Most small business owners install Google Analytics because it's the default, then rarely open it. Meanwhile visitors get a cookie banner, the page downloads a large script, and the reports are built for marketing teams. There's a lighter option that most owners on Cloudflare already have and don't know about.
What a small business actually needs to know
- Are people coming? Visits and page views, week over week.
- What are they reading? Which pages get attention and which get skipped.
- Where did they come from? Google, a social post, a link from another site, or typed in.
- Is the site fast? Slow pages lose visitors, especially on phones.
- Did it turn into business? A call, a form, a booking. Your own forms and inbox answer this better than either analytics tool.
Cloudflare Web Analytics covers the first four. The fifth belongs in your own system, which a custom build can store in its own database.
Cloudflare Web Analytics vs Google Analytics, side by side
| Cloudflare Web Analytics | Google Analytics 4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Free (standard properties) |
| Cookies | None. Cloudflare says it uses no cookies or local storage and doesn't fingerprint visitors | _ga and _ga_<id>, two years by default |
| Consent banner | Not needed for this tool | Usually needed where cookie laws apply, such as the EU and UK |
| Script downloaded | About 10 KB | About 150 KB |
| How long you can see data | Six months (unsampled for 7 days, then aggregated) | Standard reports keep longer history. Detailed explorations: 2 or 14 months |
| Page speed (Core Web Vitals) | Built in: LCP, INP, CLS by page | Not built in |
| Custom events and goals | Not yet | Yes, including key events |
| Campaign tags (UTM) | Not yet | Yes |
| Google Ads integration | No | Yes |
| Setup on a Cloudflare site | One switch (automatic setup), or one snippet anywhere | Tag on every page, plus configuration |
Sources: Cloudflare's Web Analytics docs and FAQ, Google's GA4 cookie page and data retention page. Script sizes are what we measured in October 2026, compressed, with a placeholder Google tag ID. Real tags vary with settings.
Why the cookie banner matters more than it looks
A banner is the first thing a new visitor sees. On a phone it can cover half the screen before they've read your headline. Many people tap "No" or ignore it, so you lose much of the data you added the banner to collect.
In Texas, the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act generally exempts small businesses as the SBA defines them, and there's no blanket US rule that every site needs an analytics banner. Visitors from the EU and UK are a different story. This isn't legal advice, but a cookie-free tool sidesteps the question entirely.
Speed: the script is bigger than your whole interactive layer
On our own site, htmx, the library that handles every form, filter and live update, is about 13.6 KB. Google's tag alone is about eleven times that. We wrote about why that weight matters in why your website is slow and fast websites and local SEO.
Cloudflare's numbers for our site over the last day: every page measured "Good" on all three Core Web Vitals, and the largest content appeared in about 300 milliseconds for three out of four visits.
How this fits a build like ours
We build small business sites in plain HTML with htmx, hosted on Cloudflare. Analytics comes with the hosting, so there's nothing extra to load. A full picture takes three free pieces:
- Cloudflare Web Analytics for traffic, pages, sources and speed.
- Google Search Console for the actual searches that showed and clicked your site. It needs no script on your pages, just a DNS record.
- Your own database for what converts. Every quote request, booking or signup is saved with what the visitor asked for, so you know which page or feature brought each lead, without handing visitor data to an ad company.
When Google Analytics is the right call
- You run Google Ads. Ads needs conversion tracking to know which clicks became customers.
- You have real traffic and someone to read the reports. Funnels and journey analysis pay off at thousands of visits a month, not a few hundred.
- You already depend on years of GA history. Switching tools resets your trend lines.
You can also run both: Cloudflare for everyone, and Google Analytics only for visitors who allow it. That's the honest middle ground if you need Ads data.
What we did on our own site
We kept Cloudflare Web Analytics, which was already running through Cloudflare's automatic setup, and decided against Google Analytics. Our privacy page now says plainly that we use no Google Analytics or advertising trackers, and there's no cookie banner because there's nothing to consent to.
Frequently asked questions
Is Cloudflare Web Analytics really free?
Yes. Cloudflare describes it as free, privacy-first analytics. It works on any site with a small script, and Cloudflare-proxied sites can turn it on with one switch.
Do I need a cookie banner in Texas?
For a cookie-free tool like Cloudflare Web Analytics, there's nothing to consent to. Texas's privacy law generally exempts small businesses as the SBA defines them, but EU and UK visitors fall under stricter rules. This isn't legal advice.
Can Cloudflare Web Analytics track form submissions?
Not yet. It has no custom events or goals. A custom-built site can record form submissions in its own database, which is more accurate anyway, because ad blockers don't hide them.
Can I use both?
Yes. Run Cloudflare Web Analytics for everyone, and load Google Analytics only after a visitor allows it. That's the usual setup when you need Google Ads conversion tracking.