--- title: c15t vs iubenda description: Compare c15t and iubenda to choose how much control you need over consent, your application, and your records. group: reference lastModified: "2026-10-10T16:01:45+01:00" --- ## Keep control of consent in your product c15t is the stronger fit when your product team wants to own the consent interface, vendor rules and record backend. Your developers can change its open-source code. They can build consent into the application they already build. Choose iubenda if you want consent tools, website scans, and legal documents in one managed package. Its [plans](https://www.iubenda.com/en/pricing/) combine these products with different features and usage limits. This page covers the current alpha release. Check the [upgrade guide](/changelog/3.0.0#upgrading) before you change a current installation. ## Let Inth run your consent backend You need a backend to store consent records outside the visitor's browser. [Inth](https://inth.com) builds c15t and hosts that backend and its database for c15t's framework integrations, browser package and headless API. Your consent interface and vendor controls stay in your application. Connect your application to an Inth project with the [framework setup guide](/docs/frameworks). Inth also serves your consent policy, so static sites can use it without their own application server. Offline mode keeps choices on the visitor's device and creates no remote consent records. Use it for development and tests, not production. You can [self-host the c15t backend](/docs/self-host/overview) when your team needs to operate the service. Your team then owns the database, backups, updates and availability. ## Choose the control your team needs IAB TCF means the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework. It defines rules for consent to vendors and purposes. |What you need|c15t|iubenda| |--|--|--| |Use your application framework|Native adapters for web frameworks|A hosted script and integrations for site platforms| |Read consent in your code|Reactive state through framework hooks|Browser functions and callbacks| |Send the banner from your server|Supported when your server waits for consent resolution|The web guide uses a hosted banner script| |Match your product design|Themes, components, or your own interface|Custom styles and banner content| |Set when vendors run|Category and vendor rules for scripts and embeds|Automatic blocking, manual tags, and tag-manager integrations| |Give visitors vendor choices|Vendor switches outside IAB TCF, plus IAB controls|Purpose categories and IAB vendor controls| |Choose where records stay|Inth hosts the backend and stores records in its database. Self-hosting is optional|A managed consent service| |Keep evidence of consent|Records in the selected backend|Consent logs in all current plans| |Manage legal documents|Your documents, with helpers for versions and signed snapshots|Generated policies and other legal tools| |Discover cookies automatically|**Not included in the c15t packages**|Website scans| |Get help from an assistant|Docs and skills in installed packages|A Claude and ChatGPT connector| iubenda sources: [integration guide](https://www.iubenda.com/en/help/1205-how-to-configure-your-cookie-solution-advanced-guide-2/), [automatic blocking](https://www.iubenda.com/en/help/133036-prior-blocking-of-cookies-automatic-blocking-auto-blocking-2/), [consent logs](https://www.iubenda.com/en/help/45718-cookie-preference-log/), and [assistant connector](https://www.iubenda.com/en/help/222393-how-to-connect-iubenda-to-claude-and-chatgpt/). ## Make the consent interface match your product Build the consent interface you want while c15t handles consent state. Start with the c15t banner and preference centre. Change the theme, replace component parts, or build the interface yourself. c15t supports React, Next.js, Vue, Nuxt, Svelte, SvelteKit, Astro, and TanStack Start. A script-tag package serves sites without these frameworks. Your video placeholders, vendor scripts, and privacy controls can use the same consent state. Framework hooks let application code read changes to that state. Your team can review those changes with the rest of the product code. See the guides for [custom styles](/docs/frameworks/react/customize) and [your own interface](/docs/frameworks/react/headless). iubenda also has custom styles and browser functions. c15t adds native framework components that your developers can compose into the application. ## Choose what the page waits for You can choose whether the page waits for consent resolution. In Next.js, c15t supports these paths: * **Show the page first.** Stream the consent state after the page starts. The banner appears after the browser applies that state. * **Send the banner from the server.** Wait for consent resolution before the server sends the banner. This adds a wait to that response. * **Keep static pages.** Resolve consent in the browser. Do not put one visitor's consent state in a page that other visitors share. Scripts configured to wait for consent stay blocked while consent resolves. The consent rules then decide which scripts can run. Your server can reuse a consent manifest, a public document with consent rules. This avoids a separate policy lookup at the backend for each application request when the cache is warm. Cache refreshes and consent saves still need the backend. See [page behaviour by deployment](/docs/frameworks/next/rendering) and [how c15t gets consent rules](/docs/concepts/data-fetching). iubenda documents [ways to optimise script delivery](https://www.iubenda.com/en/help/3834-cache-and-optimisation-of-the-iubenda-cookie-solution/). It also offers [server-side tracking](https://www.iubenda.com/en/server-side-tracking/), which processes measurement events. Those features serve different tasks from consent resolution in your application. We did not benchmark the two products, so this page makes no claim that c15t is faster. ## Decide which vendor code can run You can review each vendor's consent rules with the feature that adds it. Declare the vendor through [c15t integrations](/docs/integrations/overview). Set its consent category and vendor identifier in code. A visitor can accept a category but reject one vendor in that category. For example, the visitor can accept analytics but reject a named analytics service. These vendor switches work outside IAB TCF. IAB TCF uses separate controls for vendors and purposes. See [vendor consent](/docs/frameworks/react/vendor-consent). Some integrations intentionally load before consent. Google Consent Mode integrations, for example, receive denied signals instead of a complete block. Check each integration before you assume that it sends no requests. iubenda can block scripts from site-scan results, policy categories, known trackers, and custom domain rules. This can reduce manual work on a site. c15t gives your developers explicit rules to review and test. The banner alone does not take control of every tag already on the site. ## Set what happens after consent withdrawal You can define which browser data c15t removes after a visitor revokes a category. Its optional [clear-on-revocation rules](/docs/frameworks/react/clear-on-revocation) remove declared cookies and browser-storage keys. c15t normally reloads the page after withdrawal to stop vendor code that already ran. A vendor-only refusal does not trigger category cleanup. Browser code cannot delete another origin's cookies or `HttpOnly` cookies. Check these limits against the vendors on your site. Do not treat a consent change as proof that all vendor data is gone. ## Choose who runs the backend You can use Inth now and keep the option to run the c15t backend yourself. Both paths use the [same backend protocol](/docs/self-host/overview). The [Apache-2.0 licence](https://github.com/c15t/c15t/blob/v3/LICENSE.md) lets your team read, change, and run the source code. Your team can trace how the application saves a visitor's choice. If you run the backend, you own its database, backups, updates, and availability. Inth is the recommended path if you do not want that operational work. iubenda also keeps consent records. Its [Cookie and Consent Preference Log](https://www.iubenda.com/en/help/45718-cookie-preference-log/) comes with every current plan, even the free plan. c15t gives you the additional choice to run the record system yourself. That choice matters when your organisation needs its own servers or database. ## Keep evidence of the document you show You can tie your consent flow to a specific legal-document version. The c15t backend can store that document's version and content hash. A content hash is a value that identifies document content. The [snapshot helpers](/docs/self-host/guides/legal-document-snapshot-integration) let your server sign and check that document identity in an acceptance flow. Your developers must connect those helpers to the flow. A signed snapshot does not prove that a visitor accepted the document. c15t does not write the legal text. iubenda generates privacy and cookie policies. It is a broader fit if you need document generation as part of the same package. ## Compare layouts before a wider release You can compare consent layouts without a different policy for each group. c15t [banner experiments](/docs/guides/banner-experiments) change the presentation and theme. The policy, categories, and policy text stay the same. Use your feature-flag tool to assign each visitor a variant, or let c15t assign variants by weight. Impressions and choices carry the variant identifier. Backend summaries show choices and time to decision for each variant. Presentation checks flag some design choices for review. They do not certify that an experiment meets legal requirements. iubenda's [Ultimate plan](https://www.iubenda.com/en/pricing/) includes detailed consent analytics. Check the experiment workflow that you need in a product trial. ## Pay for the scope you need You can choose c15t without a software licence fee. Budget separately for Inth or the servers and work to run your own backend. iubenda bundles consent administration with legal documents and website scans. Its plans differ by pageviews, scan frequency, languages, and other features. Check its [current prices](https://www.iubenda.com/en/pricing/) for extra pageviews and form-consent services. Both products support Google Consent Mode, IAB workflows and [Global Privacy Control](https://www.iubenda.com/en/help/162529-global-privacy-control/), a browser signal for privacy preferences. Choose c15t when you want native framework code, your own interface, and control over the backend. Choose iubenda when its broader managed package matches your needs. ## What c15t does not include * **Generated privacy and cookie policies.** Supply your legal text. Document snapshot helpers do not write it. * **Automatic website scans.** Keep a separate process to discover and classify the services on your site. * **The whole iubenda legal suite.** Form-consent products and wider legal administration need their own scope review. * **A free managed backend.** Budget for Inth or the database and service that your team operates. * **Automatic migration of previous choices.** Map purposes, vendor identifiers and policy versions before you reuse records. These limits refer to the c15t packages. Evaluate any additional Inth services separately. ## Check the fit before you switch A small trial lets your team check the work before a wider move. Use a test deployment for the trial. Keep one owner for consent so two systems do not compete. 1. Start with [Inth and the framework setup guide](/docs/frameworks). 2. List the tags that iubenda currently controls. 3. Move one analytics vendor and one embed into c15t. 4. Remove their old loaders. 5. Check a fresh visit, rejection, acceptance, reload, and withdrawal. 6. Check the network requests, consent interface, and saved records. Do not assume that an iubenda cookie maps directly to a c15t record. Map the purposes, policy version, and saved choices before any transfer. You can keep iubenda-generated documents with c15t as the consent runtime. Follow the [consent checks](/docs/guides/verify-consent) before the public release. We reviewed the sources on 6 October 2026. The c15t claims refer to the alpha release reviewed here. The iubenda claims refer to the linked public docs. If those docs do not list a feature, that does not prove that iubenda lacks it.