When you think of data protection or privacy laws, the GDPR probably comes to mind immediately. That's because it's the most prominent and influential compliance framework businesses must adhere to. And the cost of getting this wrong can be very severe.
GDPR fines have grown significantly since 2019. It becomes more and more imperative to play by the rules.
How can GDPR compliance software help? A good solution automates much of the ongoing work of adhering to GDPR requirements, though no software makes you compliant on its own.
Before you can hope to comply with its rules, you first need to have a good grasp on what exactly the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is. Essentially, it's an EU law that governs how organizations handle the personal data of EU residents.
It's also one of the world's best-known and strictest data protection and privacy regulations, designed to give individuals (known as "data subjects" under the law) more control over their information by dictating standards for its collection and use.
The regulation came into force in May 2018. Despite being based in the European Union, it applies to any company handling data from EU residents, whether the business is located there or not.
But what exactly are its main focuses? They can be categorized into three main points:
Staying GDPR compliant is no easy task. It takes a lot of work and constant commitment. As such, it's often unrealistic to keep up with this manually.
GDPR compliance software provides the digital support needed to work toward compliance more accurately and consistently.
But what do these tools do? They facilitate the management of customer data and take care of security and consent in line with GDPR requirements.
Though specific tools vary in functionality, they generally automate various tasks needed to work toward GDPR requirements, such as data mapping, consent management, DSAR handling, and tracking and documentation.
In short, they provide a centralized system for organizations to handle and protect personal data from individuals in the EU more efficiently.
As mentioned, the GDPR applies to companies worldwide, despite being an EU-based law. If a company operates outside of the European Union, but has customers in the EU, it must still comply with the regulation.
Businesses like yours rely on data, so the GDPR's aim isn't to prevent you from using it. Instead, it aims to find a balance between giving data subjects privacy protection, while also maintaining companies' access to the information they need to thrive.
There are a few important concepts introduced by the regulatory body to help satisfy both parties.
One of the main aims of the GDPR is to give users more control over their data. So, it introduced several data rights that any individual is allowed to exercise. These are:
In addition to respecting data subject rights, companies must follow seven core principles laid out by the GDPR in order to remain compliant.
You must employ reliable security and privacy measures to protect any personal data you store and reduce the risk of unauthorized access, loss, or damage.
Any processing of users' data should abide by the law and meet all standards laid out by the GDPR. You must only collect and process personal information if it fits one of these lawful bases: vital interest, consent, the performance of a contract, legitimate interest, public interest, or a legal requirement.
Beyond implementing the right measures to adhere to GDPR standards, companies must also demonstrate compliance. This involves detailed documentation about data collection, use, and storage.
There must be a legitimate reason for collecting and using personal data. You should limit data processing only to what's absolutely necessary for the original, specified purpose of its collection.
All data you collect and use should be correct and up to date. Inaccurate information should be corrected or deleted promptly.
Data minimization requires you to collect and use only the data you genuinely require to complete your business.
Companies must also limit the period of time they store data, depending on its type and sensitivity. Information should only be stored for as long as it takes to fulfil its intended purpose and should then be erased.
To start with, the financial cost of noncompliance can be extremely high. Organizations that violate the law can be fined up to 4% of their annual revenue or 20 million euros (whichever is higher). Past enforcement actions have included a fine of roughly $877 million against Amazon and a fine against Google.
But it's not just these sanctions that make it so crucial to comply. There are other kinds of damages, perhaps with worse lasting impact, that can result from a compliance breach, including erosion of customer trust and reputational damage.
There are certain essential features that every good compliance tool should have:
GDPR treats consent as one of the lawful bases for processing personal data, and holds it to strict standards. Consent management services should automate this process, managing cookie consent and preferences, providing granular consent options, letting users withdraw consent quickly, and creating an audit trail to demonstrate lawful processing.
Data mapping is the process of identifying where personal data is located, how it flows, and who has access to it. Good GDPR compliance software makes it far more manageable by scanning your systems to discover data, often uncovering shadow data, then making a central record and flagging potential compliance issues.
For large businesses with many customers and large amounts of data, there can be too many DSAR requests to respond to manually. A robust GDPR tool will automate request intake and tracking, retrieve the relevant information, verify the requester's identity, and streamline communication with them.
Article 35 of the GDPR states that data protection impact assessments (DPIAs) are mandatory where a data processing activity is likely to result in a high risk to individuals' rights and freedoms. A compliance tool should contain guided assessment templates aligned with GDPR requirements.
The GDPR has strict rules about what you should do if a data breach occurs. Authorities generally need to be informed within 72 hours. Having a breach notification service within a compliance platform helps streamline this process.
Under the GDPR, demonstrating compliance is just as important as achieving it. Reporting tools make it more straightforward to provide detailed insights and documentation that will hold up under audit.
Let's go through some of the best GDPR software out there, and compare their similarities and differences to help you determine which best fits your specific needs.
Best for: Businesses looking for an AI-powered solution to prioritize workflow automation for DSARs and real-time privacy risk monitoring.
For businesses struggling to keep up with DSARs, DataGrail is a strong option, offering specialized tools and consent management. DataGrail describes itself as the “most connected privacy platform,” citing a 2,500+ in-house integrations network.
Key capabilities:
Best for: Scaling organizations seeking a comprehensive, enterprise-grade privacy management platform.
TrustArc is a full-spectrum GDPR compliance platform designed to support complex privacy operations for global companies. It offers end-to-end privacy management and has over two decades of experience in the compliance space.
Key capabilities:
Best for: Fast-growing businesses that need broad security-compliance automation (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA) and want baseline GDPR controls-tracking bundled in—not organizations whose primary need is dedicated consent, DSAR, or privacy-specific data-mapping tooling.
Vanta is primarily a security-compliance automation platform. It does not offer native cookie-consent banners, DSAR/data-subject-rights workflows, or privacy-specific data mapping.
Key capabilities:
Best for: Large, heavily regulated enterprises with a dedicated privacy, legal, or GRC function that need one platform spanning consent, DSARs, data mapping, assessments, and vendor risk and the budget and implementation resources (often including outside consultants) to configure it.
OneTrust is the largest and most feature-complete privacy/GRC platform in this category, tracking global regulatory changes and covering nearly every workflow a large compliance team could need. That breadth comes with enterprise-level cost and complexity: G2 reviews repeatedly cite multi-month implementation timelines that often require paid consulting support.
Key capabilities:
Best for: Enterprises that want GDPR compliance folded into a broader AI governance and data-security program rather than run as a standalone privacy tool.
Securiti built its reputation on AI-powered data discovery and classification across hybrid, multicloud, and SaaS environments, then layered GDPR-relevant consent, DSAR, and assessment workflows on top of that data intelligence. In December 2025, Securiti was acquired by data-resilience vendor Veeam for $1.725 billion—a deal that folds Securiti's privacy/AI-governance stack into Veeam's broader platform.
Key capabilities:
Best for: Businesses that want a GDPR platform built for continuous compliance work, not just point-in-time checklists. Compared to enterprise suites like OneTrust and TrustArc, Osano is built to be deployed and run without a dedicated privacy-engineering team or outside consultants and priced for that reality.
Osano covers the core functionality most teams need for ongoing GDPR compliance work: data mapping, consent management, DSAR handling, vendor risk, and assessments, in one platform. Osano can serve as your required GDPR representative, with a team of local privacy experts and attorneys based in Dublin.
Key capabilities:
Want to see it in action? Start your free trial to explore how Osano approaches GDPR compliance.