We all know them: cookie banners on websites. You arrive at a website or store and the first thing that pops up is a pop-up with cookie guidelines and settings that you can either accept, reject or customize.
Since cookie banners, also known as cookie consent tools, are now mandatory in Germany and the entire EU, as a Shopify store owner you should definitely have them on your radar and make your store legally compliant and GDPR-compliant.
We take a closer look at the cookie regulations and tools that you can use for Shopify and go into the advantages and disadvantages of the individual providers.
Legal basis
Since December 1, 2021, the TTDSG (Telecommunications Telemedia Data Protection Act) has stipulated that a cookie banner is mandatory and that certain cookies may only be set with the explicit consent of the user.
Basically, this means that you need a Shopify cookie banner that allows users to consent to and reject certain cookies themselves. In addition, you need to address the individual services and external service providers that you have integrated on your website in your privacy policy. If you would like to find out more about the legal situation, please visit eRecht24.
Purpose of cookies
Cookies, which are small text files and data packets generated by browsers and websites, are used to recognize users of your website, store access data so that they do not have to log in again each time, or to know which products or services users have already purchased from you.
We differentiate between technically necessary cookies and technically unnecessary cookies. Technically necessary cookies may always be set, as they ensure the functionality of the website or web store.
Technicallyunnecessary cookies primarily store the user behavior of users over a longer period of time and are used for analysis purposes. They may only be set if users have expressly consented to this. These include, for example, cookies set by Google Analytics, Google Ads or Instagram.
What Shopify cookie banner solutions are available?
There is now a wide range of cookie banner tools for Shopify. We take a closer look at some of the providers and take a closer look at their features.
The most popular cookie banner solutions currently include Cookiebot, the GDPR Legal Cookie App from iubenda (formerly beeclever) and pandectes.
We also take a look at the cookie solution from CCM19 in Germany.
Cookiebot by Usercentrics
Cookiebot from Usercentrics is one of the most widely used cookie consent tools on the Internet. It is not only used for stores, but also for other websites and apps. You have probably already seen the Cookiebot cookie banner a few times and clicked on it on other websites.
Cookiebot impresses above all with its extensive configuration options and the Cookie & Script Scanner. Your website is automatically checked and the cookies and external scripts are read and can then be configured. In addition, once a month you will receive an overview of the new cookies on your site that you may have overlooked and still need to configure.
In addition, Cookiebot fully supports Google Consent Mode, which is an enormous advantage over other tools in times of cookieless tracking and strict Google restrictions.
Cookiebot is not integrated as a Shopify app, but via an external script, which you integrate into the theme.liquid file in your Shopify store. You can then set up and configure Cookiebot via the interface in your Cookiebot account.
Cookiebot prices (May 2024)
With fewer than 50 subpages, you can use Cookiebot free of charge, but only have a limited range of features available. Of course, the essential features to keep your website GDPR-compliant are also included in the free plan.
With all paid plans, you have a free 14-day trial period to convince yourself of Cookiebot. Here is an overview of the paid versions:
Premium Lite - 7 € per domain, per month
- less than 50 subpages
- incl. all premium features
Premium Small - 12 € per domain, per month
- up to 350 subpages
- incl. all premium features
Premium Medium - 28 € per domain, per month
- less than 3500 subpages
- incl. all premium features
Premium Large - 49 € per domain, per month
- more than 3500 subpages
- incl. all premium features
You can find the current price overview here.
GDPR Legal Cookie
GDPR Legal Cookie is a very widely used cookie solution, especially in the Shopify area. With over 350 positive reviews in the Shopify App Store, it is one of the top apps in cookie consent management.
You can simply install GDPR Legal Cookie from the Shopify App Store in your store, activate it in the theme and the cookie banner is already active. You make the settings completely from your store backend and don't have to switch back and forth between tabs.
GDPR Legal Cookie also covers Google's cookie consent mode and can be configured with regard to new cookies and scripts. However, setting up new cookies is sometimes a little more complicated than with other solutions and requires a little code customization.
GDPR Legal Cookie Prices
The costs depend on your Shopify plan. So the higher your Shopify plan is, the more you pay for this Shopify Cookie Banner solution. All plans include the same functionality:
- Unlimited requests
- GDPR compliance
- Fully customizable
- Supports Google Consent Mode
Shopify & Shopify Advanced
7.99 $ per month
Shopify Basic
2.99 $ per month
Shopify Plus
14.99 $ per month
If you have multiple Shopify or Shopify Plus Expansion stores, the costs are incurred separately for each store.
pandectes
pandectes is one of the newer providers on the market and has quickly gained great popularity. pandectes impresses above all with its very simple setup with the pandectes Shopify app, a beautiful and intuitive user interface and a full range of functions. You can customize the cookie banner, pandectes has an automatic cookie scanner and offers very comprehensive analytics.
Of course, pandectes also covers Google Consent Mode and can be set to be fully GDPR-compliant.
More and more Shopify stores are currently switching to this cookie solution for the reasons mentioned above, among others.
pandectes prices
pandectes offers you four price plans: Free, Plus, Premium and Enterprise. Each paid plan comes with a free 7-day trial period, during which you can try out the functions without risk.
Free of charge
- Customizable cookie banner
- Inquiries from affected persons
- Default settings for EU languages
- Consent tracking
- Store scan
- Support
Plus - 9 $ per month
- All functions from Basic
- Settings pop-up
- On-demand scans
- Cookie declaration
- Google Consent Mode v2
- Multiple languages
- Extended styling
Premium - 25 $ per month
- All functions from Plus
- Intelligent blocker
- Extended blocking
- Reset consent
- Tacit consent
- Admin mode
Enterprise - 35 $ per month
- All functions from Premium
- Automated scans
- Blocking bots & crawlers
- BI & Recommendations
- Google translator
- API & Integrations
The same applies to pandectes: one cost plan per store - so if you use several Shopify stores, you have to install the app in each of these stores separately and budget for the costs.
CCM19
As another Shopify cookie consent tool, let's take a closer look at CCM19. With the claim Made & Hosted in Germany, CCM19 focuses on German-speaking countries and places a special focus on legal compliance. CCM19 claims to be fully TDDDG, GDPR, CCPA, BDSG, LGPD and POPIA compliant.
You simply install CCM19 in your Shopify theme with a one-line code snippet(to the instructions) and can then make the settings and design adjustments directly in a CCM19 dashboard.
At CCM19 you can select cookies & scripts from their huge database and integrate them correctly with just a few clicks. This database is constantly updated so that all saved integrations are always up to date.
Further functions of CCM19: Cookie Scanner, Google Consent Mode V2, individual design of the cookie banner, extensive documentation.
CCM19 Prices
CCM19 prices are based on the number of visits to your website and the number of domains you wish to cover with the cookie tool. The following tariffs are available: Free, Starter, Business and Enterprise.
Free - 0,00 €
- All data in Germany, no US providers.
- 1 domain incl.
- 5,000 impressions / month incl.
- 2 languages
- Google Consent Mode v2
- much more(see price overview)
Starter - € 7.90 / month - (€ 6.90 / month with annual billing)
- all features from Free
- 2 domains incl.
- 20,000 impressions / month incl.
- Developer settings
- Own languages possible
- much more(see price overview)
Business - € 19.90 / month - (€ 16.90 / month with annual billing)
- all features from Free & Starter
- 5 domains incl.
- up to 100 domains possible (price changes)
- 100,000 impressions / month incl.
- much more(see price overview)
Enterprise - Price on request
- Unlimited traffic possible
- Unlimited number of domains possible
- Tariff for large customers with many domains & impressions
Important: With CCM19, impressions refers to how often the cookie banner script is loaded on your site. Even if users are only shown the cookie banner once and then click away, the script is loaded and checked for consent each time the page is accessed.
An impression can therefore be equated with a single page view; it does not refer to the number of cookie banner impressions.
Our conclusion
Basically, all Shopify Cookie Banner Toolsc mentioned here are very suitable for German-speaking and European countries. Which tool you should use for your Shopify store depends on a number of individual factors, including, for example
- How many domains should be covered by the cookie tool?
- How much traffic / page views do you have?
- How much do you want to spend per month on a cookie consent solution?
If you have a lot of traffic in your store, you can use one of the tools that charge per store. We would currently recommend Cookiebot or pandectes.
If you want to secure several domains and configure the cookie banner very individually, CCM19 may be a good choice for you.
Unsure which tool to integrate?
If you're not sure which solution is right for you, please get in touch with us. We'll take a look at your setup and give you a precise recommendation for the perfect cookie consent tool for your Shopify store.
As a Shopify agency, we implement these tools very frequently and are happy to help you select and set up the right cookie tool. Simply get in touch via our contact form.
