# Web analytics, compared: twelve tools, and what the EU asks of each

> tidekeeper's documentation, checked 3 November 2026: https://tidekeeper.eu/docs/compare

If your visitors include people in the EU, the first question isn't which has the nicest charts. It's what each tool stores on their device, whether it recognises them again, and where their data goes.

## Do your visitors include people in the EU?

1. Just count: a tool that stores nothing on the device and keeps the data in the EU. tidekeeper's easy mode.
2. More, with consent: returning visitors and funnels across visits need a yes; tidekeeper's hard mode asks with its own banner and keeps every answer.
3. Your ads: tidekeeper sends conversions from its server, for visitors who allowed it; no Google tag.

## What each one asks of an EU site

| Tool | On the device | Knows returning visitors | Who asks for consent | Where the data goes | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tidekeeper | Nothing | With consent | Our banner, every answer kept | EU: Denmark, Germany | €9 |
| Google Analytics 4 | Cookies | Yes | You, with a consent platform | Google, USA, under a framework now on appeal | Free |
| PostHog | Cookies | Yes | You, with a consent platform | EU cloud on offer | Free to 1M events |
| Microsoft Clarity | Cookies | Yes | You; enforced since 31 Oct 2025 | Microsoft | Free |
| Matomo | Cookies | Yes | You; it can ask | Your server, or its cloud | €29 |
| Plausible | Nothing | No | Not asked | EU | $9 |
| Fathom | Nothing | No | Not asked | EU isolation on offer | $15 |
| Simple Analytics | Nothing | No | Not asked | EU, the Netherlands | Free |
| umami | Nothing | No | Not asked | Your server, or its cloud | Free |
| Pirsch | Nothing | No | Not asked | Germany | $6 |
| Rybbit | Nothing | Not said | Not asked | Not said | $13 |
| Cloudflare | Nothing | No | Not asked | Cloudflare | Free |

## What each one adds to every page

| Tool | Script, gzipped |
|---|---|
| Plausible | 1,290 bytes |
| tidekeeper | 1,820 bytes |
| Fathom | 2,091 bytes |
| Pirsch | 3,503 bytes |
| umami | 3,918 bytes |
| Simple Analytics | 4,798 bytes |
| Cloudflare | 10,258 bytes |
| Rybbit | 11,758 bytes |
| Matomo | 22,137 bytes |
| Microsoft Clarity | 25,056 bytes |
| PostHog | 118,644 bytes |
| Google Analytics 4 | 154,737 bytes |

## What they have, and what we have

Others are ahead on SQL (PostHog; Google Analytics via BigQuery), session replay (PostHog, Rybbit, Clarity), a free plan and self-hosting. tidekeeper does advanced analytics legally in the EU with its own banner and records, keeps everything in Europe, names the AI crawlers that read you, and has agents, funnels and revenue from €9.

## Questions

- Is Google Analytics legal in the EU? Today, with consent for its cookies, yes; the 2022 decisions of Austria, France, Italy and Denmark found it unlawful over US transfers, the 2023 EU–US Data Privacy Framework made them lawful again, and it is on appeal to the Court of Justice.
- Do I need a cookie banner for analytics in the EU? For a tool that sets cookies, yes; for one that stores nothing, it depends on the country.
- Can I track returning visitors in the EU? With their consent: tidekeeper's hard mode asks with its own banner and keeps every answer.