Is Cookie Free Analytics a Google Analytics alternative?

For pageviews, sources, campaigns, and goals — yes. It is not an ads or attribution suite. Many sites run both: GA4 for campaigns that need Google, Cookie Free Analytics for the unblocked count.

Why are Cookie Free Analytics numbers higher than GA4?

Usually consent reject, ad blockers, and Safari defaults — not extra bots. Compare your own two totals for the same week.

Do I need a cookie banner for Cookie Free Analytics?

No cookie banner for this script. If you still load Google Ads, Meta, or GA4, keep the banner for those tags. Your counsel owns the final call.

vs Google Analytics

GA4 is free. The banner is not.

We count the landing, the source, and the named goal. Ads platforms still do conversion tags. Many sites run both. Google Analytics is a free ads product that happens to draw charts. Cookie Free Analytics is a 1 KB pageview counter that does not need a cookie, a consent popup, or a tag manager.

Price
Cookie Free Analytics
Hobby free, paid from €4
Google Analytics
Free, then GA360
Cookies
Cookie Free Analytics
None
Google Analytics
Yes
EU cookie banner
Cookie Free Analytics
Not for this script
Google Analytics
Usually required
What you see
Cookie Free Analytics
Pageviews, sources, goals
Google Analytics
Everything, often sampled
Script
Cookie Free Analytics
Under 1 KB gzipped
Google Analytics
Tens of KB + GTM
Hosted
Cookie Free Analytics
Frankfurt + Ireland
Google Analytics
Google Cloud, US terms
Blocked by extensions
Cookie Free Analytics
Less often
Google Analytics
Often
A person across days
Cookie Free Analytics
No. One day, then forgotten — recipe on /methodology
Google Analytics
Yes — a Client ID

	Cookie Free Analytics	Google Analytics
Price	Hobby free, paid from €4	Free, then GA360
Cookies	None	Yes
EU cookie banner	Not for this script	Usually required
What you see	Pageviews, sources, goals	Everything, often sampled
Script	Under 1 KB gzipped	Tens of KB + GTM
Hosted	Frankfurt + Ireland	Google Cloud, US terms
Blocked by extensions	Less often	Often
A person across days	No. One day, then forgotten — recipe on /methodology	Yes — a Client ID

We measured the gzip size of six analytics scripts, including this one, in Analytics script size compared.

Competitor list prices checked 9 November 2026, excluding VAT. Plausible Starter in euros (EU view). Simple Analytics and Fathom in US dollars, as on their public pages. Prices can change; we update this date when we re-read them.

What they actually are

GA4 is an advertising and attribution suite. The charts are how Google makes the ads graph more valuable. That is a legitimate product. It is the wrong instrument for “how many people opened the article”.

When to pick them

You buy Google Ads and need native conversions, remarketing, or BigQuery export. Keep GA4 for that. We will not pretend to replace Google’s ads stack.

When to pick us

You want the visits the banner and the blockers threw away. Paste our script next to GA. Wait a week. The difference is the consent gap.

The honest bit

GA4 is free, has more reports than we will ever ship, and is the default in every marketing deck. We are not “GA but private”. We are a smaller, honest count.

Questions

Is Cookie Free Analytics a Google Analytics alternative?: For pageviews, sources, campaigns, and goals — yes. It is not an ads or attribution suite. Many sites run both: GA4 for campaigns that need Google, Cookie Free Analytics for the unblocked count.
Why are Cookie Free Analytics numbers higher than GA4?: Usually consent reject, ad blockers, and Safari defaults — not extra bots. Compare your own two totals for the same week.
Do I need a cookie banner for Cookie Free Analytics?: No cookie banner for this script. If you still load Google Ads, Meta, or GA4, keep the banner for those tags. Your counsel owns the final call.

Start free View sample dashboard

Hobby is free with a badge. No credit card.

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