Civic Cookie Control vs. Zest
Cookie Control by CIVIC is the budget workhorse of UK and EU consent: lightweight, category blocking, around £45 per year per domain with subdomains included. Zest is the closest thing to it that is free: one 16KB script, MIT-licensed, no licence key.
Head to head
| Cookie Control | Zest | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | PRO from ~£45/year per domain, subdomains included; Enterprise tier higher | Free forever |
| Open source | No | Yes, MIT |
| Licence key | Required per domain | None |
| Compliance coverage | GDPR, CCPA, LGPD; IAB TCF on higher tier | GDPR, UK GDPR, 19 US state laws, LGPD, PIPEDA and more via geo-targeting, Consent Mode v2, GPC |
| Setup | Sign up, get API key, add script with the key | Paste one script in your <head> |
| Weight | Lightweight banner from CIVIC CDN | 16KB, self-hostable |
| Consent model | Category toggles with per-category blocking | Four categories with script blocking until consent |
| Languages | Multiple, per-locale configuration | 12, auto-detected |
| Phone-home | Loads from CIVIC’s CDN | None |
Where Cookie Control wins
- One licence covers a domain plus all its subdomains, which is fair pricing.
- IAB TCF option on the top tier, for publishers who need it.
- Years of track record with agencies, plus WordPress and Drupal modules.
Where Zest wins
- Free, including renewals: no licence key to lose or forget to renew.
- Open source: read the code, self-host it, change it.
- No phone-home, on a privacy tool that asks for trust.
Pick Cookie Control if
You are already on it and happy, or you need its IAB TCF tier for programmatic ads.
Pick Zest if
You are the kind of person who would pick Cookie Control, minus the invoice. Same shape of product, category blocking, no heavy dashboard, but with an MIT licence instead of a key. Try the playground.
FAQ
What is the honest gap between them? IAB TCF for programmatic advertising: Cookie Control’s top tier covers it, Zest does not yet. That is the one case where paying is the correct answer.
Does Cookie Control have a free plan? No, it is a paid annual licence from the start, though cheaper than the big platforms. Zest is free with the same lightweight approach.
Can I self-host? Cookie Control offers self-hosting on its Enterprise tier. Zest is self-hostable by default on every install.
* Pricing and plan details for third-party products change often. This page reflects what we could verify on October 28, 2026 — check the vendor's current pricing before you decide.