Consent mode and consent tools
GTM4WP loads your Google Tag Manager container, and your consent tool decides what is allowed to run once it is there. The Consent mode & consent tools section of the plugin settings connects those two, and the pages below describe each part of it.
This page describes GTM4WP 2.0.0 and newer. Where the legacy 1.x versions of the plugin behaved differently, the older behavior is marked with a bold GTM4WP 1.x: lead-in.
If you are not sure where to start, read the Google consent mode page first. It explains the one decision every other page on this list refers back to.
Google consent mode
The consent default command, the seven signals and how to build the update command in your container. Start here.
Cookiebot
Keep Cookiebot automatic cookie blocking from holding back the data layer and the container code.
CookieYes
Turn the CookieYes consent events into a data layer event your container can trigger on.
Axeptio
Let the plugin load the Axeptio SDK and hand consent mode v2 over to Axeptio. No separate Axeptio plugin needed.
What the plugin does, and what your consent tool does
GTM4WP decides nothing about consent. It has no banner, it never asks the visitor anything, and no part of it reads whether consent was given. What it offers is plumbing between the consent tool you have chosen and the Google Tag Manager container it loads.
That plumbing comes in three shapes, and knowing which one you are looking at saves a lot of confusion:
- The consent mode default, which tells Google what to assume before anyone has chosen. This is the only consent signal the plugin sends by itself.
- A bridge, which turns a consent tool’s own browser event into a data layer event your container can trigger on. CookieYes and WebToffee v2.x work this way.
- A compatibility switch, which changes how the plugin writes its own code so that a consent tool does not break it. The Cookiebot option is the only one of these.
Axeptio is the exception to all three, and the only case where the plugin loads a consent tool for you rather than connecting to one that is already there.
Which combination do I need
Nearly every support question about this section comes down to one thing: who sends the consent mode default command. It must be sent once, before your Google tags load. If both the plugin and your consent tool send one, they can overwrite each other. If neither does, your Google tags start with no instruction at all.
Find your situation in the table and set the Google Consent Mode checkbox accordingly.
| Your setup | Google Consent Mode option | What sends the update |
|---|---|---|
| Cookiebot installed on the site | On, every signal denied | Cookiebot, on consent submission |
| Cookiebot deployed through a tag in your container, with consent mode enabled in that tag | Off | The Cookiebot tag |
| CookieYes, using its own Google consent mode feature | Off | CookieYes |
| CookieYes, with the GTM4WP bridge only | On, every signal denied | A consent mode tag in your container, fired by the bridge event |
| Axeptio, with Google Consent Mode v2 enabled in the Axeptio settings | Suppressed automatically, whatever the checkbox says | Axeptio |
| Axeptio, without that option | On, every signal denied | A consent mode tag in your container, fired by the Axeptio event |
| Any other consent tool that sends both commands | Off | Your consent tool |
| Any other consent tool that sends the update only | On, every signal denied | Your consent tool |
Leaving every signal denied is the right starting point for visitors in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom. Ticking a signal makes it granted before the visitor has agreed to anything.
WebToffee GDPR Cookie Consent
The plugin still carries an integration with WebToffee GDPR Cookie Consent, and it is now deprecated. It only ever targeted the v2.x line of that product. WebToffee v3.x and above talk to Google Tag Manager on their own, so on a current WebToffee installation the option is unnecessary and you should upgrade the WebToffee plugin instead of enabling it.
The option keeps working for sites that still run v2.x, and the existing WebToffee setup guide still describes it. No further development is planned for it.
My consent tool is not listed
Most consent tools need nothing from GTM4WP. The integrations above exist because those particular tools needed a piece of glue that was awkward to build by hand. A consent tool that pushes its own data layer event, or that sends consent mode signals to Google itself, needs only the consent mode default from the plugin, and sometimes not even that.
The last two rows of the table above are the general answer. Work out whether your tool sends the default command, set the checkbox to the opposite, and build the update in your container from whatever event your tool provides.
Where this fits into GDPR
These pages describe how to wire things up. The wider question of what needs consent in the first place, what the plugin itself stores in the browser, and why blocking the whole container is rarely the right answer, is covered on the GDPR page.
