Free and Affordable Privacy Policy Tools to Keep Your Business Compliant

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched a tool that helps small businesses, sole traders, and other organisations create privacy notices. These privacy notices aren’t your generic templates, but are instead tailored to the organisation – and completely free.

The fact that it’s free shows the ICO’s commitment to helping website owners get it right.

“We’re always looking for ways to make data protection compliance simple and stress-free for smaller organisations and startups, who tend to have less time and fewer resources,” ICO head of business services Faye Spencer told ComputerWeekly.

Since GDPR and similar regulations like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) came into effect, businesses of all sizes have been investing significantly in compliance solutions.

Following GDPR’s implementation, for example, by 2018 a total of $7.8 billion was spent by Fortune Global 500 companies to ensure compliance with relevant legislation. The broader data privacy and protection market is set to see continued growth driven by the increasing demand for data privacy management software and legal services.

This sector has become lucrative for legal service providers, compliance software firms, and companies specialising in privacy management, as businesses need to stay compliant with various international regulations. Consequently, there are now a number of tools and website addons freely available to help you stay compliant, and foster a good relationship with your audiences.

How To Get Your Privacy Notice For Free

There are an increasing number of privacy notice generators and apps available, some more capable than others. While the list below isn’t exhaustive, it reliably caters for the common use cases among organisations small and large.

The ICO Privacy Notice Generator

You can access the ICO’s Privacy Notice Generator here. It’s a simple multi-step form that asks a few simple questions and then generates your privacy notice.

If your aim is to generate a privacy notice for customers or website visitors, choose ‘Start now’ under “Privacy notice generator – for customer and supplier information”. The tool is also available for organisations who need a privacy notice for staff and volunteers (e.g. on internal company apps or intranets). Keep in mind that the privacy notice generator does not cover the use of cookies.

CookieYes

Where the aim of the ICO’s Privacy Notice Generator is simplicity, CookieYes is a comprehensive suitable for just about any organisation, on almost any platform. CookieYes is available on more than 10 platforms, including WordPress, Joomla, Magento, and Drupal, and supports various pieces of legislation, including GDPR (EU+UK), CCPA, POPIA, etc. Perhaps the most appealing feature of CookieYes isn’t that it covers the use of cookies, but that it scans your website for an up-to-date list of cookies to be included in the notice.

Visit the CookieYes pricing page for pricing information.

GetTerms

Next in line is GetTerms which is a versatile generator of various legal documents, including privacy policies, terms of service, and cookie policies for websites and businesses. It also provides compliance with legislation like GDPR + UK GDPR, CCPA + CalOPPA, Australian Privacy Act, PIPEDA, and more.

GetTerms is useful for startups, small businesses, and developers who need legally sound documents without the complexity or cost of hiring a legal team. Easily generate a privacy policy by answering a few questions, with options ranging from basic to more comprehensive documents.

It’s worth noting that GetTerms’s cookie consent generator scans your website for cookies, making it easier to generate accurate legal documents. As of March 2024 GetTerms has a WordPress plugin available. What other integrations there are is unclear.

Visit the GetTerms pricing page for pricing information.

Termly

Termly markets itself as the “All-In-One Compliance Solution for Small Businesses” that comes with “Everything You Need Out of the Box”, including comprehensive legal policies, easy consent management, and US / EUE privacy law coverage.

With Termly you create your desired policy, and copy and paste the code snippet or link on your blog, website, or app. At the moment Termly supports the generation of:

• Privacy Policies
• Cookie Policies
• Acceptable Use Policies
• Return Policies
• Terms and Conditions Policies
• EULAs
• Disclaimers
• Shipping Policies

As far as pricing goes, Termly is one of the more affordable, with a free plan and a starter plan available at $10 per month. View all available Termly pricing plans here.

iubenda

Iubenda delivers “Attorney-level solutions to make your websites and apps compliant with the law across multiple countries and legislations. What sets iubenda apart from some of the other entrants on this list is that they seem to do most of the work by scanning your site and auto-configuring the policy you need. Some of the use cases for iubenda include:

• US Regulations
• GDPR
• FADP
• LGPD
• mobile apps
• Facebook apps
• Agencies
• Enterprise companies
• Affiliates
• Publishers
• Google Consent Mode
• Consent optimization

There’s also the iubenda WordPress plugin That makes it easy to take full advantage of all iubenda’s features, including the translation of your policy documents in up to 10 languages. Iubenda’s lowest plan starts at $5.99 / $6.99 (annual / monthly). View iubenda’s pricing page here.

What is GDPR?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a key piece of legislation designed to overhaul and harmonize data privacy laws across the European Union (EU). Approved by the European Parliament on April 14, 2016, it officially came into force on May 25, 2018.

At its core, GDPR is about protecting individuals’ personal data and ensuring organisations handle this data responsibly. It requires that all personal data be securely maintained to prevent “unauthorised or unlawful processing,” as well as accidental loss or damage. The regulation also stipulates that organisations should only collect data for clearly defined, legitimate purposes, and this data should never be used beyond those intentions. GDPR additionally imposes strict limits on the amount of data collected, ensuring that only what’s necessary is gathered.

Another important aspect of the regulation is data accuracy: organisations must ensure that the data they hold is up to date and correct. If a serious data breach occurs, the organisation must inform affected individuals and relevant authorities within 72 hours.

What makes GDPR especially impactful is its global reach. Even if a company is based outside the EU, if it processes the data of EU citizens, GDPR applies. Likewise, data of individuals stored within the EU is protected by GDPR, regardless of whether the individual is an EU citizen.

For those who fail to comply, GDPR sets out significant penalties, further emphasising its importance in the modern digital landscape.

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