A Registered IAB TCF CMP, Every Version Supported
Conzent is a registered Consent Management Platform (CMP) under the IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework. This is required for publishers who rely on programmatic advertising.
What Is the TCF?
The IAB Transparency & Consent Framework is an industry standard that allows publishers, advertisers, and ad tech vendors to communicate user consent in a standardised way. When a user grants or denies consent through a TCF-compliant CMP, a TC string is generated that encodes their choices. This string is passed through the ad tech supply chain so that every vendor respects the user's decision.
Which Versions Conzent Supports
Conzent runs on TCF v2.4 — the current technical specification — and still reads and writes v2.3 and v2.2 TC strings. You do not have to pick a version or run a migration: Conzent negotiates the right one for each visitor and each vendor, so nothing in your ad stack breaks while the industry finishes moving across. See what changes in v2.4 for the detail.
How Conzent Implements TCF
CMP registration: a CMP must be registered with IAB Europe to generate valid TC strings. On the managed cloud, Conzent operates under its own registered CMP ID, so it works out of the box. When you self-host the open-source OCI edition, you register your own CMP ID with IAB Europe (a free listing) and set it in your configuration.
Vendor list: Conzent loads the IAB Global Vendor List (GVL) and displays relevant vendors to users based on your site's ad tech stack. Visitors can grant or deny consent per vendor and per purpose.
TC string generation: on every consent action, Conzent generates a valid TC string v2.4 that encodes the user's per-purpose and per-vendor choices, falling back to v2.3 or v2.2 where a downstream vendor still requires it. This string is stored in the euconsent-v2 cookie and made available via the TCF API (__tcfapi).
Publisher restrictions: you can set publisher restrictions to override vendor defaults — for example, requiring consent for a vendor that claims legitimate interest.
Purposes
TCF v2.4 defines these standard purposes:
- Store and/or access information on a device
- Select basic ads
- Create a personalised ads profile
- Select personalised ads
- Create a personalised content profile
- Select personalised content
- Measure ad performance
- Measure content performance
- Apply market research to generate audience insights
- Develop and improve products
- Use limited data to select content
Included in Every Plan
IAB TCF is included in every Conzent plan — it is not a premium add-on. Most CMPs charge extra for the one framework that ad-funded publishers cannot operate without; Conzent does not.
- Managed cloud: TCF v2.4 (2.3 + 2.2) works out of the box under Conzent's registered CMP ID, on every plan.
- Self-hosted OCI: register your own CMP ID with IAB Europe, set it in your configuration, and TCF features enable automatically.
See pricing for details.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between TCF 2.3 and TCF 2.4?
See our dedicated post for the full detail — in short, v2.4 is the current spec; Conzent negotiates the right version per vendor automatically, so you don't have to run a migration.
Is Conzent a registered IAB TCF CMP?
Yes — on the managed cloud it operates under its own registered CMP ID; self-hosted OCI users register their own free CMP ID directly with IAB Europe.
Does IAB TCF support cost extra?
No — it's included in every Conzent plan, unlike many CMPs that charge extra for it.
Do I need IAB TCF if I don't run programmatic ads?
Not strictly, but most ad networks expect a TCF-compliant consent signal for EEA/UK traffic, so it's worth having in place even if you're not running ads yet.
Learn More
See how Conzent handles GDPR compliance and Google Consent Mode, or explore all features.