Alternatives & comparisons
Picking a tool? Honest, side-by-side breakdowns — no tool is crowned "best" by default.
9 Best Google Analytics Alternatives
Nine privacy-first tools compared on privacy, pricing, self-hosting and features.
Cookieless Analytics Tools Compared
A feature-by-feature comparison of the leading cookieless tools, with a full spec table.
The Best GA4 Alternative
Why teams are leaving GA4 in 2026 — and the simpler, privacy-first tools they move to.
Plausible Analytics Alternatives
Love cookieless but want flat all-sites pricing or hosted simplicity? Your options.
Fathom Analytics Alternatives
Fathom compared with other hosted, cookieless analytics on price, features and privacy.
Matomo Alternatives
Tired of self-hosting Matomo? Hosted, cookieless options with no server to maintain.
Simple Analytics Alternatives
How Simple Analytics compares — and where other privacy-first tools fit.
Best Privacy-Friendly Analytics
The best privacy-first analytics of 2026, judged on their actual privacy models.
Google Analytics vs Plausible vs GhostMetrics
GA4, Plausible and GhostMetrics compared honestly — where each one genuinely wins.
Cloudflare Web Analytics Alternatives
Free and private, but it hits limits fast. What it lacks, when it's still enough, and the honest alternatives.
Umami Analytics Alternatives
Solid open-source analytics — if you run the server. The real cost of self-hosting, and six hosted picks.
GA4 vs Cloudflare Web Analytics
Different problems, not a ranking — consent, install weight, data depth, export and retention, compared honestly.
Netlify Analytics Alternatives
Honest server-log analytics with real limits. Where it stops, and how to add a deeper tool to a Netlify site.
Cookies, consent & GDPR
The legal and practical side — banners, GDPR, and what's really going on with Google Analytics.
How to Remove the Cookie Consent Banner
Legally ditch the cookie banner while keeping your analytics — here's how.
Is Google Analytics GDPR Compliant?
A nuanced 2026 guide to GA and GDPR, the EU rulings, and the clean path forward.
GDPR-Compliant Analytics Tools
What makes analytics GDPR-friendly, and the tools that get you there without the banner.
Analytics Without a Consent Banner
Run web analytics with no cookie consent banner, legally — and which tools allow it.
Google Analytics Privacy Issues
The real privacy problems with GA in 2026 — data sharing, EU rulings, banners.
Do I Need a Cookie Banner?
It depends on the cookies you set. When you can skip the banner, and how cookieless analytics helps.
How cookieless tracking works
The technical foundations — measure everything, store nothing on the visitor's device.
Cookieless Tracking, Explained
What cookieless tracking actually is, how it works, and why it stays privacy-safe.
Track Website Traffic Without Cookies
The practical methods for measuring traffic with no cookies and no persistent IDs.
UTM Parameters Guide
The five parameters, naming rules that don't break reports, and how cookieless first-touch differs from GA4.
Practical guides & buyer's guides
Measuring the right things, for the kind of site you actually run.
How to Measure Website Traffic
The metrics that matter, the tools to use, and why cookieless-first keeps the numbers honest.
Website Analytics for Small Business
Four numbers, a privacy-safe setup, and ten minutes a month — no data team required.
Privacy-First Analytics for SaaS
GDPR, DPAs, data residency and dropping the banner — a buyer's checklist for SaaS teams.
Track Custom Events Without Google Analytics
Button clicks, signups and downloads without GA, Tag Manager or a cookie banner. Real code included.
Add Analytics to a Static Site
Head-partial snippets for Astro, Hugo, Eleventy, Jekyll, Next.js and SvelteKit — no cookie banner.
Core Web Vitals Real User Monitoring
Lab scores lie. Monitor LCP, CLS, FCP and TTFB from real visitors without a heavy RUM SDK.
Website Analytics for Agencies
One login for every client site, not six dashboards — how five tools handle multi-site analytics.
How to Share Website Analytics Publicly
Public dashboards for build-in-public founders, agencies and sponsors — six tools compared honestly.
See it instead of reading about it
GhostMetrics is cookieless analytics with a real free tier and no consent banner. We run it on our own sites — so you can open a live dashboard of our real, unfiltered traffic with no signup, then start free in a minute.