ClearCrumb is a free Complianz alternative for WordPress that keeps the consent log, the Leak Test and a Compliance Score in the free plugin, with no pageview limits and no account. Pick it if you want a lighter banner and a lower Pro price at every site count. Stay with Complianz if you need IAB TCF today or its wizard-written legal documents.
In this article
Complianz alternative: the short answer
Complianz is the most installed consent plugin for WordPress, and it is a solid tool. This page is not a case against it. It is a plain Complianz alternative comparison for people who are deciding between the two, written by the makers of ClearCrumb, so read it with that in mind. Every fact about Complianz below comes from its own pricing page or its WordPress.org listing, checked in October 2026.
The short version: both plugins block scripts until consent, both support Google Consent Mode v2, and both are free to start. The differences are in what the free version includes, how the paid plans are priced, and which specialist features you need.
If you are weighing a Complianz alternative, the table below answers the questions people ask most often.
| Question | ClearCrumb (free) | Complianz |
|---|---|---|
| Pageview or traffic limit | None | None |
| Account or cloud service needed | No | No |
| Script blocking before consent | Yes, 155 services | Yes |
| Google Consent Mode v2 | Yes, basic and advanced | Yes |
| Consent records | Yes, in your database, as long as you choose | Premium (“Records of Consent”) |
| Leak Test and Compliance Score | Yes | No |
| Import settings from the other plugin | Yes | No |
| IAB TCF | Not yet | Premium (CMP ID 332) |
| Generated legal documents | Cookie policy (free), privacy policy and imprint (Pro) | Cookie policy free; more documents premium |
| Paid plan, 1 / 5 / 25 sites per year | $39 / $89 / $179 (Pro, launch prices) | $59 / $179 / $399 |
What Complianz does well, and when a Complianz alternative is not needed
Any honest Complianz alternative comparison has to start with what you would give up. Complianz has been on WordPress.org for years, runs on more than one million sites and carries a 4.7 out of 5 rating from 1,663 reviews. That track record is real and it matters.
Its strongest points are the guided wizard and the legal documents. The wizard asks about your site and region and then writes a cookie policy, and the paid plans add a privacy statement, a processing agreement, an imprint and similar documents for several regions. If you want one tool that produces the paperwork as well as the banner, that is a genuine advantage.
It also lists more than 250 service and plugin integrations, supports multiple regions with different banner behaviour, and offers A/B testing of banner texts on the premium plans. The premium plans include IAB TCF, which publishers who sell ads through Google need. ClearCrumb does not support TCF yet. If TCF is on your requirements list, the decision is already made: stay with Complianz or look at another TCF-certified tool.
The free versions: ClearCrumb as a Complianz alternative
The free plugin is where most Complianz alternative searches begin, because the free version is what you can try without paying. Here is what each free version gives you.
That is what a Complianz alternative should mean: the free plugin is the real product, not a time-limited trial.
ClearCrumb free includes the banner in four layouts, blocking for 155 known services, Consent Mode v2 in basic or advanced mode, Microsoft UET consent, EU opt-in and US opt-out rules, Global Privacy Control, a consent log in your own database, kept as long as you choose, the cookie scanner (up to 50 pages), the Leak Test, the Compliance Score and 16 banner languages. There is no account to create and nothing is sent to us.
Complianz free includes a working cookie banner, automatic scanning, a cookie policy generator, a region-specific banner, Google Consent Mode v2 support and proof of consent. Its own comparison list marks Records of Consent, geo-IP based display, TCF, A/B testing, the full website scan, multisite support and the extra legal documents as premium.
The wording on its listing is ambiguous in two places: “Proof of Consent” appears as a free feature while “Records of Consent” appears as premium. If consent proof matters to you, test what your installed version actually stores before you rely on it.
Consent records and proof of consent
When a regulator or a customer asks “can you show that this visitor agreed?”, the answer comes from the consent log. ClearCrumb keeps a log in your own WordPress database, for as long as you choose, in the free plugin. IP addresses are shortened and hashed before they are saved, and consent IDs are hashed too. You can search it and export it. ClearCrumb Pro, which is not on sale yet, keeps records for as long as you choose and exports signed-off PDF proof.
Complianz lists Records of Consent as a premium feature, and its pricing page says record storage is unlimited on all paid plans. If you expect to need long-term records, compare the price of Pro at your site count with the Complianz plan for the same number of sites. At one site the two are $39 and $59 a year, and the gap widens as the number of sites grows.
Complianz alternative: script blocking and Google Consent Mode v2
Both plugins hold back scripts until the visitor agrees to that category, and both implement Google Consent Mode v2 with all four signals: ad_storage, analytics_storage, ad_user_data and ad_personalization. For most sites the practical result is the same. If you want the detail of how ClearCrumb does it, the Consent Mode guide explains basic and advanced mode and the helpers for ad click IDs.
A Complianz alternative that cannot show you its own blocking leaves you guessing, which is why ClearCrumb includes the Leak Test in the free plugin.
Two differences are worth knowing. First, ClearCrumb ships a Leak Test that loads up to 15 of your pages twice, as a new EU visitor and again after “Accept all”, and lists what loaded early, so you can see whether your own setup leaks. Complianz does not include an equivalent in the free plugin. Second, ClearCrumb recognises the services it blocks from a library inside the plugin, which means detection needs no account and no remote call.
Whichever plugin you choose, run a leak test on your live site afterwards. A banner that shows but does not block is the most common consent mistake, and the cookie banner leak test guide shows how.
Speed, caching and accessibility
ClearCrumb’s banner and blocker are under 10 KB gzipped, use no jQuery and do not block rendering. The banner is drawn in the browser, so full-page caching keeps working and a cached page never shows the wrong region’s banner. Our own site scores 99 to 100 for performance on desktop in Lighthouse with the banner running, and the banner is built to WCAG 2.2 AA with Reject as easy as Accept.
We have not benchmarked Complianz on your site and we will not pretend to. Banner weight depends on your theme, your caching setup and the options you enable. The honest way to compare is to install both on a staging copy and run Lighthouse and a leak test on the same pages. The cache plugin guide lists what to exclude for WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache and others, whichever consent plugin you use.
Complianz alternative: three typical sites and what suits them
Abstract feature lists only go so far, so here are three common WordPress sites and how the Complianz alternative question usually resolves for each.
A small business site or blog. A handful of pages, Google Analytics, a contact form and an embedded map. Both plugins handle this well. ClearCrumb is faster to set up because the import pulls in your banner texts and the free plugin already includes the consent log and the leak test. For a site like this there is rarely a reason to pay for either product.
A WooCommerce shop with ads. Meta Pixel, Google Ads conversion tracking and an email tool. Both plugins can block these until consent and pass Consent Mode signals. Here the deciding questions are whether you need records for a long time, whether you run campaigns that need TCF and how often your marketing team adds new tags. The WooCommerce cookie consent guide covers what to keep running at checkout.
An agency with 20 client sites. The per-site price dominates. At 25 sites the yearly cost is $179 for ClearCrumb Pro against $399 for Complianz at list prices, and ClearCrumb’s dashboard shows every site’s Compliance Score in one place. If your clients already pay for Complianz and you rely on its generated documents, the saving may not justify the work of switching existing sites; many agencies use ClearCrumb for new builds and leave old ones alone.
The banner your visitors see with a Complianz alternative
A consent banner is a design decision as much as a legal one. ClearCrumb offers four layouts (bar, box, centred modal and corner card), a live preview in the dashboard and a colour picker that checks contrast so the text stays readable. Accept and Reject are given equal weight by default, which is what most European regulators expect.
Complianz offers several banner types and a customisation screen as well, and it can show different banners in different regions on its premium plans. Where it differs is that region-specific behaviour in Complianz is configured through the wizard, while in ClearCrumb the EU opt-in and US opt-out rules are a plain setting with an optional Global Privacy Control override. Either approach works; choose the one that matches how your team prefers to configure things.
Accessibility is worth a direct check on both. ClearCrumb’s banner is built to WCAG 2.2 AA: keyboard operable, focus managed, readable at 200 percent zoom. Test any banner with the keyboard only before you launch, because a banner that traps focus or hides behind a chat widget is a conversion and compliance problem at once.
Pricing: what a Complianz alternative saves you
Complianz sells yearly licences by number of sites: Personal at $59 for one site, Professional at $179 for five and Agency at $399 for 25. ClearCrumb Pro, which is not on sale yet, has launch prices of $39, $89, $179 and $349 a year for 1, 5, 25 and 100 sites. Waitlist members get 30 percent off the first year. Staging sites never count towards the limit, and nothing is metered by pageviews.
| Sites | ClearCrumb Pro per year | Complianz per year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 site | $39 | $59 |
| 5 sites | $89 | $179 |
| 25 sites | $179 | $399 |
| 100 sites | $349 | Bulk pricing on request |
Choosing a Complianz alternative on price alone is a mistake, though. Weigh the features you will actually use, and let the free plugin prove itself on your own site first.
Two cautions. Prices change, so check the Complianz pricing page before you decide. And the free ClearCrumb plugin already covers what many sites need, so the table only matters if you want long-term records, scheduled leak alerts or the agency dashboard.
Who should pick a Complianz alternative, and who should stay
A Complianz alternative is only useful if it tells you when not to switch. Use this as a quick decision guide.
| If this is you | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You sell ads through Google AdSense or Ad Manager to EU visitors | Complianz (or another TCF tool) | You need IAB TCF; ClearCrumb does not support it yet. |
| You want the plugin to write several legal documents for you | Complianz | Its wizard-based documents are broader. |
| You want consent records and a leak test without paying | ClearCrumb | Both are in the free plugin. |
| You run many client sites on a budget | ClearCrumb | Lower flat price per site count, staging free. |
| You want the lightest banner and no account | ClearCrumb | Under 10 KB gzipped, nothing leaves your site. |
A Complianz alternative is a good fit when most of the left column describes you. If the right column does, staying where you are is a perfectly sensible choice.
How to switch from Complianz to ClearCrumb
Switching takes about fifteen minutes and you do not have to remove Complianz first. The steps below are the short form; the full walkthrough is in how to switch from Complianz and the import guide.
- Install and activate ClearCrumb and leave Complianz active for now.
- On the ClearCrumb dashboard, open the Switching from Complianz? card and click Review and import.
- Check the list of banner texts, colours, services and Consent Mode options, then click Import.
- Deactivate Complianz so two banners do not show, and clear your page cache.
- Run the Leak Test and confirm that nothing optional loads before consent.
That is the whole move to a Complianz alternative: install, import, check, switch the old banner off and test.
Consent records are not moved between plugins. Visitors who answered on the old banner are asked once more. If you need the old records for audit reasons, export them from Complianz before you deactivate it.
Mistakes to avoid when you move to a Complianz alternative
Most problems after a switch come from the same handful of causes, whichever way you move.
- Running two banners. Leaving both plugins active shows two banners and sets two sets of consent cookies. Deactivate the old one as soon as you have checked the import.
- Hard-coded scripts. Tags pasted into the theme or a header plugin are not managed by either product. Search your theme and tag manager for them after the switch.
- Cached pages. A page cache can keep serving the old banner. Clear the page cache and the CDN, then test in a private window.
- Skipping the test. A banner that shows is not proof that scripts are blocked. Run the Leak Test or follow the leak test guide.
- Forgetting the policy page. Update the cookie policy link and any shortcodes, so the page matches the services you now run.
Avoid these five and your move to a Complianz alternative should be uneventful.
None of this is specific to Complianz; it is simply the checklist that avoids a bad week after a migration.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to move to a Complianz alternative?
About fifteen minutes for a typical site: install, import or scan, check the preview, switch the old banner off and run the Leak Test.
Does a Complianz alternative make my site GDPR compliant?
A consent plugin helps you meet the consent requirements, but compliance depends on your whole setup: your policies, your processors and what you actually load. Run the Leak Test and ask a lawyer about your own situation.
Is ClearCrumb a good Complianz alternative?
Yes, if you want consent records, a Leak Test and a Compliance Score in the free plugin, a lighter banner, or a cheaper Pro for several sites. If you need IAB TCF or Complianz’s broader legal documents, stay with Complianz for now.
Can I import my Complianz settings into ClearCrumb?
Yes. ClearCrumb reads the banner texts, colours, services, cookies and Consent Mode options that Complianz stored, even after you deactivate it. You review the list before anything is saved.
Is ClearCrumb really free?
Yes. The plugin on WordPress.org has all 30 core features with no pageview limits and no account. ClearCrumb Pro is an optional add-on for long-term records, automation and agency tools, and it is not on sale yet.
Does ClearCrumb support IAB TCF like Complianz?
Not yet. TCF is needed mainly by publishers who sell ads to EU visitors through Google. If that is you, a TCF-certified tool is the right choice today.
Will my banner look the same after I switch?
Close, not identical. The import carries over texts, colours and layout choices, and ClearCrumb’s presets fill the rest. You can adjust the banner with a live preview before you deactivate Complianz.
What happens to the consent records I already have?
They stay in the old plugin’s data. Export them from Complianz first if you need them for audits, because ClearCrumb starts a new log.
Summary
Both plugins are good, and the right Complianz alternative question is not “which is better” but “which fits my site”. ClearCrumb fits sites that want consent records, a leak test and a light banner for free, and agencies that want a lower price per site. Complianz fits sites that need TCF or a broader set of generated legal documents. Facts about Complianz were checked in October 2026 on its WordPress.org page and pricing page; see all plugin comparisons for the others.