Cloudflare Web Analytics
Free, server-side analytics from Cloudflare. Cookieless, no JS option, generous limits.
VISIT CLOUDFLARE WEB ANALYTICSKey takeaway: For any site already proxied through Cloudflare, this is the cheapest correct answer to the question of whether you should have analytics at all: free, cookieless, and available with no client-side JavaScript. It will not answer event or funnel questions, so treat it as the baseline layer and add PostHog when product questions start.
Quick facts
- CategoryPlatform-bundled
- PricingFree
- Starts atFree
- LicenseProprietary
- Created2020
- GitHub starsclosed
- Script size0KB (server-side)
- CookielessYes
- Self-hostNo
What it is
Cloudflare Web Analytics is free for any site sitting behind Cloudflare. Server-side tracking option (no client JS at all) when proxied through Cloudflare. Cookieless. Generous limits (no traffic cap on the free tier for most). Dashboard is basic, pageviews, sources, devices, but the "free, no JS, no cookies" pitch is hard to beat.
Best for
- Sites already behind Cloudflare who want zero-overhead analytics
- Lighthouse-obsessed teams who want no analytics JS at all (server-side mode)
- Cost-sensitive projects where free + good-enough beats paid + great
When not to pick it
Skip Cloudflare Analytics if you need granular events / funnels / cohorts. Skip if you are not on Cloudflare; the integration story is the value.
My take
Cloudflare Web Analytics is the right default for any Cloudflare-fronted marketing site that does not need event tracking. Free, no JS, no cookies, almost no reason not to enable it. Pair with PostHog for product analytics.
Server-side mode and the zero-JavaScript win
Because Cloudflare already sits in the request path, it can count requests without asking the browser to do anything. That is a category difference from every script-based tool: no tag, no extra request, nothing for an ad blocker to intercept, nothing to defer, and nothing added to your Core Web Vitals. If you have just spent a week fighting for a Lighthouse score, adding analytics that costs zero bytes is a satisfying trade. The caveat is that server-side counting measures requests rather than engaged humans, so bots and cached responses shape the numbers differently than a client script would. Cloudflare's bot filtering handles much of that, but expect totals to diverge from a JavaScript tool running alongside. Neither is wrong, they count different things. Decide which definition you report before somebody asks why two dashboards disagree.
The ceiling, and when to stop
The dashboard covers pageviews, top pages, referrers, countries, and device and browser breakdowns. That is a genuine baseline and more than many sites ever look at. What it does not do is custom events, goals, funnels, retention, or any user-level analysis, and there is no sign in the product that it intends to. The dashboard gives you little in the way of export, so a later migration realistically means starting a fresh dataset somewhere else rather than carrying history across. The real constraint is the one built into the pitch: the value is the integration. Leave Cloudflare, or run part of your estate off it, and you lose the tool for that part. Plausible, Fathom, and Pirsch are the portable equivalents. Use Cloudflare's version as the free floor under your measurement, not as the thing you build client reporting on.
Frequently asked questions
Is Cloudflare Web Analytics free?
Yes, for sites on Cloudflare, with limits generous enough that most marketing sites never think about them. There is no paid upsell inside the product. It exists to make the platform stickier, which also means feature development is not funded by analytics revenue, so do not sit waiting for funnels or cohorts to arrive.
Does Cloudflare Web Analytics need JavaScript?
Not if your traffic is proxied through Cloudflare, in which case it can measure server-side with no client script at all. A JavaScript beacon exists for sites that are not proxied. The server-side mode is the interesting one: zero bytes added to the page, no impact on Core Web Vitals, and nothing for ad blockers to intercept.
Cloudflare Web Analytics or Plausible?
Cloudflare if the site is already behind it and you want traffic numbers rather than analysis. It costs nothing and adds no weight. Plausible if you want goals and custom events, a better dashboard, data you can export and take with you, or analytics that survives a change of CDN later on.
Links
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