Why people switch from Usercentrics
Usercentrics is a capable, Google Gold-tier, IAB-registered consent platform, and most people searching for a replacement are not leaving because the banner failed. They are leaving because of how it is sold: a meter that counts sessions rather than people, a plan that upgrades itself when the meter runs over, the features you expected in the price turning up as add-ons, and a second brand from the same company on every alternatives list. Each of the four is verifiable on Usercentrics' own pages.
1. The meter is sessions, not visitors
Usercentrics' pricing FAQ defines the unit: “A session represents each time a visitor loads your website with our compliance script for a 30-minute period. Each refresh by a user after 30 minutes is counted as a new session.” One person who comes back four times in a month is four sessions. Pro covers 15,000 of them for €30 a month, and the FAQ adds that domains and subdomains “are treated equally and are both counted within your subscription”, so example.com and shop.example.com are two of Pro's three domains.
2. The plan upgrades itself when you run over
The pricing page says it plainly: “For seamless compliance, plans automatically upgrade when plan limits are exceeded as per our Terms & Conditions.” Above Business (€50 for 50,000 sessions and 10 domains) the same plan climbs a ladder the FAQ publishes: €100 for 100,000 sessions, €150 for 150,000, €200 for 200,000, €250 for 250,000, €400 for 500,000, €575 for 750,000 and €750 for 1,000,000, then a yearly-billed Corporate plan. Every plan below Corporate bills monthly, so the number on the invoice follows the traffic.
“Charged 720 euros for having two domains, when last year I paid 80 euros.”
Usercentrics customer, r/CookiebotUsercentric3. The expected features are add-ons or top tiers
On the pricing page, “No branding: Remove ‘Powered by Usercentrics’” is marked Add-on at every tier, Business included, alongside A/B testing and the data export API. Custom CSS arrives at Business (€50). Essential (€7) lets you pick one privacy regulation from the list and two banner languages; geolocation rules start at Plus (€15); cross-domain consent sharing and IAB TCF start at Pro (€30).
“Basic customization features locked behind expensive plans.”
Jonas K., G2 reviewer4. Cookiebot is the same company
Usercentrics acquired Cookiebot in 2021. The WordPress plugin is published as “Cookiebot by Usercentrics”, the support center carries an article titled “Do I have a Cookiebot or a Usercentrics account?”, and the two pricing pages show the same dollar ladder ($8, $16, $34, $56, $96) for plans that are metered differently: Cookiebot by subpages, Usercentrics by sessions. Asked for Usercentrics alternatives, ChatGPT now notes that Cookiebot is a Usercentrics product and leaves it off the list. So does this page.
Not sure what your Usercentrics banner actually blocks before consent? Run your site through the free compliance scanner and see exactly which trackers fire. It is the fastest way to check whether the banner is doing the one job it exists for.
The alternatives at a glance
Eight tools, including ours, on the things a Usercentrics switcher actually asks about: what it costs per site, whether it meters sessions, pageviews or visitors, how many domains come with the plan, whether it is registered for IAB TCF, and where it sits on Google's CMP Partner list. Every price was read from the vendor's own pricing page on September 21, 2026; TCF registration is from IAB Europe's public CMP list and the Google tier from the CMP Partner Program directory, both read the same day.
| Tool | Starts at | Metered on | Domains | IAB TCF | Google CMP Partner | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ConsentStack | Free; Pro $29/mo for 30,000 unique visitors | Unique visitors: 1,000 free, 30,000 Pro, 1,000,000 Business | 1 free; 2 on Pro, $5/mo each after; 3 on Business | No | Not listed | A banner you write yourself, metered on visitors, on more than one site |
| CookieYes | Free (5,000 pageviews); Basic $10/mo per domain | Pageviews: 5,000 free, 100,000 Basic, 300,000 Pro ($25), unlimited Ultimate ($55); $0.30 per 1,000 extra on Basic and Pro | One plan per domain | Yes (CMP 401) | Gold | The lowest per-domain list price, with a free tier that stays on |
| iubenda | Essentials $5.99/site/mo billed yearly (EU list: €4.99) | Pageviews: 25,000 Essentials, 50,000 Advanced ($24.99), 150,000 Ultimate ($99.99); €0.05 per 1,000 over | One plan per site | Yes (CMP 123) | Gold | Legal documents and a banner from one vendor |
| Complianz | Free plugin; Premium $59/yr for 1 site | None (runs inside WordPress) | 1, 5 or 25 sites by licence ($59, $179, $399 a year) | Yes (CMP 332) | Silver | WordPress-only sites that want a flat yearly fee |
| Osano | Free (5,000 visitors); Plus $199/mo | Monthly visitors: 5,000 free, 30,000 Plus | 1 free; 3 on Plus | Yes (CMP 279) | Silver | Consent plus privacy-program features on a self-serve plan |
| Didomi | No public price; Essential, Advanced and Premium on a quote | Monthly unique visitors (quoted) | Unlimited, priced on visitors | Yes (CMP 7) | Gold | Publishers and apps running IAB TCF at scale |
| Ketch | Free (5,000 unique users); Starter $150/mo | Unique users: 5,000 free, 30,000 Starter, 100,000 Plus (from $499/mo billed annually) | Not stated on the pricing page | Yes (CMP 340) | Silver | Consent tied to data-rights workflows and data mapping |
| OneTrust | No public price; Vendr median $11,970/yr | Contract | Contract | Yes (CMP 28) | Gold | Enterprise privacy programs |
Sources, all read on September 21, 2026: usercentrics.com/pricing (euro list; the dollar figures are the page's own currency toggle), cookieyes.com/pricing, iubenda.com/en/pricing (the page prices by region: the US list was read on September 11, 2026, the EU list on September 15, 2026), complianz.io/pricing (a promo code was showing), osano.com/plans/cookie-consent, didomi.io/offers (no prices published), ketch.com/pricing, onetrust.com/pricing (no prices published; the Vendr median is from our OneTrust cost comparison), iabeurope.eu/cmp-list (CMP IDs), cmppartnerprogram.withgoogle.com (tiers). ConsentStack prices are from our pricing page.
ConsentStack: if you are leaving for the meter, not for TCF
If the reason you are leaving Usercentrics is the session meter or the add-on list, ConsentStack is the closest replacement. It is metered on unique visitors, so a returning visitor is still one visitor; Pro covers 30,000 of them and 2 domains for $29 a month with branding removal, custom CSS and JavaScript and headless mode included, not sold separately. It covers 195+ regulations with geo-detection on every tier and signals consent to 7 ad platforms. What it does not do is generate IAB TCF strings or ship a mobile SDK: if either is why you chose Usercentrics, the honest picks are in the table above and in When to keep Usercentrics below.
The other seven, one at a time
Each entry names the price that matters for a switcher, what it meters, whether it holds TCF and Google status, and the one trade you make. Where we have a full comparison page, it is linked.
CookieYes: the lowest per-domain list price
CookieYes is the alternative ChatGPT names first as of September 2026, for the price and the setup. Free covers 5,000 pageviews a month with an active banner; Basic is $10 a month per domain for 100,000 pageviews, Pro $25 for 300,000 with geo-targeting and Global Privacy Control, Ultimate $55 unlimited with branding removal. Basic and Pro can buy extra pageviews at $0.30 per 1,000. It is IAB TCF registered (CMP 401) and a Google Gold partner. The trade is one plan per domain, so the second site doubles the bill, and a pageview meter that a busy site fills faster than a session meter. Full comparison: CookieYes alternatives.
iubenda: documents and a banner from one vendor
iubenda is the pick if you want a privacy and cookie policy generated alongside the banner, per site. Essentials is $5.99 a site a month billed yearly on the US list (€4.99 in Europe) for 25,000 pageviews, then €0.05 per 1,000; Advanced is $24.99 (€19.99) for 50,000 pageviews and adds terms and conditions; Ultimate is $99.99 (€79.99) for 150,000. TCF registered (CMP 123), Google Gold. Like Usercentrics it is European and priced per property; unlike Usercentrics it meters pageviews with an overage rather than sessions with an automatic step up.
Complianz: a flat yearly fee, WordPress only
Complianz is a WordPress plugin with a free version on wordpress.org and a Premium licence at $59 a year for one site, $179 for five and $399 for twenty-five. It runs on your own install, so there is no session, pageview or visitor meter and nothing to auto-upgrade, and it is TCF registered (CMP 332) and a Google Silver partner. The trade is that it only exists on WordPress. Full comparison: ConsentStack vs Complianz.
Osano: consent plus a privacy program, self-serve
Osano's free plan covers 5,000 monthly visitors on one domain; Plus is $199 a month for 30,000 monthly visitors, three domains and two users, and adds privacy and legal templates and a UK and GDPR representative. TCF registered (CMP 279), Google Silver. It meters visitors like ConsentStack, at $199 for the same 30,000-visitor tier ConsentStack Pro sells for $29, so pick it for the privacy-program features around the banner. Full comparison: ConsentStack vs Osano.
Didomi: TCF at publisher scale
Didomi publishes no prices. Its offers page lists Essential, Advanced and Premium tiers on a quote, with unlimited domains priced on monthly unique visitors, and it is TCF CMP 7 and a Google Gold partner. It is the alternative ChatGPT names for publishers, media and apps, and the right call if IAB TCF, vendor consent and consent-rate optimisation across web and mobile are the job. The trade is a sales conversation before a price.
Ketch: consent tied to data rights
Ketch is free for 5,000 unique users with two integrations; Starter is $150 a month for 30,000 unique users, Plus from $499 a month billed annually for 100,000, and Pro is custom with data-subject-rights automation, data mapping and risk assessments. TCF registered (CMP 340), Google Silver. Choose it when consent needs to connect to the rest of a privacy program; for the banner alone, Starter is $150 for the visitor tier ConsentStack Pro sells for $29. Full comparison: ConsentStack vs Ketch.
OneTrust: the enterprise option
OneTrust publishes no prices. Vendr puts the median contract at $11,970 a year before implementation fees, and the product is a privacy program (data mapping, subject requests, vendor risk) with a consent banner inside it. TCF CMP 28, Google Gold. It is the right answer when a procurement team is asking the question, and the wrong one for a site that outgrew a €30 plan. Full comparison: OneTrust pricing vs ConsentStack.
Also on most lists: Cookiebot, which is a Usercentrics brand (see reason 4 above); Termly and TrustArc, both Google Gold and TCF registered; and CookieFirst, Enzuzo and Seers, each of which ranks its own product first on its own Usercentrics-alternatives page. So do we, which is why every number on this page names its source and date.
Usercentrics vs ConsentStack pricing
ConsentStack Pro and Usercentrics Pro are the tiers a small team lands on. Here is what each one meters, what each one includes, and what happens at the top of the plan.
- 30,000 unique visitors, 2 domains
- Branding removed, included
- Custom CSS and JavaScript
- Headless mode + full API
- 7 native ad integrations
- 25 languages
- 195+ regulations
- IAB TCF
- 15,000 sessions, 3 domains
- Branding removal: paid add-on
- Custom CSS: Business tier only
- A/B testing: paid add-on
- IAB TCF v2.3
- 60 banner languages
- Google Consent Mode v2
- Auto-upgrade when limits are exceeded
$5 a month less, and the meter is people
Usercentrics Pro is €30, which its own currency toggle shows as $34; ConsentStack Pro is $29, or $23 billed annually. For that, ConsentStack counts 30,000 unique visitors where Usercentrics counts 15,000 sessions, and a session ends after 30 minutes, so the same person reading your site on Monday and again on Thursday is one visitor here and two sessions there. Usercentrics includes a third domain on Pro; ConsentStack includes two and charges $5 a month for each one after that, so three domains are $34 on both, and five are $44 against Usercentrics Business at €50 ($56).
Both plans step up when you outgrow them; one prints the price
Usercentrics' pricing page says plans “automatically upgrade when plan limits are exceeded”, and above Business the FAQ publishes a ladder from €100 to €750 a month. ConsentStack does something similar and says so: a monthly Pro site that passes 30,000 unique visitors is moved to Business so the banner keeps serving, the new rate is not charged until the next renewal, and Business is one published price, $79 a month for up to 1,000,000 visitors and 3 domains, with $25 packs of 500,000 visitors above that. On the free Basic plan the banner does stop at 1,000 visitors until the next cycle. Annual Pro plans are handled by a person rather than switched or switched off.
Branding removal is included, not an add-on
On Usercentrics, removing “Powered by Usercentrics” is an add-on at every tier and custom CSS waits for Business. On ConsentStack, Pro removes the branding and opens custom CSS, custom JavaScript and headless mode, and the visual builder (12 color tokens, 5 banner layouts, 4 preferences center layouts, every word of the text editable) is on every tier, including free.
Every tier is public
ConsentStack pricing is public through Business at $79/mo, in dollars. Usercentrics publishes its ladder through Business in euros, with a currency toggle, and its Corporate plan for more than a million sessions is a sales conversation billed yearly.
Source for Usercentrics prices: usercentrics.com/pricing, read on September 21, 2026: Free (fewer than 1,000 sessions, 1 domain), Essential €7 (1,500 sessions, 1 domain, 1 regulation, 2 languages), Plus €15 (3,000 sessions, 1 domain), Pro €30 (15,000 sessions, 3 domains), Business €50 (50,000 sessions, 10 domains), then Business tiers of €100 / €150 / €200 / €250 / €400 / €575 / €750 for 100,000 to 1,000,000 sessions, Corporate on request. The page's currency toggle shows $8 / $16 / $34 / $56 for the four named tiers. Essential to Business bill monthly; Corporate bills yearly. User quotes from r/CookiebotUsercentric and G2.
Coverage
Usercentrics' marketing claims support for “50+ global regulations and frameworks”; its pricing page's regulation picker names eight (GDPR, LGPD, POPIA, CCPA/CPRA, VCDPA, CPA, CTDPA, UCPA), and the Essential plan lets you choose one of them. ConsentStack covers 195+ regulations across 157+ jurisdictions on every tier, including free. One toggle in the dashboard enables Global Compliance Mode, which resolves the correct consent model per visitor at the CDN edge: opt-in for Europe, opt-out for California, notice where that is all the law requires.
All 20 enacted US state privacy laws resolve per-state from that one toggle. A visitor from Texas gets different treatment than a visitor from California, automatically, with no per-region configuration and no regulation to pick from a list.
Metered on people. Priced in the open.
30,000 unique visitors and 2 domains for $29/mo, branding removal and custom CSS included, 195+ regulations, 7 ad integrations, a ~46 KB SDK. No session counting, no add-on list.
When to keep Usercentrics
Usercentrics has genuine strengths that ConsentStack does not match today. If any of these is why you chose it, the honest advice is to stay, or to pick the alternative in the table that shares the strength.
IAB TCF is a hard requirement
Usercentrics is IAB Europe CMP 5 and includes TCF v2.3 from its Pro plan. ConsentStack does not generate TCF strings. If your ad partners require them, keep Usercentrics or pick Didomi, OneTrust or one of the registered smaller tools above.
You need in-app or connected-TV consent
Usercentrics offers native SDKs for iOS, Android, Flutter, React Native and Unity, plus connected-TV support. ConsentStack is web-only. If your product includes a mobile app that needs consent management alongside the website, Usercentrics covers both in one account.
Google Gold tier matters to your ad team
Usercentrics is a Gold-tier partner in Google's CMP Partner Program. ConsentStack supports Google Consent Mode v2 in basic mode and is not on the partner list. If your ad revenue depends on Google and the certification is a checkbox in procurement, that is a real difference.
You want sixty banner languages, or a broader platform
Usercentrics Pro ships pre-set banner text in 60 languages; ConsentStack ships 25. Usercentrics also sells a Preference Manager, server-side tracking and an MCP Manager for AI-agent governance from the same pricing page. ConsentStack focuses on doing web consent management exceptionally well.
For the use cases above, Usercentrics is a reasonable choice and a well-established one. For a website that wants a banner it controls, metered on the people who visit rather than the sessions they open, at a price that stays where it is published, ConsentStack is the stronger option.
FAQ
It depends on why you are leaving. If the session meter is the problem and you want a banner you can write yourself, ConsentStack is the closest replacement: $29/month for 30,000 unique visitors and 2 domains, branding removal included. If you need IAB TCF at publisher scale, Didomi or OneTrust. If you want the legal documents too, iubenda. If the site is WordPress only, Complianz. If you want consent inside a privacy program, Osano or Ketch. CookieYes has the lowest per-domain list price and a free tier that stays on.
Yes. ConsentStack's Basic plan is free for 1,000 unique monthly visitors on one domain. CookieYes is free for 5,000 pageviews a month, Osano for 5,000 monthly visitors, Ketch for 5,000 unique users, and Complianz has a free plugin on wordpress.org. Usercentrics' own free plan covers fewer than 1,000 monthly sessions on one domain, and a session is one 30-minute visit, so a returning visitor uses it up faster than a visitor count suggests.
Usercentrics' pricing FAQ defines it: "A session represents each time a visitor loads your website with our compliance script for a 30-minute period. Each refresh by a user after 30 minutes is counted as a new session." So one person who visits four times in a month is four sessions. Pro covers 15,000 sessions a month across 3 domains for €30 ($34 on the page's currency toggle). ConsentStack counts unique visitors: the same person is one visitor however often they return, and Pro covers 30,000 of them.
The pricing page says: "For seamless compliance, plans automatically upgrade when plan limits are exceeded as per our Terms & Conditions." The FAQ adds that the plan "will automatically be adjusted" to avoid disruption. Above Business (€50 for 50,000 sessions and 10 domains) the same plan climbs a ladder: €100 for 100,000 sessions, €150 for 150,000, €200 for 200,000, €250 for 250,000, €400 for 500,000, €575 for 750,000 and €750 for 1,000,000, then a yearly-billed Corporate plan. ConsentStack also moves a monthly Pro site to Business when it passes 30,000 visitors, and Business is a single published price of $79/month for up to 1,000,000 visitors.
No. Usercentrics acquired Cookiebot in 2021, the WordPress plugin is published as "Cookiebot by Usercentrics", Usercentrics' support center has an article titled "Do I have a Cookiebot or a Usercentrics account?", and the two pricing pages share the same dollar ladder ($8, $16, $34, $56, $96). Cookiebot still sells its own plans, priced by subpages rather than sessions, but if vendor independence is why you are looking, it is the same vendor.
All seven of the other tools on this page are registered on IAB Europe's CMP list: CookieYes (CMP 401), iubenda (123), Complianz (332), Osano (279), Didomi (7), Ketch (340) and OneTrust (28). Usercentrics itself is CMP 5 and includes TCF v2.3 from its Pro plan. ConsentStack is not on the list and does not generate TCF strings. If your ad partners require TCF, pick Didomi or OneTrust at scale, or CookieYes, iubenda or Complianz on a smaller site.
On the free Basic plan, yes: at 1,000 unique monthly visitors the banner stops showing until the next cycle. On a monthly Pro plan, reaching 30,000 unique visitors moves the site to Business automatically so the banner keeps serving, and the new rate is not charged until the next renewal. Annual Pro plans are handled by a person rather than switched off. Usercentrics' equivalent is the automatic plan adjustment described on its pricing page.
Usercentrics Pro is €30/month, shown as $34 on the page's currency toggle, for 15,000 sessions and 3 domains, with branding removal and A/B testing sold as add-ons and custom CSS reserved for Business (€50). ConsentStack Pro is $29/month ($23 billed annually) for 30,000 unique visitors and 2 domains, $5/month per extra domain, with branding removal, custom CSS and JavaScript, headless mode and 7 ad platform integrations included. What ConsentStack does not include is IAB TCF or a mobile SDK.
Related Comparisons
We also ran Usercentrics' free cookie scanner against a test site with documented consent violations, alongside 11 other scanners. See the tested cookie scanner comparison for what it caught and missed.
Evaluating other consent management platforms? See how ConsentStack compares.
