FewCookies

Blog · Updated: July 15, 2026

How much does a CMP (cookie banner) cost in 2026?

A CMP can cost anywhere from zero to a few hundred euros a month, depending on the model: free tiers exist but come with limits (page caps, one domain, one language, forced branding), and per-pageview or per-subpage pricing scales painfully with traffic. FewCookies costs €6/month VAT included, a fixed price, with a 7-day trial and no card. Below is an honest breakdown of the real costs — including hidden ones like setup time and the legal review of DIY solutions.

A CMP can cost anywhere from zero to a few hundred euros a month, depending on the model: free tiers exist but come with limits (page caps, one domain, one language, forced branding), and per-pageview or per-subpage pricing scales painfully with traffic. FewCookies costs €6/month VAT included, a fixed price, with a 7-day trial and no card. Below is an honest breakdown of the real costs — including hidden ones like setup time and the legal review of DIY solutions.

Are there free cookie banners? Yes — with limits

"Free" appears often in CMP roundups, but it rarely means "free for your case". Free tiers are usually capped on one or more of these dimensions:

  • Page or pageview count — under a monthly threshold; above it, you roll onto a paid plan automatically.
  • One domain. A second site or a subdomain means a new account or a new plan.
  • One language. A banner in both English and your local language can be a paid feature.
  • Forced branding. "Powered by…" on your banner, removable only for a fee.

None of these limits makes you non-compliant by itself — but it pays to know where the ceiling is before you build on a free tier. The real question isn't "is it free?", it's "does it actually block trackers before consent?". A free banner that only shows a message doesn't help; you check that with a free scan, not by the price tag.

How per-traffic models get expensive

The long-run cost difference comes from the pricing model, not the starting price. Three common patterns:

ModelHow it worksWhere it hurts
Per pageviewYou pay in monthly pageview tiers.A successful campaign or a viral post raises your bill exactly when you don't want it to.
Per domain / subpageEach domain or number of scanned subpages carries a separate cost.Large sites and those with many subdomains jump quickly into "business" or "enterprise" tiers.
Per-language surchargeEach extra banner language costs more.An EN + local-language site pays double for something that should be standard in the EU.

A fixed price solves exactly this unpredictability: you know what you pay regardless of traffic. FewCookies costs €6/month VAT included, with the banner in English and Romanian included — no tiers, no per-language surcharge. See the pricing page.

The hidden costs: time and legal review

The sticker price isn't the total cost. Two costs are almost always missing from the comparison:

  • Setup time. A CMP that doesn't block scripts automatically makes you identify and manage every tracker by hand — hours of work each time you add a new pixel.
  • Legal review of "free" DIY solutions. A banner cobbled together from copy-pasted code looks free until a cookie policy that drifts from reality, or the lack of a valid reject option, earns you a complaint. A serious legal review costs more than a year of subscription.

A cheap banner that leaves you non-compliant is more expensive than one that truly blocks — GDPR risk runs up to €20 million or 4% of global turnover, and in Romania Law 506/2004 requires consent before non-essential cookies. "Cheap" is measured in real compliance, not list price.

What a fixed price buys, and how to decide

At FewCookies, the €6/month VAT included covers the things that actually matter, with no tiers and nothing sold separately as an add-on:

  1. Real blocking of trackers before consent — not just a decorative message.
  2. All four Consent Mode v2 signals (ad_storage, analytics_storage, ad_user_data, ad_personalization) sent to Google.
  3. Bilingual cookie policies in English and Romanian, generated and hosted, updated from real scans.
  4. A 7-day trial with no card — you test before you pay.

How to decide in practice: start from a free scan to see what trackers you have, then compare the fixed price against models that grow with traffic. For head-to-head detail, see the best CMP platforms in 2026 and comparison pages like FewCookies vs Cookiebot or FewCookies vs CookieYes. If you run an online shop with a heavy tracker stack, see also the ecommerce cookie banner guide.

Frequently asked questions

Is a free cookie banner legally enough?

It can be, but only if it actually blocks trackers before consent, makes rejecting as easy as accepting, and keeps proof of the choice. Many free banners only show a message and let scripts run, which does not make you compliant. Verify with a scan, not by the fact that it is free.

Why do some CMPs raise their price with traffic?

Because they use per-pageview or per-domain models: the more traffic or the more subdomains you have, the more you pay. A viral post or a successful campaign can inflate your bill suddenly. A fixed price, like FewCookies at €6/month, removes that unpredictability.

What should a CMP realistically cost for a small site?

For a normal site, a fixed price of a few euros a month covers everything you need: real blocking, the Consent Mode v2 signals, and bilingual policies. FewCookies costs €6/month VAT included, with a 7-day trial and no card, so you can test before paying. Watch the hidden costs — setup time and the legal review of DIY solutions can exceed the subscription.

Want to see which cookies and trackers fire on your site before consent? The scan is free and needs no account. Check your site for free →