If your Complianz cookie banner isn’t appearing on the front end of your site, there are two very different reasons why, and they look identical from the outside. Either no banner is required yet, or one is configured and something is stopping it from showing.
Start here: does your site need a banner?
EU regulations require consent before your site sets cookies that are not strictly necessary. If Complianz finds only technically necessary cookies, no banner appears, and that is the correct result rather than a fault.
Complianz shows a consent category when its trigger is met:
Preferences appears if at least one of these is true:
- “Consent per Service” is enabled under Wizard → Consent → Services
- Google Consent Mode is enabled under Wizard → Consent → Statistics
- The WP Consent API plugin is installed and active
Statistics appears if any analytics or statistics configuration is defined under Wizard → Consent → Statistics.
Marketing appears if at least one service is selected under Wizard → Consent → Services, or if the TCF framework is enabled.
If none of these applies, your site isn’t setting cookies that need consent, and Complianz won’t show a banner.
Do you want a banner anyway? Some sites show one even when it isn’t required, for consistency across regions or to reassure visitors. There’s a supported way to do this: Display a cookie banner even when not required.
1. Check your Complianz dashboard
The banner will only start showing if the wizard has been completed. Even then, the answers you gave in the wizard may be such that no cookie banner is required. Please check the following:
- You have completed the wizard at least once.
- You do not have the option “disable cookie banner” enabled in the banner settings
- You have enabled at least one of the following:
- If you have selected no statistics tool, or configured it anonymously, you can answer the question “Do you want to ask consent for statistics?” with yes.
- Check if you have selected ‘yes’ on the question if you use third party services or social media. If you didn’t select a third party service or social media, you can answer the question “You have stated that you don’t use third-party services. Do you use plugins that might set marketing cookies?” with “yes”.
- Setting one of the above to yes should ensure a cookie banner.
You should now see on your dashboard a success notice:
“Your site needs a cookie banner, which has been enabled.”
2. Clear your cache and check in a private window
If you use a caching plugin, your visitors may be served an older version of the site without the banner. Clear the plugin cache, and refresh your CDN if you use one.
Your browser cache can hide the banner from you specifically, even after the server cache is clear. Open your site in a private or incognito window to rule that out. Use command + shift + N on Mac, or control + shift + N on Windows. It’s worth working in a private window whenever you’re changing a live site.
3. Something is hiding the banner
The banner may be loading correctly and still be invisible. This is one of the most common causes, so it’s worth checking before you go looking for errors.
High z-index values elsewhere on your site
Some themes and plugins use very high z-index values, which decide what appears on top of what. The Complianz banner defaults to 9999, so any element with a higher value will cover it. To test, raise the banner well above the rest of your site under Complianz → Cookie banner → Enable custom CSS:
.cmplz-cookiebanner{z-index:999999;}If the banner appears, z-index was the cause. You can then keep the higher value, or lower the z-index of the element that was covering it.
CSS that hides the banner outright
Check whether your theme, a plugin, or your own custom CSS applies display:none or visibility:hidden to .cmplz-cookiebanner. Rule out custom CSS added in Complianz itself first, since it’s the easiest to forget.
A parent element clipping the banner
The banner is positioned fixed. If a parent container uses overflow:hidden or a transform, the banner can be clipped or pushed off screen.
Optimization plugins removing or delaying the banner CSS
Minification, CSS combining, and “remove unused CSS” features can strip or defer the banner stylesheet. If you use an optimization plugin, exclude the Complianz CSS and JavaScript from optimization, clear the cache, and test again. If you use an SEO plugin that handles CSS, see Fix 404 errors caused by Complianz CSS files in SEO plugins.
How to narrow it down quickly
Switch temporarily to a default WordPress theme, or turn off custom CSS and your optimization plugin, then reload in a private window. If the banner appears, add each one back until it disappears again.
4. Your browser is sending a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal
Under Complianz → Wizard → General → Security & Consent, the option “Respect Do Not Track settings in browsers” may be enabled. When it is, and the plugin detects either signal from the browser, Complianz treats every preference as denied and shows no banner. Some browsers, including Firefox, send this signal by default.
To confirm, visit your site and check the console for the message “Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track detected: no banner”.
You can resolve it either by turning the option off in Complianz, or by turning off the signal in your browser, usually under privacy or cookie settings.
Worth knowing: this affects real visitors too, not only you. Visitors sending either signal won’t see your banner.
5. (Premium) Are you visiting from a configured region?
Premium users working from outside a configured region often hit this. If you’ve enabled GeoIP under Complianz → Settings and configured the site for, say, CCPA and the United States only, you won’t see the banner while working from Europe.
Three ways to check how the banner looks elsewhere:
- Use a VPN
- Use a service like BrowserStack
- Temporarily turn off GeoIP under Complianz → Settings, and other regions under Wizard → General → Regions
To check which region you’re being served, open the console (ctrl or cmd + shift + i in Chrome). You’ll see one of three states:
- Opt-in (EU, UK, and sometimes Canada)
- Opt-out (USA, and sometimes Canada)
- Other region, no cookie warning (for example Mexico)
The state shown is the banner you should expect. With the third, no banner appears.
6. The uploads directory is write protected
If you see either of these errors, the banner CSS hasn’t been created:
Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 (Not Found)
Refused to apply style from 'domain.com/wp-content/uploads/complianz/css/banner-1-optin.css' because its MIME type ('text/html') is not a supported stylesheet MIME type, and strict MIME checking is enabled.
In most cases the uploads directory is write protected. To fix it, see our article on folder permissions.
7. Check your console for errors
In 90% of the cases, the problem should be solved by now. If yours isn’t, the console will usually point at the cause. Right-click your site on the front end, choose Inspect, then open Console. Anything in red is worth reading.
Common errors:
- REST API errors. Complianz uses the REST API, so if you or a security plugin has blocked access to it, the banner won’t appear.
- Errors mentioning reCaptcha or greCaptcha. Turning off the reCaptcha integration usually resolves it. This comes from a dependency issue in another plugin or theme, so contact support if you’d like help.
- A 404 error, which can indicate an installation problem. Reinstalling Complianz is worth trying, since the files may not have installed correctly.
- Nothing happening at all. If you don’t see functional cookies being allowed (the
cmplz_event_functionalevent), Complianz may not be active, or JavaScript may be blocked.
8. You’re using GeoIP and IP masking
On localhost, or on a server configured with strict privacy settings, IP addresses are often masked and rewritten server-side. Every visitor then appears with the same IP, 127.0.0.1. Complianz can’t determine a region, so no banner is enabled. Your browser console will show a log explaining that the region isn’t available.
On localhost, enable a default banner for “other regions” in the wizard, in the first section.
On a production site, those privacy settings are preventing region-specific consent management. Requesting the actual IP addresses is necessary for GeoIP to work.
If your banner still isn’t appearing, contact support and we’ll help you track it down.