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The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) goes into effect on January 1, 2020. As one part of your compliance efforts, you’ll want to adopt a Consent Management Platform (CMP). A CMP is a piece of technology used to manage consumer data preferences (in this case, California-based customers).
However, not all CMPs work for all regulations. For example, the GDPR (Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation) is not the same as the CCPA, even though both pieces of legislation have the same end goal of enhanced consumer privacy and data protection. There are subtle differences, which means that a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work. You’ll want to make sure your solution covers your specific compliance needs.
To that end, publisher-centric exchange Sovrn recently conducted a study of free and paid for CCPA-compliant CMPs. The following guide lists the pros and cons of the CMPs deemed by Sovrn as the best options for most publishers, based on features, compliance, support, and other aspects.
The Best Paid and Free CMPs for CCPA compliance
1. OneTrust
OneTrust is an e-privacy specialist, and the focus of their CMP is on complexity and compliance. OneTrust does not offer a free version of their CMP, and pricing is opaque. However, a free trial of the product can be requested. With key features such as audit logs and in-depth reporting, this is a robust solution ideal for large publishers who want to fully de-risk.
At a glance:
- Paid only; free trial available
- Impressive reporting
- Best for larger publishers
2. Admiral
Admiral offers an impressively simple control panel and a friendly, customizable brand experience, as well as consent analytics and 24/7 support. While they don’t offer a free version, there is a free trial period, and pricing is based on pageviews per domain. This is a good option for publishers searching for simplicity and scalability. It’s also the only CMP reviewed that can unlock new revenue that exceeds any CMP costs, via adblock recovery, paid subscriptions, email newsletter revenue and more, all from the same install tag.
At a glance:
- Paid only; free trial available
- Easy installation and controls
- Straightforward pricing
- Suitable for small and large publishers
3. TrustArc
Similar to OneTrust, TrustArc specializes in privacy solutions. Again, they only offer a paid version of their product, geared towards larger operations that want a robust, comprehensive solution. With multi-language compliance scanning and a simple UI, this is a good option for publishers who need the available complexity and support.
At a glance:
- Paid only; free trial available
- Best for larger publishers
4. Cookiebot
Cookiebot is hugely customizable, and an impressive number of features are made available through their API. This makes it a good choice for publishers of any size who have engineering resources on-hand. Notably, the CMP is Cookiebot’s core product. There is a free version available for smaller domains, and the pricing model for the paid version is based on the number of domains you have.
At a glance:
- Free and paid versions available
- Highly customizable
- Good for engineering-savvy publishers
5. Evidon/Crownpeak
Evidon (now owned by Crownpeak) is another paid-only option for publishers. Whereas Evidon formerly focused on GDPR consent, Crownpeak now offers a universal consent manager that’s a good option for publishers seeking a large-scale, unified consent solution (including CCPA). They claim to focus on User/Brand Experience, which can admittedly be lacking in the world of compliance-focused CMPs. You’ll need to request a demo to learn more about pricing.
At a glance:
- Paid only
- Focused on universal solutions and management for large operations
- Customizable through APIs
6. Quantcast
This list would be incomplete without the mention of Quantcast, which provides the most popular free CMP in the market. However, the Quantcast CMP was specifically designed for GDPR. While Quantcast has plans to add CCPA functionality to their paid CMP by 2020, it’s not clear that those updates have been made, or that the CMP complies with CCPA in its current form. We’ve listed Quantcast due to their popularity, but their actual utility is dependent on their commitment to CCPA compliance.
In addition to the free version, there is also a premium, paid-for CMP available at minimal added cost. As evidenced by their large number of users, Quantcast does a good job of simplifying the adoption and use of a CMP, and their product is worth keeping an eye on.
At a glance:
- CCPA compliance unclear
- Free and paid versions available
- Easy to use; suitable for large and small publishers
Conclusion
Privacy regulations aren’t going anywhere, and it’s important that publishers of all sizes take the steps to understand both the regulatory landscape and the effects on their business. While the list above offers a number of great CMPs with similar features, there are still differences (ranging from reporting to UI) that publishers will have to weigh as they decide which product is best for their specific needs.
Disclosure: What’s New In Publishing is owned and operated by Sovrn Holdings Inc. as a free service to all publishers globally. Whilst this article’s data was provided by Sovrn, the WNIP editorial team have made stringent efforts to ensure that the resultant analysis is not biased. Should you have any comments or corrections to this article, please contact editor@whatsnewinpublishing.com
