Rick Hellewell

Google Analytics (GA) allows you to see what your visitors are doing on your site. The common installation is to run some JavaScript code in the client’s browser that reports back to GA. The problem with that is many ad-blockers will block that client-side (browser) action, resulting in incomplete GA data.
The Server Side Analytics plugin does all the work on your server. So GA is used on all site visits – even visitors using ad blocking. That gives you more accurate GA data.
Your site visitor’s IP address is anonymized (the last ‘octet’ is removed), so only the visitor’s city is known. The plugin only uses the client-side WordPress session ID, so complies with basic GDPR privacy, as long as your site has an acknowledged cookie policy. There is nothing additionally stored on the client side, so visitor privacy for this plugin and the generated analytics is assured.
All you need is a GA account – start here: https://www.google.com/analytics/ . Note that you will need to set up a “UA” type account. Help starts here: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9306384?hl=en Make sure you set up a “Universal Analytics” account – which will result in a UA-xxxxxxx-1 value to use in the plugin.
If you use Google Analytics, then you should be aware of their privacy policy, which could apply to your use of GA; see it here https://www.google.com/analytics/terms/us.html . You may also need a cookie policy and acknowledgement displayed on your site.
We suggest that you consult with your legal advisor for specific methods and messages needed for GDPR compliance on your site. We provide no warranty or guarantee of GDPR compliance. We are not providing any legal advice. We are not responsible in any way for your use of our suggested GDPR solution. Your mileage may vary. Objects in mirror are closer than you expect. All aspirin is alike. Professional driver on a closed course. Your mileage may vary.
<h3>Privacy</h3>
This plugin does not save any personal information on your server. It will store cookies on your visitor’s browsers. If you have enabled Google Analytics, it will also store a randomly-generated ID value as a cookie; there is no personal information associated with that cookie. The plugin does not share information with others.

CellarWeb Server Side Analytics

Allows using Google Analytics via server-side request. Many ad blockers block client-side Google Analytics, resulting in incomplete values.

Humanityco

Cookie Notice provides a simple, customizable website banner that can be used to help your website comply with certain cookie consent requirements under the EU GDPR cookie law and CCPA regulations and includes seamless integration with Cookie Compliance to help your site comply with the latest updates to existing consent laws.
Cookie Compliance is a fully featured Consent Management Platform (CMP) that provides automated compliance features and enhanced design controls in a state-of-the-art web application. Cookie Compliance enables websites to take a proactive approach to data protection and consent laws. It is the first solution to offer Intentional Consent, a new consent framework that incorporates the latest guidelines from over 100+ countries, and emerging standards from leading international organizations like the IEEE and European Center for Digital Rights (noyb.eu). Cookie Compliance provides a beautiful, multi-level experience and includes new choices and controls for site visitors to better understand and engage in data privacy decisions.
<blockquote>
Our Cookie Compliance web application introduces a more ethical, proactive way to capture and manage consent. This early version of the emerging Intentional Consent framework is a result of Hu-manity.co’s ongoing work with top Fortune 500 companies, governments, and standards organizations, who believe that the imbalanced relationship between consumers and corporations is unsustainable when it comes to data privacy and consent online. We are making it available for all website owners and operators who share this belief and support our mission to eliminate the dark patterns in online consent. 
 Matt Sinderbrand – Chief Platform Officer, Hu-manity.co
</blockquote>
<h3>Cookie Notice (plugin only)</h3>
Cookie Notice provides a simple, customizable website banner to help your website comply with certain cookie consent requirements.
<h4>Banner features:</h4>
<ul>
<li>Customizable notice message</li>
<li>Consent on click, scroll or close</li>
<li>Multiple cookie expiry options</li>
<li>Link to Privacy Policy page</li>
<li>WordPress Privacy Policy page synchronization</li>
<li>WPML and Polylang compatible</li>
<li>SEO friendly</li>
</ul>
<h3>Cookie Compliance (plugin + web application)</h3>
Cookie Compliance gives you access to the most up-to-date formatting guidelines and technical compliance requirements for over 100 countries and legal jurisdictions.
<h4>Banner features:</h4>
<ul>
<li>Intentional Consent provides 3 equal buttons to give site visitors the ability to accept none, some, or all cookies through packaged choices called Data Access Levels. Data Access Levels improve consent conversion and eliminate the dark pattern of deceptive, non-equal choices in the first layer. Complies with equal choice principle prescribed under GDPR and other data protection laws.</li>
<li>Consent duration selector gives visitor control over how long their consent remains valid for your site. Enables your site to align with recent guidelines from EU Data Protection Authorities, which state that cookie consent should be valid for no longer than a period of 6 months.</li>
<li>Cookie purpose categories make it easy for website visitors to customize their consent by category. Complies with affirmative, opt-in consent requirements prescribed under GDPR and other data protection laws.</li>
<li>Consent metrics displays the visitor’s consent record and a list of blocked / allowed 3rd parties directly in the expanded level of the banner. Complies with latest guidance from EU Data Protection Authorities like CNIL (France) and ICO (UK). </li>
<li>Customizable Privacy Paper provides helpful information to improve visitor comprehension and understanding of the data sharing risks and benefits. Allows you to summarize core components of your sites privacy notice and aligns with the informed principle prescribed by GDPR rules for valid consent capture. </li>
<li>Configurable Privacy Contact allows you to provide contact information for a business’ data privacy admin, as well as helpful links to data subject request forms and other data privacy resources. Aligns with the informed principle prescribed by GDPR rules for valid consent capture.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Web Application features:</h4>
<ul>
<li>Consent analytics dashboard shows event data for number of visits and provides a “trust score” to help you track how site visitors are setting their consent. Make adjustments to your banner to improve your cookie acceptance rate and monitor progress via the consent activity graph.</li>
<li>Default configurations for GDPR, CCPA and more help to remove dark patterns and allow for quick and easy deployment of the consent banner without any guesswork. Customize the design of any default configuration to match the look and feel of your site.</li>
<li>Automatic script blocking blocks all non-essential cookie scripts and iFrames by default and complies with valid consent rules under GDPR and other data protection laws; in order to be compliant, your site must record visitor consent before setting or sending cookies.</li>
<li>Google Consent Mode ensures that your website can still gather valuable insights and perform effectively while respecting users’ privacy preferences by dynamically adjusting the behavior of Google services according to user consent.</li>
<li>Facebook Consent Mode allows your website to measure the impact of your ads on Facebook, track website activities and conversions and automatically deliver ads to Facebook if the user has agreed to.</li>
<li>Consent record storage automatically stores a record of each consent and makes these records available for export. Complies with proof-of-consent requirements prescribed under GDPR and other data protection laws.</li>
<li>Multilingual support automatically translates all banner text strings and allows you to provide custom translations for every text field to ensure visitors get a consistent consent experience.</li>
<li>Multidomain management allows you to manage additional Free or Professional domains under a single account and enables you to customize banner configuration and design for each domain independently.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Cookie Compliance proactive approach:</h4>
For all businesses, the resources required to stay ahead of the latest regulations increases with the passage of each new law. With enforcement of compliance violations increasing daily, we believe it is critical for us as a trusted consent vendor to do everything in our power to help you stay ahead of these laws and remove the risk to your business
Cookie Compliance covers all current and upcoming regulations:
<ul>
<li>GDPR (EU)</li>
<li>ePrivacy Directive (EU)</li>
<li>ePrivacy Regulation (EU)</li>
<li>PECR (UK)</li>
<li>LGPD (Brazil)</li>
<li>PIPEDA (Canada)</li>
<li>PDPB (India)</li>
<li>CCPA (California, US)</li>
<li>VCDPA (Virginia, US)</li>
<li>Colorado Privacy Act (US)</li>
<li>CPRA (California, US)</li>
</ul>
Cookie Compliance incorporates all recent formatting guidance:
<ul>
<li>European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS)</li>
<li>ICO (United Kingdom)</li>
<li>CNIL (France)</li>
<li>GPDP (Italy)</li>
<li>BfDl (Germany)</li>
<li>AEPD (Spain)</li>
<li>European Center for Digital Rights (noyb.eu)</li>
</ul>
Cookie Compliance targets dark patterns
Dark Patterns are user interface (UI) techniques that push site visitors to make decisions (such as agreeing to the installation of cookies on their devices) that they might not otherwise make. The most common Dark Pattern is the lack of an equal “reject all” button on the first layer of the consent notice. Dark Patterns are explicitly banned under GDPR and other data protection laws.
As a part of our proactive approach, Cookie Compliance is configured by default to prevent Dark Patterns through our unique Intentional Consent design.

Cookie Notice & Compliance for GDPR / CCPA

So yeah it's pretty bad, not sure why it looks so popular

Crappy bloated software that adds huge unhidable ads on your whole dashboard


This plugin is culprit, like many others, of the same bad practice which consists of abusing admin notices and alerts to remind them to you, the admin. A good plugin is one that does it job and you forget about it. Adding a "ignore notification" that does absolutely nothing (class cn-notice-dismiss) is woth a systematic 1/5.


Some admin notices can't be hidden: stop bloating our admin interface

Cookie Notice allows you to you elegantly inform users that your site uses cookies and helps you comply with GDPR, CCPA and other data privacy laws.

CellarWeb Server Side Analytics vs Cookie Notice & Compliance for GDPR / CCPA