VeritaMetrics vs Cloudflare Web Analytics
Cloudflare Web Analytics is free with no traffic cap and offers a no-JavaScript edge mode, plus Core Web Vitals. Its privacy statement rules out fingerprinting explicitly, by IP, User Agent or any other data, not just cookies, which is a stronger claim than most of this page's field and arguably a genuine Cloudflare win. It stops at pageviews and referrers: no events, funnels, session replay, or export. VeritaMetrics adds automatic events, funnels, and replay from a ~8KB script.
Problems we built for, and where we stop
What people run into with analytics tools in general, read from the research, not a pitch against this one.
“my tag broke and I found out weeks later”
What we do: An automatic notice when a reliably active site goes quiet.
Where we stop: Total silence only, not a drop or a partial break.
“a ten-minute read counted as a zero-second bounce”
What we do: Bounce needs one pageview and under 10 engaged seconds, and the threshold is shown.
Where we stop: Equals GA4's threshold, so new only against the privacy tools.
“GA4 users dropped after the banner and the modelling never brought them back”
What we do: Runs beside GA4 and counts on our own servers.
Where we stop: The capture rate is an unaudited estimate until capture-audit_plan.md finishes.
“an upgrade that will not boot, RAM and ClickHouse for a small site”
What we do: Hosted, no operations.
Where we stop: Not open source and not self-hostable.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | VeritaMetrics | Cloudflare Web Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy & Compliance | ||
| Cookieless by default | Yes | Yes |
| Consent banner claim (vendor claim) | Usually, see /privacy | Not claimed (EU opt-out setting) |
| GDPR position (vendor claim) | Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)), see /privacy | Supports |
| Tracking & Data | ||
| Script size (gzipped) | ~8KB | ~ 9.3 KB |
| No-JS / server-side mode | Yes | Yes |
| Ad blocker resilience | Yes | Edge mode |
| Automatic event capture | Yes | No |
| Rage & dead click detection | Yes | No |
| Bot classification, with a reason per visit | Yes | No |
| Bounce that counts an engaged single-page read | Yes | No |
| UTM campaign tracking | Yes | No |
| 404 tracking | No | Status codes |
| Features | ||
| Session replay (DOM recording) | No | No |
| Visit timeline (event list) | Yes | No |
| Automated insights | Rule-based, no LLM | No |
| Core Web Vitals | LCP, INP, CLS (opt-in) | Yes |
| Funnels | Ordered steps, conversion window, event steps | No |
| Goals / conversions | Yes | No |
| Retention / cohorts | For signed-in users, in pseudonymous mode | No |
| Revenue attribution | Tracking only, no attribution | No |
| Data export | CSV / JSON / XLSX | GraphQL API only |
| Pricing & Hosting | ||
| Unmetered pageviews | No | Yes |
| Self-hosting option | On request (contact sales) | No |
| Open source | No | No |
When to choose Cloudflare Web Analytics
- Free with no traffic cap
- Zero setup for sites already proxied through Cloudflare, on by default since October 2025
- A true no-JavaScript edge mode that measures at Cloudflare with nothing in the browser
- Core Web Vitals on by default, where VeritaMetrics collects them only when you opt in
- A privacy statement that explicitly rules out fingerprinting by IP or User Agent, not just cookies, a stronger claim than most tools on this page make
When to choose VeritaMetrics
- The privacy pages list what is stored and for how long, after a Cloudflare user on Hacker News found a Web Analytics beacon still loading on a page the company said it did not track
- Automatic event capture, funnels, goals, revenue, and UTM tracking, none of which Cloudflare offers
- Full data with CSV, JSON, and XLSX export, where Cloudflare samples to 10% after 7 days and has no CSV export
- Session replay and rage/dead-click detection, which Cloudflare cannot produce since it captures no clicks
- A rule-based site-health score, versus raw Core Web Vitals numbers with no interpretation
What VeritaMetrics does that Cloudflare Web Analytics doesn't
Every item is a row in the table above, ticked in our column and marked No in theirs.
- Automatic event capture
- Rage & dead click detection
- Bot classification, with a reason per visit
- Bounce that counts an engaged single-page read
- Visit timeline (event list)
- Automated insights
- Funnels
- Goals / conversions
- Retention / cohorts
- Revenue attribution
- UTM campaign tracking
- Self-hosting option
What people who use Cloudflare Web Analytics say
“Cloudflare congratulated me on 10k visits last month, but the traffic turned out to be non-human.”
What we do: Every pageview carries a bot label with a reason code; the dashboard shows the top reasons held back. The limit: We label and do not block. Three reason codes fire today. A label is a statement about a signal, not a verdict. Reason-per-bot is not unique: Swetrix, Rybbit and PostHog show one.
“You claim no tracking, yet a Cloudflare Web Analytics beacon still loads at the bottom of the page.”
What we do: The privacy pages list what is stored and for how long. The limit: The wording is hedged on consent by design, and the visit ID is pseudonymous, not anonymous.
Pricing
Cloudflare Web Analytics: Free, with no traffic cap. Requires a free Cloudflare account.
VeritaMetrics: Free plan, then paid from 7 €/mo
See pricing and plansCloudflare Web Analytics vs VeritaMetrics: common questions
- Is Cloudflare Web Analytics free?
- Yes, with no traffic cap and no paid tier for the core product. It has been free since its December 2020 relaunch. It does require a free Cloudflare account.
- Does Cloudflare Web Analytics need Cloudflare DNS?
- No. A JavaScript snippet works on any site, though non-proxied sites are capped at a soft limit of 10 per account. Proxied sites can also measure at the edge with no client script.
- Can Cloudflare Web Analytics replace Google Analytics?
- For basic "is anyone visiting" reporting, yes. It has no funnels, goals, custom events, or UTM reporting, so it is a lightweight supplement rather than a full analytics tool.
- Did Cloudflare start tracking my site without asking?
- Since October 2025, Cloudflare auto-enables Web Analytics by default (opt-out) on free-plan proxied domains. It excludes EU and UK traffic by default and can be disabled per zone.
Switch from Cloudflare Web Analytics to VeritaMetrics
Same privacy commitment. More complete data. Deeper reporting.