What is cookie consent and why does my website need it?
Cookie consent is the explicit, informed permission a website visitor gives before any non-essential cookie fires on their device. Under India's DPDP Act 2023, GDPR and CCPA, cookies that collect personal data, such as device IDs, IP addresses and behavioural tracking data, count as personal data processing. That means your website legally requires a compliant consent mechanism before running analytics, advertising or personalisation cookies on any visitor.
Does the DPDP Act 2023 require a cookie consent banner?
The DPDP Act 2023 does not use the word cookie, but under Section 2(t), cookies that collect device identifiers, IP addresses or behavioural data count as personal data. This means consent is required before such cookies fire, which in practice means every Indian website needs a cookie consent banner. The MeitY Business Requirement Document for Consent Management (BRD, 2025) further recommends that cookie consent management include granular opt-in, auditable logging, auto-expiry and user preference dashboards.
How do I manage cookies on my website?
To manage cookies properly, you need to know every cookie your site sets, classify each into a consent category, block non-essential cookies until consent is given, and keep an auditable record of every consent decision. Doing this manually is error-prone because third-party tags add cookies without notice. A cookie manager automates all four steps: it scans your site, classifies cookies, enforces blocking at the script level and maintains the audit trail.
What is the difference between essential and non-essential cookies?
Essential (Strictly Necessary) cookies are required for the website to function, such as login sessions, shopping cart data and load balancing. These do not require consent under any major privacy law. Non-essential cookies, including analytics tracking (Google Analytics), advertising pixels (Meta Pixel, Google Ads), personalisation engines and A/B testing tools, collect personal data and require explicit, informed consent before they are allowed to run.
Will a cookie consent banner slow down my website?
No. The cookie consent banner script loads asynchronously in under 100 milliseconds. It never blocks page rendering and has no measurable impact on Core Web Vitals (LCP, CLS or INP). The script is delivered via CDN from servers within India for sub-50ms load times. Your Google PageSpeed Insights score will not change when the banner is active on your site.
Can I customise the look and feel of the cookie banner?
Yes. The Cookie Consent Manager is fully white-label. You customise colors, fonts, logo, button styles, banner position (bottom bar, modal or sidebar) and all notice copy from the no-code dashboard without any developer involvement. Changes publish instantly without a code deployment. You can A/B test different banner designs and notice copy to identify the configuration that achieves the highest compliant opt-in rate.
What happens when a visitor rejects cookies?
When a visitor rejects non-essential cookies, all scripts in the rejected categories are immediately blocked from firing, at the tag manager level, not just visually. The rejection is logged with a tamper-proof timestamp in the consent audit trail. A persistent Cookie Settings link remains available so the visitor can change their preference at any time. Non-consented scripts remain blocked until the visitor actively opts in.
Is there a free plan for collecting cookie consent?
Yes. You get 10,000 cookie consents per month completely free, permanently, with no credit card required, no trial expiry and no feature restrictions on the free tier. If your monthly traffic is below 10,000 cookie consent interactions, you can run the cookie management software indefinitely at no cost. Above that volume, paid plans scale with flat monthly fees. No per-cookie or per-consent charges.
Do you support Google Consent Mode v2?
Yes. The Cookie Consent Manager natively supports Google Consent Mode v2, setting all four required consent signals (ad_storage, analytics_storage, ad_personalization and ad_user_data) based on the visitor's cookie preferences. Since March 2024, Google has required Consent Mode v2 for conversion tracking and remarketing on sites serving EEA, UK and Swiss traffic, making it best practice for Indian sites with any European audience.. All four signals are handled correctly without any custom coding from your development team.
