A cookie wall is a full-screen consent banner. It covers the page and stops scrolling until the visitor makes a choice, instead of floating over a page they can still use.
How it looks to visitors
- The whole window is covered by a dark overlay, and the page behind cannot be scrolled or used.
- The wall shows your banner title, logo and description, with Accept all and Manage preferences as you have them switched on. It has no Reject all button and no close button: visitors refuse through Manage preferences.
- It uses the same design, texts and categories as your banner.
- It does not show the Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy links your banner shows. Visitors find them in the preferences modal when the wall shows Manage preferences and Show policy links in the modal is on in Banner Editor > Preferences modal.
- Once the visitor chooses, the wall closes, the page works again, and the choice is kept for the rule's consent duration.
Turn on a cookie wall
A cookie wall is set per region, and only an Opt-in rule shows one. On the other consent models the switch has no effect.
- In the Banner Editor, open the Regions tab and open the Opt-in rule where you want the wall.
- Under Advanced, turn on Cookie wall.
- Select Save rule.
The wall needs a way past it, so it can be turned on only while Accept all or Manage preferences is on in the rule. If both end up hidden, for example by the Design tab's switches, the wall shows Accept all anyway, so no visitor is ever locked out.
Because the setting belongs to a region rule, you can use a wall in one region and a standard banner in another.
Before you use one
Important: European regulators say consent is not freely given when the only way into a site is to accept, unless visitors have a real alternative. The European Data Protection Board takes this view, and France's CNIL assesses cookie walls case by case after the Conseil d'Etat annulled its general ban in 2020. Check the rules that apply to your site before you turn one on.
A cookie wall can make sense where visitors have a fair alternative, for example a paid version of the content without tracking. It is not a way to raise your acceptance rate.
