Cookie-Free Analytics: Plausible, Matomo and Others
By CodexierPublished 6 min read
Cookie-free analytics tools promise visit statistics with no banner, no data transfer to the US and a dashboard you can read in a minute. For many Swedish company sites that is exactly the right trade. For sites that live on paid campaigns, it is a trade that removes data you need. This guide explains what the tools measure and how, compares the main options, and gives a way to find out what you would lose before you switch.
The short answer
We set these up as part of our tracking and analytics service, often alongside a properly gated GA4 for clients who advertise.
What cookie-free analytics can and cannot do
Without a cookie, a tool cannot recognise a visitor on their next visit. Instead it typically counts a visit by hashing the IP address, user agent and a daily salt into a temporary identifier that is discarded at the end of the day. That is enough to group page views into a visit, to attribute the visit to a source, and to record whether a goal was reached. It is not enough to say that the same person came back a week later, saw an ad on Tuesday and bought on Friday, or belongs to an audience you can retarget.
| Measurement | Cookie-free tools | GA4 with consent |
|---|---|---|
| Visits, pages, sources, countries, devices | Yes | Yes, for consenting visitors only |
| Goals and conversions in the same visit | Yes | Yes |
| Returning visitors over weeks | Approximate at best | Yes |
| Multi-touch attribution across sessions | No | Yes, within the consent share |
| Audience demographics and interests | No | Yes, with Google Signals |
| Feeding conversions to Google Ads | Not directly | Yes |
| Consent banner needed for analytics | No, in the usual configuration | Yes |
Plausible, Matomo and others
Plausible
Hosted in the EU, one-page dashboard, goals, UTM campaigns and a lightweight script. The default choice for a company site that wants numbers without a project.
Fathom
Similar simplicity with EU routing, strong on uptime and a clean interface. Choose on price and taste against Plausible.
Matomo
The most complete: funnels, heatmaps, e-commerce reports and a cookie-free mode. Self-host it or use their EU cloud. More setup, more to maintain, and cookie-free mode must be switched on deliberately.
Umami
Open source and light, easy to self-host on a small server. Good for technical teams who want ownership and minimal cost.
Your platform's own statistics
Shopify, Squarespace and similar include basic visit reports. Often enough for a brochure site; rarely enough for a shop.
Hosting and data location
Cookie-free does not automatically mean lawful. The tool still processes IP addresses momentarily and still needs a processor agreement if a vendor hosts it. Choose EU hosting, read where the vendor's servers are, and sign their DPA. Self-hosting gives full control and removes the vendor from the equation, at the cost of running one more system that needs updates and backups. For most small companies the hosted EU option is the practical choice; for sensitive sectors or technical teams, self-hosting Matomo or Umami on a Swedish or EU server is the cleanest possible answer to any data-location question.
- Confirm the vendor's data location and sub-processors in writing, and keep a copy with your records of processing.
- Check that the tool really runs in cookie-free mode; Matomo, for example, uses cookies by default.
- Update your privacy policy: no banner does not mean no disclosure.
Running two tools in parallel
The way to decide is to measure both. Install a cookie-free tool alongside GA4 for a quarter. Compare the reports you actually open each month: if the cookie-free tool answers your questions, drop GA4, remove the analytics purpose from your banner and simplify. If you find yourself opening GA4 for attribution or Ads reports, keep it, configured behind consent, and use the cookie-free tool for the honest total that consent-gated GA4 cannot give you. Many companies end up with both, permanently, for exactly that reason.
When you do not need us: installing Plausible or Fathom on a site is a one-line script and a goal or two; the vendor's guide is enough. When a short project helps: self-hosting Matomo, migrating goals and campaign conventions from GA4, or building the parallel setup so that the two tools can be compared fairly. The legal background is in is Google Analytics legal in Sweden; if you want the practical decision made with you, book a call, or see the fixed price for a full tracking setup on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
Is cookie-free analytics really exempt from the consent requirement?
In the usual configuration, yes: nothing is stored on or read from the visitor's device, so the Electronic Communications Act's consent rule for cookies does not apply. GDPR still applies to the brief processing of the IP address, which is why EU hosting, a processor agreement and a privacy policy entry remain necessary.
Are the visitor numbers accurate?
They are a different measure rather than a less accurate one. Cookie-free tools count all visitors, including those who would have rejected cookies, so totals are usually higher than consent-gated GA4. Unique visitor counts over periods longer than a day are estimates, because the tool deliberately cannot recognise returning people.
Can I import my GA4 history into the new tool?
Some tools offer an import of aggregated GA4 data for historical comparison, with limits. In practice, treat the switch as a new baseline and keep read access to the old GA4 property for reference.
Which tool would you choose for a Swedish company website?
For a site without paid campaigns, Plausible or Fathom hosted in the EU. For a webshop or a site that needs funnels and e-commerce reports without GA4, Matomo in cookie-free mode. For a technical team that wants full ownership, self-hosted Umami or Matomo. If you advertise heavily, a properly gated GA4 alongside one of these.
Thinking of dropping GA4, or unsure what you would lose?
Tell us which reports you open today and whether you run paid campaigns. In fifteen minutes we tell you whether a cookie-free tool covers it, which one fits, and whether to keep GA4 alongside.
Book a free 15-minute call