Google Analytics alternatives: 7 tools for websites in Europe compared

You can use Google Analytics in Germany, but only with consent in the cookie banner. Anyone who rejects is missing from your numbers. The alternatives in this comparison either count without cookies or keep the data on a server you choose. Which tool fits depends on what you need to measure.

Is Google Analytics GDPR compliant?

Since the EU-US Data Privacy Framework of July 2023, personal data can go to certified US companies, and Google is one of them. Legally, Google Analytics is therefore allowed with consent. It stores an identifier in the browser, and Section 25 of the German TDDDG requires the visitor’s consent for that first.

The problem is the data gap. On my own website, Google Analytics counted only 17 visits from Google Search between late July and late October 2026, while Search Console counted 107 clicks for the same period. Google’s Consent Mode only models missing visitors above a certain traffic level. For a small business website, the gap stays.

What to look for when comparing

• Consent: Does the tool store anything in the browser? Then you need a banner and lose everyone who rejects.
• Company and servers: A provider based and hosted in the EU makes your privacy policy simpler.
• Features: Are visitors, sources and pages enough, or do you need goals, campaigns and ecommerce?
• Google Ads: To bid on conversions, Google Ads needs data from Google Analytics or the Google tag.
• Cost and upkeep: A hosted service with a monthly price or your own server with maintenance.

7 alternatives to Google Analytics

Matomo is open source and comes closest to Google Analytics in features: goals, ecommerce, segments and heatmaps as an add-on. You run Matomo for free on your own server or book Matomo Cloud with servers in the EU. You can configure Matomo to count without cookies.

Plausible is a lean, cookieless tool from the EU. One dashboard shows visitors, sources, pages and goals. The cloud version costs a monthly fee, and you can self-host the Community Edition.

Pirsch comes from Germany and counts without cookies. Its scope is similar to Plausible’s, with events, goals and campaigns.

etracker is a provider from Hamburg, Germany. It can run cookieless and offers more features than the lean tools, including heatmaps and A/B tests.

Simple Analytics is based in the Netherlands and counts without cookies. It’s deliberately minimal and suits websites that only want page views and sources.

Umami is open source and free to self-host, with a hosted cloud version as an alternative. It counts without cookies and covers page views, sources and custom events.

Cloudflare Web Analytics is free and, according to Cloudflare, works without cookies and without fingerprinting. It shows visits, pages, sources and load times as real visitors experience them. Goals and campaigns are missing. If your domain runs through Cloudflare, you turn it on in the Cloudflare dashboard.

Which tool for which case

• You want to know how many visitors come and from where: Cloudflare Web Analytics, Plausible, Pirsch or Umami.
• You need goals, funnels and ecommerce data: Matomo.
• You run Google Ads: Keep Google Analytics with consent and add a cookieless tool for the totals.
• You don’t want any external tool: Google Search Console shows clicks, search terms and positions from Google Search, without cookies and for free.

Google Analytics and a cookieless tool side by side

For many business websites, a combination works well: a cookieless tool for the real totals, plus Google Analytics through Cloudflare Zaraz, which only starts after consent. Your marketing team gets the campaign details, and leadership sees how many people actually visit the site. For what the banner needs to look like, see Do you need a cookie banner?.