes therefore provides a feature that tarteaucitron does not.
For other projects, avoiding this additional collection may instead match the desired approach.
Google Consent Mode is available in both
CookieYes supports Google Consent Mode v2, as does tarteaucitron.
With tarteaucitron, support is also available in the open-source version. Pro mainly simplifies installation and configuration through automatic detection and the online console.
In either case, it remains necessary to understand what the Google tags actually present on the website are doing. Consent Mode is not a replacement for consent or service blocking.
CookieYes provides TCF support on some plans
CookieYes supports the IAB TCF framework on some of its paid plans.
tarteaucitron does not participate in the TCF. This is a deliberate choice and an important difference for publishers using certain programmatic advertising environments.
If TCF support is a technical requirement, CookieYes can therefore address that need while tarteaucitron should be ruled out.
For websites that do not use that advertising ecosystem, this difference may have no practical impact. The TCF is not a general requirement for using a CMP.
CookieYes covers a fairly broad functional scope
CookieYes goes beyond the banner itself. Depending on the plan, the service provides scheduled scans, geotargeting, policy generators, reports, TCF management and various customization options.
This can be useful for an organization looking for a product that combines several privacy management tools.
tarteaucitron deliberately remains more focused on its role as a consent and third-party service manager. I prefer not to gradually turn the product into a general GDPR compliance suite.
A CMP cannot manage all of a website’s obligations anyway. Compliance extends far beyond loading cookies and trackers.
Customization
CookieYes provides different levels of customization depending on the subscription, including colors, content, CSS, layouts and branding options across its plans.
tarteaucitron Pro allows texts, colors and numerous banner options to be configured from its console. Custom CSS can also be added.
For more advanced requirements, the tarteaucitron interface remains standard HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It is not enclosed in a Shadow DOM and can therefore be modified extensively when required.
In every case, customization should preserve an honest interface. A highly visible “accept” button combined with a deliberately hidden rejection option is not an improvement to user experience.
When should you choose CookieYes?
CookieYes can be particularly useful for a website that wants a scanner, consent logs, reports, policy generators or TCF support within the same product.
Its free plan also allows a small low-traffic website to get started without cost.
For a project specifically looking for these features, it would be artificial to pretend that tarteaucitron provides exactly the same product.
When should you choose tarteaucitron?
tarteaucitron is particularly suited to projects that want to retain technical control over loaded services, optionally use an open-source foundation and avoid making price dependent on domain count or traffic.
The latter difference becomes important for agencies. One Pro licence can cover all client websites instead of multiplying individual subscriptions.
The open-source version is also relevant to developers willing to use a more manual configuration in exchange for complete independence.
Two models that are fairly easy to distinguish
The choice between CookieYes and tarteaucitron ultimately depends less on what their banners look like than on the type of product required.
CookieYes provides a SaaS suite with several tiers, quotas and a fairly broad set of consent and privacy features. tarteaucitron provides an open-source foundation and a Pro version that automates service control with unlimited websites and traffic.
There is no need to force a universal winner. If consent logs, TCF or policy generators are essential, CookieYes has objective advantages. If open source, unlimited multi-site use or direct control over services are priorities, tarteaucitron addresses a different specification.
In either case, I would finish in exactly the same way: open DevTools and verify that trackers are actually blocked before consent.
