GDPRWise vs iubenda: Why a Privacy Policy Generator Is Not Enough

Quick summary

iubenda and GDPRWise solve different problems. iubenda generates legal documents - privacy policies, cookie policies, terms and conditions - and provides a consent management platform. GDPRWise scans your website with AI, builds a complete GDPR dossier including a processing register, and produces your privacy policy as the result of that compliance work.

If your only goal is a professional-looking privacy policy and a cookie banner, iubenda does that well. If you need a complete GDPR dossier that would hold up during an audit by a supervisory authority, GDPRWise covers significantly more ground.

This article walks through what each tool does, where they differ, and which situations favour one over the other.

What iubenda does

iubenda has earned its reputation as a reliable privacy policy and cookie policy generator. With over 150,000 customers and support for more than 30 languages, the platform has carved out a clear position in the market.

Here is what iubenda does well:

• Privacy policy generation - attorney-drafted, automatically updated legal text that adapts to the services you use (Google Analytics, Stripe, Mailchimp, etc.)
• Cookie policy generation - a detailed cookie policy that categorises cookies by type and purpose
• Terms and conditions generator - pre-built clauses for common business models
• Consent management platform (CMP) - a cookie banner with IAB TCF 2.2 support, covering consent collection and preference management
• Multi-language support - policies available in 30+ languages out of the box

The pricing is accessible, starting at approximately 3.49 euro per month for basic plans and scaling up to around 90 euro per month for more comprehensive packages.

For businesses that need a quick, professional privacy policy and a compliant cookie banner, iubenda delivers. The attorney-drafted language is a genuine advantage over free generators that produce generic text.

What iubenda does not cover

The gap in iubenda’s offering becomes visible when you measure it against the full scope of GDPR requirements. A privacy policy is one piece of GDPR compliance, but the regulation demands considerably more.

iubenda does not provide:

• Processing register (ROPA) - the record of processing activities that every data controller must maintain under Article 30
• Staff privacy policy - a separate document informing employees how their personal data is processed
• GDPR dossier compilation - a structured, audit-ready collection of all compliance documentation
• Compliance scoring - a measurement of where you stand and what gaps remain
• Action tracking - a prioritised list of steps to close compliance gaps
• Guided compliance workflow - a step-by-step process that translates business questions into legal documentation
• Data breach procedures - documented protocols for handling personal data breaches
• Website scanning beyond cookies - detection of forms, third-party scripts, trackers, and sector identification

This is not a criticism of iubenda. The tool does what it promises. But the scope of what it promises is narrower than what GDPR compliance actually requires.

What GDPRWise does differently

GDPRWise was designed around a fundamentally different premise: compliance is the goal, and the privacy policy is a byproduct of that work.

Policy as output, not starting point

iubenda starts with the policy. You select the services you use, and it generates a privacy policy based on your selections. The document is the product.

GDPRWise reverses this sequence. The starting point is an AI-powered scan of your website that detects cookies, trackers, forms, third-party scripts, and your business sector. From there, you work through a guided process that maps out your processing activities, legal bases, retention periods, and security measures.

Your privacy policy is generated at the end, as a natural output of the compliance work you have already completed. The result is a policy that accurately reflects your documented processing activities, not a policy based on checkboxes.

This distinction matters during an audit. A supervisory authority does not just want to see a privacy policy on your website. They want to see that the policy matches your actual data processing, supported by a documented register and underlying compliance work.

Complete dossier from scan

GDPRWise builds a three-layer dossier:

1. Sector foundation - pre-built processing activities, legal bases, and security measures for your industry, loaded automatically after the scan identifies your sector
2. AI scan results - your specific cookies, trackers, forms, and scripts integrated into the dossier with confidence labels
3. Guided refinement - business questions (not legal questions) that fill in what the scan cannot detect: employees, CCTV, data transfers, and more

The output is a complete dossier containing a processing register, customer privacy policy, staff privacy policy, cookie report, action list, and compliance score. Every component is exportable as PDF or Excel.

iubenda does not offer this type of structured, layered dossier. Its output is individual documents, not an integrated compliance package.

Staff privacy policy

GDPR requires you to inform employees about how you process their data. This means a separate privacy policy covering payroll, HR records, CCTV, access control, company devices, and similar processing activities.

iubenda does not generate staff privacy policies. Many businesses are unaware this requirement exists until they are asked about it during an audit.

GDPRWise includes the staff privacy policy as a standard part of every dossier. During the guided refinement, the platform asks about your HR processes and generates the document based on your answers. It is not an add-on or premium feature.

Side-by-side comparison

Feature	iubenda	GDPRWise
Privacy policy generation	Yes, attorney-drafted	Yes, as dossier output
Cookie policy	Yes	Yes, from scan data
Terms and conditions	Yes	No
Consent banner (CMP)	Yes, IAB TCF 2.2	No
AI website scanning	No	Yes
Processing register (ROPA)	No	Yes, auto-generated
Staff privacy policy	No	Yes, included
Compliance score	No	Yes
Action list	No	Yes
Guided compliance workflow	No	Yes
Data breach procedures	No	Yes
Sector-based dossier foundation	No	Yes
Languages	30+	4 (EN, NL, FR, DE)
Pricing model	Monthly subscription	Free Scan or EUR 29/month subscription

When iubenda might be the right choice

iubenda fits well when your needs are focused on document generation rather than full compliance:

• You need a privacy policy and cookie banner quickly, and you are confident the rest of your GDPR obligations are handled separately
• You operate in many languages and need policies in languages that GDPRWise does not yet support
• You primarily need terms and conditions alongside your privacy policy
• You want a dedicated consent management platform with IAB TCF 2.2 support
• Your budget is very limited and you only need the basics

iubenda is a solid product in its category. For privacy policies and consent management specifically, it has a mature, well-maintained platform.

When GDPRWise is the better fit

GDPRWise makes more sense when you want to actually achieve GDPR compliance, not just produce a privacy policy:

• You need a complete GDPR dossier that would satisfy a supervisory authority during an audit
• You want your privacy policy to accurately reflect documented processing activities, not a best-guess checkbox selection
• You have employees and need a staff privacy policy
• You want to understand your compliance gaps through a compliance score and action list
• You prefer to start from an AI scan of your actual website rather than selecting services from a list manually
• You want a processing register without building one from scratch

The choice often comes down to scope. If a privacy policy is the destination, iubenda gets you there efficiently. If the privacy policy is one piece of a larger compliance picture, GDPRWise covers more of that picture in a single tool.