Cloudflare Web Analytics
Privacy-first web analytics from Cloudflare with unlimited pageviews for proxied sites — no cookies, no localStorage, no fingerprinting, and no traffic caps. Runs on Cloudflare's edge network with both a lightweight JS beacon and DNS-proxy collection modes.
Use Cases
Free Tier
Free with unlimited pageviews and no traffic caps for sites proxied through Cloudflare; up to 10 non-proxied sites
How to Maximize the Free Tier
Cloudflare Web Analytics has one of the most generous free tiers in the category: unlimited pageviews for any site proxied through Cloudflare (orange cloud), no cookie banners, and no data sampling. Two limits to watch: (1) non-proxied sites are capped at 10, and (2) data retention on the free tier is short (~30 days), so export or archive if you need long-term trends. Pro tips: use edge (proxied) collection for zero-code setup if you're already on Cloudflare DNS, or drop the JS beacon into any static site for client-side collection; pair it with the Cloudflare Workers free tier (100K requests/day) if you ever need custom event tracking; combine with UptimeRobot or Checkly for uptime monitoring since this is traffic-only analytics. Bot filtering rules are a paid feature (Pro+), so you get automatic basic bot filtering but no custom rules on free.
Getting Started
Sign up at dash.cloudflare.com → add your domain and switch nameservers to Cloudflare → confirm the domain shows an orange cloud (proxied) in the DNS tab → open Analytics → Web Analytics → enable it (no code needed for proxied traffic). For non-proxied sites, copy the JS beacon snippet into your HTML head instead.
Pros
- Cost: Free with unlimited pageviews and no traffic caps — scales to any indie project size
- Privacy: No cookies, localStorage, or fingerprinting — GDPR and CCPA compliant out of the box with no consent banner
- Zero-config: Activates automatically for traffic proxied through Cloudflare — no script tag required
Cons
- Dependency: Edge collection requires proxying DNS through Cloudflare; non-proxied sites are capped at 10
- Basic features: No custom events, funnels, or session replay; custom rules are paid (Pro+)
- Short retention: Free tier keeps only recent history (~30 days), making long-term trend analysis difficult