Clear answers for web privacy compliance.

Clearbasis exists to answer a question most website owners are quietly frustrated by:

“What does cookie compliance actually require for my site — and am I doing it right?”

For years, the web has been drowning in popups, consent prompts, and dark patterns that nobody likes — users, designers, or developers. And yet, most sites keep them “just in case”.

Not because the law clearly demands it. But because nobody explains the rules in a way people can actually rely on.

Clearbasis was created to change that.

The Numbers

Consent transactions happen per day, through just one CMP vendor. (1)
400M
Businesses doubt their compliance with data protection + cookie banner requirements. (2)
0/0
Ad partners disclosed on some popular sites in a single consent transaction. (3)
1000+
Only 15% of cookie banners on EU/UK sites actually meet the legal minimum — yet 67% of sites show them anyway. (4)
10%

Sources: (1) OneTrust blog (Sept 20, 2021) | (2) (survey; 600 businesses across UK, Germany, Spain, Italy): Usercentrics press page (Mar 19-20, 2025) | (3) WIRED (Mar 20, 2024) | (4) Based on a large, automated analysis of 254,148 websites across 31 EU countries & the UK

Mission

Modern privacy regulation was meant to protect people.

Instead, it has too often resulted in:

  • Worse user experiences
  • Lower conversion rates
  • Performative compliance
  • And a quiet sense of fear-driven over-compliance

Most tools focus on deploying consent banners efficiently, but stop short of determining whether a banner is required at all — or whether the implementation actually meets legal requirements.

We took a different view.

What if the real problem isn't consent — but uncertainty about what's actually required?

The problem we saw

In practice, many websites:

  • Don't use advertising or tracking cookies
  • Only rely on functional or authentication storage
  • Could legally operate without consent popups

At the same time, many sites that do show consent banners have implementations that don't meet basic legal requirements — despite the added friction.

Our approach

We determine what consent requirements actually apply — and whether they're being met.

We do this by:

  • Observing how a site actually behaves in a real browser
  • Detecting cookies, scripts, storage, and network calls
  • Classifying what’s happening technically
  • Applying explicit, deterministic regulatory rules
  • Producing clear, evidence-backed decisions

Sometimes that means confirming that a site doesn't need a banner at all. Sometimes it means confirming that a banner is required — and whether the current setup meets the legal minimum.

In both cases, the value is the same: clarity you can stand behind.

Built for people who care about the web

Clearbasis is built for teams responsible for cookie compliance decisions — and who want to get them right:

  • Website owners who want confidence in their cookie compliance decisions
  • Designers who care about clean, respectful user experiences
  • Developers who want to implement privacy correctly — without guesswork
  • Agencies who need to give clear, defensible advice to clients
  • Product teams who want compliance without compromising usability
  • Legal and privacy professionals who want better technical insight into real-world implementations
  • Anyone tired of adding popups “just in case”

We believe good privacy outcomes don’t require bad user experiences — and that clarity is better than fear.

A bit more about us

  • Clearbasis is not a law firm, and we don’t replace legal counsel

    What we provide is something many teams are missing:

    • A clear view of what their site is actually doing
    • A transparent application of published regulatory guidance
    • A documented, auditable rationale for decisions

    That combination is often enough to replace guesswork with confidence.

  • Our guiding principles

    Clearbasis is guided by a few simple ideas:

    • Clarity over complexity
    • Evidence over assumptions
    • Transparency over dark patterns
    • User experience matters

      • If the law allows a cleaner experience, we think websites should take it — and when it doesn't, they should implement consent properly.

Where we're heading

Clearbasis is starting with cookie banners because they're the most visible symptom of a deeper problem: uncertainty about what compliance actually requires.

Over time, we're building a broader compliance intelligence layer for the web — one that helps teams understand what's required, what isn't, and why.

Always with the same goal:

Turn ambiguity into a clear, defensible decision.