TrustArc, a privacy programme rather than a banner
TrustArc is a serious enterprise platform, and it is fair to say it is solving a bigger problem than a cookie banner. Its consent and preference manager sits alongside individual rights management and the rest of a privacy operations suite, so a legal team already running data subject requests and assessments can keep all of it with one vendor. If that is your situation, TrustArc belongs on your list and this page will not talk you out of it.
It is a different purchase from a consent banner, though, and it is priced like one. TrustArc publishes no list pricing; the packaging is modular and quote-based, which means a sales cycle before you know your number. Third-party pricing trackers give a rough sense of the range: one reports a median buyer price of about $15,120 a year, with small deployments commonly $30,000–$75,000 and multi-module enterprise contracts $100,000–$400,000 and up. Another benchmark puts the cookie consent module alone at roughly $15,000–$40,000 a year for one to five domains. Public reviews also repeat a consistent theme — a steep learning curve, a complex interface and slow support — which is worth weighing if the person who will actually run the banner is a marketer rather than a privacy specialist.
Conzent vs TrustArc at a glance
| Conzent | TrustArc | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per site, from a few euros per site per month — published, and the per-site price drops as you add sites. See current tiers | Quote only — no list pricing is published. Third-party trackers report a median of about $15,120/year, small deployments around $30,000–$75,000/year, and multi-module contracts from $100,000/year upward |
| What happens when you grow | It gets cheaper per site — add sites in the dashboard, no re-quote, no new contract | Cost tracks the modules, domains and scale in your contract, so growth is handled at renewal rather than in the product |
| GDPR / IAB TCF / Consent Mode v2 | ✓ GDPR, CCPA & 25+ regional laws ✓ IAB TCF v2.4 ✓ Consent Mode v2 (Basic & Advanced) — all included, every plan | Broad privacy coverage beyond consent, including preference and rights management · TrustArc's documentation states IAB TCF 2.2 · Google Consent Mode v2 support is not stated in its public documentation, so confirm it directly |
| CMS & platform integrations | 6 native integrations: WordPress, Wix, Joomla, Drupal, TYPO3, Umbraco — plus a universal script tag for anything else | No current CMS-by-CMS integration list is published; integrations are scoped during implementation |
| Self-hosted / open source | ✓ Yes — OCI, Apache 2.0, one-line installer, unlimited sites and pageviews | ✗ No — a commercial hosted platform; no self-hosted or open-source edition is published |
| EU data residency | ✓ Yes — managed cloud data hosted in Germany; self-host it and it never leaves your own server | No public residency statement was found — worth putting in writing during the contract conversation |
| Free tier | ✓ Free forever if self-hosted; free trial on managed cloud | ✗ None published — there is no self-serve free plan; evaluation runs through sales |
TrustArc figures are taken from its public documentation and from independent third-party pricing trackers, current in 2026 — TrustArc does not publish list pricing itself, so treat the amounts as estimates rather than quotes. Pricing changes; confirm with TrustArc before you switch. See Conzent's current plans.
Switching from TrustArc? Here's what to expect
Moving CMPs follows the same shape whichever vendor you leave: install the new script alongside the old one for a short test window, run a fresh scan to rebuild your cookie categories, configure and preview the banner, then switch the live script and remove the old one. Historical consent records stay with the vendor that collected them and don't transfer — that's normal for any CMP migration rather than anything specific to TrustArc, so plan to start your consent log fresh. Two extra things here: enterprise agreements are annual, so check the notice period before you plan a date, and if you use TrustArc for rights management or assessments as well as consent, work out what stays behind before you move the banner.
Why teams switch from TrustArc to Conzent
A price you can read before you talk to anyone
Conzent's tiers are on the pricing page. You can work out your number in a minute, put it in a budget line, and sign up without a discovery call, a scoping exercise or a procurement round.
Simple enough for whoever owns the banner
Reviewers regularly describe TrustArc as powerful but hard to learn. Conzent does one job — consent — with GDPR, CCPA, 25+ regional laws, IAB TCF v2.4 and Consent Mode v2 already switched on, so a marketing owner can run it without a privacy specialist beside them.
An exit that doesn't cost anything
Conzent's core is open source under Apache 2.0. If the commercial relationship ever stops working for you, you can run the same platform on your own server for free instead of starting a vendor search.
Frequently asked questions
How much does TrustArc cost?
TrustArc does not publish list pricing — it is quoted per module and per deployment. Independent pricing trackers report a median of roughly $15,120 a year, small deployments commonly between $30,000 and $75,000, and multi-module enterprise contracts from $100,000 upward. One benchmark puts the cookie consent module alone at about $15,000–$40,000 a year for one to five domains. Treat all of these as third-party estimates and get your own quote.
Does TrustArc have a free plan or a self-serve trial?
No free plan is published, and evaluation runs through its sales team rather than a sign-up form. Conzent has a free trial on managed cloud, and its self-hosted edition is free permanently with unlimited sites and pageviews.
Which TCF version does TrustArc support, and does it support Consent Mode v2?
TrustArc's documentation states support for IAB TCF 2.2. Its public documentation does not state Google Consent Mode v2 support, so ask for that in writing if your ad measurement depends on it. Conzent runs IAB TCF v2.4 and Consent Mode v2 in both Basic and Advanced on every plan.
What's a good TrustArc alternative if I only need consent?
If you are buying a privacy programme — rights requests, assessments, records of processing — TrustArc is the right category and a smaller CMP will not replace it. If what you actually need is a consent banner that handles GDPR, CCPA, TCF and Consent Mode v2, Conzent does that with published per-site pricing, and can be self-hosted for free under Apache 2.0.