As of 30 Oct 2026, the panel rates Borlabs Cookie 3/5 and Real Cookie Banner 3/5 in Consent Management (CMP). Weighted by what each judge cares about, 2 of the 6 judges pick Borlabs Cookie and 2 pick Real Cookie Banner, 2 call it a tie. Borlabs Cookie scores higher on 4 of 7 criteria (Scanning & cookie classification, Pricing transparency, Prior blocking & script control, plus 1 more). Real Cookie Banner scores higher on 3 of 7 criteria (Consent records & proof, Banner & choice architecture and European sovereignty). Provenance — Borlabs Cookie: EU-Made; Real Cookie Banner: EU-Made. Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: how scores are made.
Borlabs Cookie and Real Cookie Banner split this panel rather than settle it. The weighted totals split by persona: two benches lean Real Cookie Banner (data protection officer, 6.6 vs 5.9; in-house lawyer, 6.4 vs 5.6), two lean Borlabs Cookie (publisher-marketing lead, 6.8 vs 6.1; skeptic, 6.3 vs 6.2), and two tie (agency developer, 6.3 each; WordPress webmaster, 6.2 each). Borlabs Cookie leads pricing transparency (8.0 vs 7.3; 4 leans to 1), prior blocking (7.3 vs 6.7; 4 leans, 0 against) and scanning and classification (4.8 vs 4.0; 3 leans, 3 ties). Real Cookie Banner leads consent records (6.7 vs 4.2; 6 leans to 0) — its verdict records consent records in the customer's database, and we found no public information on Borlabs Cookie's log retention or export — and banner and choice (6.7 vs 6.2; 4 leans to 1). Sovereignty splits 3 leans apiece (6.8 vs 7.0); standards and platforms is close (6.2 vs 6.0; 5 ties, 1 lean Borlabs Cookie).
Choose Borlabs Cookie if
You need scripts, styles and content blocked before consent — prior blocking leans Borlabs Cookie 4 judges to 0, with 2 ties.
You run up to 99 websites and want published pricing — pricing transparency leans Borlabs Cookie 4 to 1, with tiers from €49 to 499 € per year for 99 websites.
You rely on scanning plus an audit check for content that loads without consent — scanning and classification leans Borlabs Cookie 3 to 0, with 3 ties.
Your team is publisher-side marketing — that bench's weighted total is 6.8 for Borlabs Cookie against 6.1.
Choose Real Cookie Banner if
You must keep consent records in your own database for audit — consent records leans Real Cookie Banner 6 judges to 0, and its verdict records consent records in the customer's database.
You weight the banner and choice criterion — it leans Real Cookie Banner 4 to 1 (mean 6.7 vs 6.2).
You are a data protection officer or in-house lawyer — those benches total 6.6 vs 5.9 and 6.4 vs 5.6 for Real Cookie Banner.
Your vendor review weighs subprocessor exposure — the recorded subprocessor exposure for Real Cookie Banner is none, against US cloud act for Borlabs Cookie.
Read this comparison as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.
The Skeptic
Has opened the browser's network tab on sites with a "certified" banner and watched the ad pixels fire before anything was clicked. Reads "consent rate optimisation" as a hint that reject will be grey and small, "auto-blocking" as a claim until the test steps are published, and "EU hosting" next to a US script CDN — and asks what leaving would cost: the consent logs, and every visitor asked again.
Borlabs Cookie
This judge's pick
Real Cookie Banner
Criterion by criterion
Banner & choice architecture
Borlabs Cookie
Consent runs granular to the individual service, a persistent freely placeable settings icon lets visitors revisit their choices, and the banner is stated WCAG 2.1 AA with a colour assistant that keeps custom designs compliant, plus 150+ design options and bar and box layouts. What I watch for is missing: I found no public information stating reject sits on the first layer with the same weight as accept, no A/B testing with its limits explained, and the geography rule is a single EU/non-EU split rather than banners per country.
Real Cookie Banner
Consent is taken per service and per service group, down to TCF vendor level, with per-country geo rules resolved locally through a MaxMind database, country-specific age gates, Do Not Track handling, 20+ templates, 200+ design options and 19 languages; the banner is stated as WCAG 2.2 Level AA with keyboard control, screen-reader support and a live accessibility score, plus aggregated consent statistics. We found no public information stating that reject carries the same weight as accept on the first layer, on a persistent way for visitors to change their choice later, or on A/B testing of the banner.
Prior blocking & script control
Borlabs Cookie
Script, style and content blockers are each described, backed by a vendor-maintained library of 370+ packages for named services, an audit feature checks whether the site sets cookies or loads external content without consent, and the Google Tag Manager container can even be served locally so its script never loads from Google. Credit for bluntness: the documentation admits Advanced Consent Mode loads tags and sends limited 'pings' before consent — the fully-blocked story only holds in Basic Mode. I found no public information on server-side tagging or consent passed into forms and CAPTCHAs.
Real Cookie Banner
Blocking before consent rests on 130+ content-blocker templates, granular blocking of inline fonts, lazy-loaded embeds after consent, a documented Google Tag Manager integration that forwards consents and additional consent types, and a JavaScript and REST API for further mechanisms, with a knowledge-base article on testing that cookies are really set only after consent. The vendor itself says the scanner will not find everything and a manual check is always recommended, and we found no public information on server-side tagging support or on an automated monitor of the live site.
Scanning & cookie classification
Borlabs Cookie
The scanner analyses the site for cookies, external resources and consent-requiring functions and matches them against a package library where services carry purpose, type and lifetime details; scanning behind HTTP authentication is supported and custom URLs can be added for unscanned pages. The vendor says plainly the scanner covers a subset — homepage, one older and one newer page per post type, archives, legal and contact pages — not every page, which I respect but note as coverage you must complete by hand. I found no public information on scheduled rescans, alerts when trackers appear or change, or a cookie declaration generated from the scan.
Real Cookie Banner
This is a service scanner, not a cookie scanner, and the vendor says so plainly: it crawls the site's sitemap, inspects iframes, script and link tags, font-face embeds, installed plugins and HTTP headers, then suggests manually researched service templates, while listing what it misses (unknown plugins without templates, services embedded after page load via JavaScript) and advising a manual check every time. The cookie policy is generated from the banner configuration rather than from scan results, and we found no public information on scheduled rescans or alerts when trackers change.
Consent records & proof
Borlabs Cookie
A consent log documents consents including changes over time, re-consent is forced when services change, expiry comes via configurable cookie lifetimes, and everything sits on the customer's own server with no visitor data reaching Borlabs. The dispute-grade parts are undocumented: I found no public information on what a single record contains, a stated retention period, export of the log, or a banner version bound to each consent — the things you need the day a supervisory authority writes.
Real Cookie Banner
Each consent lands in the customer's own WordPress database with a server-generated pseudonymous UUID, the consented services and groups by ID, the TC string, and a revision hash that ties the record to the exact banner texts, colours, functions and services shown; re-consent is forced and notified when settings change, records auto-delete after the statutory retention period with manual deletion on request, forwarded consents are marked as such, and everything is exportable. We found no public information on a consent ID the visitor could look up themselves, on withdrawal being recorded as its own event, or on searchability through an API.
Frameworks, signals & platforms
Borlabs Cookie
TCF 2.4 is claimed certified with Global Vendor List handling, vendor configuration by ID or purpose and the TC string attached to defined links; Consent Mode v2 is documented in both Basic and Advanced modes with all consent types listed, and Microsoft UET consent mode appears as an included feature. But a 'certified' claim without the number leaves me cold: I found no public information on a registered IAB CMP ID, Google's CMP certification, GPP or Global Privacy Control for US states, or app SDKs — and this is WordPress only, with the FAQ on Shopify and Webflow not showing its answer.
Real Cookie Banner
TCF is supported and off by default, with the Global Vendor List auto-downloaded weekly, non-conformant options hidden once TCF is on, and a vendor management tab; Google Consent Mode v2 is documented in depth with its consent types, additional consent types passed to Google Tag Manager and per-country behaviour, and a REST API, multisite operation and consent forwarding cover several sites. The captured pages give different figures for Google CMP certification — the homepage claims certification for AdSense and IAB Europe while the Consent Mode documentation states the product is not part of the Partner Program — and we found no public information on a registered IAB CMP ID, Microsoft UET consent mode, GPP or GPC, or app SDKs; the product runs on WordPress.
European sovereignty
Borlabs Cookie
The strongest posture a consent tool can take: a self-hosted plugin where all data stays on the customer's own server and no visitor information is transmitted to Borlabs, sold by a Hamburg GmbH with registry number and VAT ID published and a data processing agreement reachable through the customer portal. The edges are what I always check: I found no public information on ownership or ISO 27001/SOC 2 certification, Paddle in the UK is merchant of record on every order, and the privacy policy names Amazon SES, Google reCAPTCHA and HelpSpace while the full processor list is only available on request.
Real Cookie Banner
The contracting entity is proven German — devowl.io GmbH, registered at Amtsgericht Deggendorf under HRB 5100, in Grafling — and the self-hosted model keeps the banner script and every consent log on the customer's own server, with the vendor stating no data is loaded from its servers for visitors, geolocation resolved locally so the IP never leaves the server, and the scanner working through a browser job queue. The residual chain — a licence server and download server that receive system data on activation, an endpoint serving the Global Vendor List, and telemetry that includes the number of documented consents with opt-out only by deactivating the licence — is disclosed but its hosting is not stated; the vendor takes the position that no data processing agreement is needed for operation and offers one only for support access, and we found no public information on subprocessors or security certifications.
Pricing transparency
Borlabs Cookie
The annual cost is largely computable from public pages: 'From €49' up to '499 € / Jahr' for 99 websites, unlimited pageviews and subpages, all functions including TCF 2.4 and Consent Mode v2 in every tier, prices 'Alle Preise in Euro exkl. USt.', a 30-day money-back guarantee on the first purchase and 'Cancel anytime'. What blocks full computability: I found no public information on licence upgrade pricing — the FAQ entry exists but shows no answer — nor on data-return terms when a customer cancels.
Real Cookie Banner
Five tiers are published with gross annual prices scaling cleanly per website — 59 € Brutto for one site up to 299 € Brutto for 25 — all including every feature, updates and premium support, with VAT included, cancellation at any time without notice, free staging licences equal to the site count, a free version and a free sandbox, so the annual cost is computable for anyone running 25 sites or fewer. Above 25 websites the Enterprise tier is unpriced and the expert setup service carries no published price; we found no public information on traffic or consent limits, consistent with a plugin licensed per site.
Sovereignty, side by side
Dimension
Borlabs Cookie
Real Cookie Banner
Legal entity
Not determined
Not determined
Hosting location
Not determined
Not determined
Hosting options
Not determined
Not determined
Open source
Not determined
Not determined
Data processing agreement
Not determined
Not determined
Transfer impact assessment
Not determined
Not determined
Facts, side by side
Only facts both products carry under the same definition — anything else would not be a fair row.
Legal · Disclaimer
Borlabs GmbH provides no legal advice or representation1
Questions about Borlabs Cookie and Real Cookie Banner
Which is better, Borlabs Cookie or Real Cookie Banner?
As of 30 Oct 2026, the panel rates both 3/5. Weighted by what each judge cares about, 2 of the 6 judges pick Borlabs Cookie and 2 pick Real Cookie Banner, 2 call it a tie. Which one fits depends on the criteria that matter to you; the table on this page shows both side by side, and each judge’s reading has its own page. Both were scored by the same AI bench under the same rubric, from public evidence only, as the methodology describes.
Is Borlabs Cookie or Real Cookie Banner European?
Borlabs Cookie is European (EU-Made). Real Cookie Banner is European (EU-Made). Provenance is read from each company’s own legal pages: who builds it and who owns it.
Do Borlabs Cookie and Real Cookie Banner have a free plan?
As of 30 Oct 2026, Real Cookie Banner’s own pages state a free plan; Borlabs Cookie’s pages as captured do not. Each product page links the pricing page it was read from.