Borlabs and Real Cookie Banner direct support deprecation notice

• We dropped direct support for the Borlabs Cookie and Real Cookie Banner CMPs in the Pixel Manager.
• Direct support was deprecated starting with version 1.41.1 and has since been fully removed.
• If Borlabs or RCB implemented any of three widely adopted consent standards, integration would work out of the box - no custom code required.

Updated - March 1, 2026

This article was originally published on April 6, 2024. Since then, direct support for Borlabs Cookie and Real Cookie Banner has been fully removed from the Pixel Manager. The article has been updated to reflect the current state, to explain the standards-based paths that remain available, and to share our perspective on proprietary approaches in the CMP space.

What changed?

Starting with version 1.41.1 of the Pixel Manager, we deprecated direct support for Borlabs Cookie and Real Cookie Banner. As of April 6, 2025, all remaining direct support for these CMPs has been fully removed from the Pixel Manager.

What do we mean by "direct support"?

Direct support meant that the Pixel Manager contained specific integrations for these CMPs - detecting their consent signals automatically, mapping them to tracking categories, and managing pixel activation accordingly. These CMPs are no longer listed in the Pixel Manager's interface, and no updates or fixes are provided for them.

To be clear: the Pixel Manager directly supports a wide range of CMPs. You can find the full list on our supported consent management platforms page. These CMPs follow established standards, which makes integration straightforward and reliable. They are much better choices for site owners who want a consent solution that works with a wide range of plugins and tools without locking them into proprietary, non-standardized systems.

Additionally, the Pixel Manager supports three widely adopted, standards-based consent mechanisms that any CMP - including Borlabs and Real Cookie Banner - can implement to achieve seamless, zero-configuration integration. More on this below.

Why did we drop direct support?

Two main reasons:

• Pixel based consent instead of category based consent: Borlabs Cookie and Real Cookie Banner let visitors choose not only which categories of cookies to accept, but also which specific tracking pixels to allow. This level of granularity made it technically challenging to integrate with the Pixel Manager. Maintaining pixel-level consent mappings for each CMP was a significant and ongoing burden.

• Lack of standardization: At the time we made this decision, neither Borlabs Cookie nor Real Cookie Banner standardized the way they communicate consent decisions. Instead of implementing any of the widely adopted consent standards (Google Consent Mode, WP Consent API), they relied on proprietary interfaces. This made it extremely difficult to provide a reliable integration that worked for all users of those CMPs. It is possible that they have since added support for one or more of these standards. We have not verified this and will not be testing it on our end. If you want to find out whether your CMP now supports these standards, please contact the developers of Borlabs or Real Cookie Banner directly.

Three standards that would make it work

This is a conscious product decision, not a technical limitation. The Pixel Manager fully supports standardized, future-proof consent communication mechanisms. If Borlabs or Real Cookie Banner implemented any one of the following three standards, their users would have zero-configuration, out-of-the-box integration with the Pixel Manager - no custom code required.

1. WP Consent API

The WP Consent API is a WordPress community standard that provides a common interface for CMPs to communicate consent decisions to plugins. The Pixel Manager supports it natively. Any CMP that implements the WP Consent API works with the Pixel Manager out of the box.

2. Google Consent Mode (gtag consent updates)

The Google Consent Mode is the industry standard for communicating consent decisions to tracking tools. It is required for Google CMP certification. The Pixel Manager listens to Google Consent Mode updates automatically and blocks or unblocks tracking scripts accordingly.

The vast majority of certified CMPs already implement this standard. It is the most widely adopted consent communication mechanism in the industry.

3. Pixel Manager Consent API

The Pixel Manager provides its own Consent API - a simple, well-documented interface using category-based calls like acceptAll() and updateSelectively(). Any CMP developer can integrate with it in minutes. This API exists specifically so that any CMP, including custom-built consent banners, can communicate with the Pixel Manager.

The door is open

We do not allocate development resources to maintaining integrations that depend on unnecessarily complex or proprietary approaches when widely adopted standards already exist. But the door is wide open: if the developers of Borlabs or Real Cookie Banner choose to implement any of these three standards, their users will have seamless integration with the Pixel Manager immediately. No action required on our side - it would just work.

Is pixel based consent required for GDPR compliance?

This is a topic where even well-informed privacy experts hold different views. We will share the facts and let you draw your own conclusions.

• The GDPR does not require pixel based consent: The GDPR regulation requires that you inform your website visitors about the cookies you use and obtain their consent before setting any cookies (except for necessary cookies).

  However, the regulation does not specify that consent must be obtained for each individual tracking pixel separately.

  Category based consent is sufficient to comply with the GDPR.

• The vast majority of certified CMPs use category based consent: Google and the IAB have developed certifications for GDPR compliant Consent Management Platforms. Most certified CMPs use category based consent, and they are considered fully compliant with the GDPR.

  • List of Google certified CMPs: Source
  • List of IAB certified CMPs: Source

For example, Cookiebot and OneTrust are two of the most popular CMPs in the world. They both use category based consent, they are certified by Google and the IAB, and they are considered fully compliant with the GDPR.

To answer the question directly: Pixel based consent is not wrong, but it is not required for GDPR compliance. No single CMP vendor has a monopoly on legal compliance. Compliance is determined by adherence to the regulation, not by which specific product you use.

A note on proprietary approaches in the CMP space

The following reflects our editorial perspective, based on our experience working with dozens of CMPs over several years.

There is a pattern in the CMP space that is worth examining.

Some CMP vendors have chosen to build proprietary, non-standard consent interfaces instead of implementing widely adopted standards like Google Consent Mode or the WP Consent API. This creates a situation where every plugin developer who wants to support these CMPs must write and maintain custom integration code specifically for them - code that is fragile, hard to test across configurations, and expensive to maintain.

From an engineering perspective, this is unnecessary complexity. The standards exist. They are well-documented. They are supported by the largest players in the industry. Implementing them is straightforward.

The question is: why would a CMP vendor choose not to implement these standards?

The effect - whether intentional or not - is vendor lock-in. Once a site owner has invested significant time configuring a complex, proprietary consent setup, the cost of switching to a different CMP becomes high. Not because the alternative is worse, but because the migration requires undoing all the custom work. This complexity benefits the CMP vendor by increasing switching costs. It does not benefit the site owner.

We have also observed that some vendors in this space use fear-based messaging, suggesting to their customers that their specific CMP is the only legally compliant option and that using anything else puts them at legal risk. This is not accurate. As outlined above, the vast majority of Google-certified and IAB-certified CMPs use category based consent and are considered fully GDPR compliant. Legal compliance is not exclusive to any single vendor - it is a matter of correctly implementing the requirements of the regulation.

We recognize that every business makes its own product decisions. But we believe that prioritizing open standards over proprietary lock-in better serves the WordPress ecosystem and its users. This is why the Pixel Manager supports three distinct, standards-based consent mechanisms and why we encourage all CMP vendors to implement at least one of them.

Our position is clear: we will not allocate engineering resources to maintaining integrations that depend on unnecessarily proprietary systems when open, widely adopted standards already exist. Clean architecture and shared consent standards provide long-term stability for everyone.

What should you do?

If you are currently using Borlabs Cookie or Real Cookie Banner, you have two clear paths forward:

• Switch to a standards-compliant CMP: We recommend using a CMP that is certified by Google or the IAB, such as Cookiebot, CookiePro by OneTrust, or Complianz. These CMPs implement Google Consent Mode and/or the WP Consent API and work with the Pixel Manager out of the box - zero custom code, zero configuration.

• Ask the developers of Borlabs or Real Cookie Banner to implement a standard: If you prefer to stay with your current CMP, we encourage you to reach out to their developers and ask them to implement at least one of the three supported standards: Google Consent Mode, the WP Consent API, or the Pixel Manager Consent API. If they implement any one of these, integration with the Pixel Manager becomes automatic. We are happy to assist any CMP developer who wants to integrate with these standards.