Pageguard vs Termly
Questionnaire-based policies with a consent banner add-on
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Termly is the right pick if you need small businesses that want a single platform for policy generation and consent banner management, and are happy answering a questionnaire to build their documents. Pageguard is the right pick if you want documents grounded in what your site actually runs — not what you remember it runs. The free scan takes 60 seconds and needs no account.
Our honest take
The core tension is this: Termly trusts you to know your own stack. Pageguard does not, and that skepticism is a feature.
Termly is a well-built product for small businesses that want a single dashboard covering policy generation and consent banner management. If you run a relatively stable site, answer a questionnaire carefully, and stay disciplined about updating it when you add new tools, Termly does what it says on the tin. The $10/mo Starter tier is genuinely reasonable for what it covers, and the consent management platform (CMP) is something Pageguard does not offer at all.
But questionnaire-based compliance has a structural problem: it is only as accurate as your memory. The moment you install a new analytics SDK, add a retargeting pixel, or let a contractor drop a script on your site, your Termly policy is wrong. You just do not know it yet. Termly's cookie scanner helps at the margins, but it does not detect SDKs in your app bundle or conditionally-loaded scripts.
Pageguard is built for indie founders and small SaaS teams who ship fast and do not have time to play compliance librarian. The scan finds what is actually running, not what you think is running. That distinction is the entire product.
The real differences
How documents get generated
Termly's flow is a form. You answer questions about your business, your data practices, and your third-party tools, and Termly assembles a policy from your answers. That works fine at the moment you fill it in. The problem surfaces three months later when your CTO adds Segment and nobody updates the questionnaire. Your policy now describes a stack you no longer have. Pageguard scans your live site, detects 437+ technology signatures including cookies, SDKs, and third-party scripts, and generates documents grounded in what the scan actually finds. There is no form to go stale.
Scan depth and frequency
Termly does run a cookie scanner, and that is worth acknowledging: it is not nothing. But cookies are one layer. It will not catch server-side tracking, SDKs bundled into your JavaScript, or scripts that only load for logged-in users. On Termly's free and Starter ($10/mo) plans, that scanner runs quarterly, which means a new tool you installed in January might not surface until April. Weekly automated scans require the Pro+ tier at $15/mo. Pageguard's gap report with severity ratings (critical, high, medium, low) runs against your live site on demand, no account required for the first scan.
Mobile app compliance
If you ship an iOS or Android app, Termly does not generate Apple App Store privacy nutrition labels or Google Play Data Safety forms. A 5-person SaaS team submitting their first iOS app to the App Store has to figure out those declarations separately, usually in a spreadsheet, usually wrong the first time. Pageguard scans your dependency files and generates those declarations directly. For any team with a mobile surface, this is a meaningful capability gap.
What Termly does better
Termly includes a full consent management platform with customizable banners. Pageguard does not offer a CMP at all. If you need a consent banner on your site, a cookie preference center, and policy documents under one roof, Termly is the more complete single-vendor solution. Termly also auto-updates policies when regulations change, which Pageguard does not currently do. Those are real advantages, not footnotes.
Feature comparison
Pricing
Free tier (1 policy, quarterly scans) · $10/mo Starter · $15/mo Pro+
Free scan (no account) · Pay per document generated. No subscription required, no pageview caps.
Migration considerations
Switching from Termly to Pageguard is not a data migration in any technical sense. There are no exports to wrangle or imports to configure.
Here is what actually happens: you run a Pageguard scan on your live URL. No account needed. The scan takes a few minutes and returns a gap report showing every technology detected, with severity ratings on any compliance gaps it finds. You then pay per document to generate the policies you need (privacy policy, cookie policy, terms of service, App Store privacy nutrition label if relevant). Your old Termly documents get replaced.
What you gain: policies grounded in what is actually running on your site, mobile app declarations, and a gap report that tells you specifically what is missing and how serious each gap is.
What you give up: the consent banner and CMP that Termly provides. If you are currently using Termly's banner to handle cookie consent for EU visitors, you will need a separate CMP solution after switching. That is a real consideration, not a footnote. You also lose Termly's auto-updating policies on regulation changes, so you will want to re-scan and regenerate when major regulatory updates happen.
For teams that already use a standalone CMP (Cookiebot, Osano, a custom implementation), the tradeoff is straightforward. For teams relying on Termly's banner as their entire consent infrastructure, factor in the cost of replacing it.
When to pick which
Small businesses that want a single platform for policy generation AND consent banner management, and are happy answering a questionnaire to build their documents.
Things to know first
- —Form-fill questionnaire — you tell it what you use, it doesn't verify what's actually running on your site
- —Free plan is heavily capped: one policy, quarterly scans only, Termly branding on all banners
- —Weekly automated cookie scans only on Pro+ ($15/mo); free and Starter plans scan quarterly
- —Policies can drift if you add new tech and forget to update the questionnaire manually
Pageguard scans your live site and tells you what's actually running — cookies, SDKs, third-party scripts — then generates documents grounded in that data. Termly asks you to describe your stack in a form. If you've added a new analytics SDK since you last updated your questionnaire, your policy is wrong and you won't know. Pageguard catches that automatically. The free scan is instant, no account needed, and produces a gap report you can act on before you spend a dollar.
Scenarios: who fits where
A solo founder running a SaaS with PostHog, Stripe, and Intercom, no mobile app.
Termly would work here, especially if the stack is stable and they are diligent about updating the questionnaire. But if they are adding tools regularly, a Pageguard scan will surface what is actually running and generate accurate docs without a subscription. Pick Pageguard if you ship fast and hate compliance busywork. Pick Termly if you want the consent banner bundled in.
A 5-person team shipping an iOS and Android app alongside a web product.
Termly cannot generate App Store privacy nutrition labels or Google Play Data Safety forms. The mobile compliance gap alone makes Pageguard the clear choice here. The web-side scan covers cookies and SDKs simultaneously, and the mobile declarations come from the same workflow.
A small e-commerce business on Shopify with a relatively fixed stack and EU customers.
This is Termly's sweet spot. The questionnaire is manageable when your stack does not change often, the $10/mo Starter plan covers the basics, and the consent banner means one less vendor to manage. Pageguard is overkill if you are not adding new tools regularly and do not need mobile declarations.
A developer agency managing compliance for several client sites.
Pageguard's pay-per-document model with no subscription and no pageview caps is cleaner for a multi-site context. Run a free scan per client site, generate only the documents each client needs, and surface gap reports as a deliverable. Termly's per-site subscription model gets expensive fast at scale, and the questionnaire approach means chasing each client for answers about their own stack.
Common questions
Does Termly scan my actual site or do I fill in a form?
Termly uses a questionnaire to build your policy — you describe your stack by answering questions. It does have a cookie scanner that detects cookies on your site, but it won't detect SDKs in your app bundle, server-side tracking, or technologies loaded conditionally. Pageguard scans your live site and detects everything that's actually running.
Is Termly's free plan enough for a small SaaS?
Termly's free plan covers one policy and scans only quarterly, with Termly branding on your consent banner. For most small SaaS products serving EU users, you'll want at least monthly scans and a branded banner — that means upgrading to a paid plan. Pageguard's free scan has no account requirement and gives you a full gap report immediately.
Can Termly generate App Store privacy nutrition labels?
Termly does not generate Apple App Store privacy nutrition labels or Google Play Data Safety forms. If you ship a mobile app, Pageguard can scan your dependency files and generate the correct declarations.
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