PureMetrix vs Google Analytics
Both tools count traffic. PureMetrix is built for teams that want simple, cookieless visitor statistics—not a full marketing suite.
| Google Analytics 4 | PureMetrix | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary question | User journeys across products and ads | How many visitors came and which goals were reached |
| Cookies & banner | Sets cookies—in the EU only after consent, so it needs a cookie banner | No cookies, nothing stored on the device—usually no banner needed for analytics |
| Implementation | Often via Tag Manager, many events to set up | One snippet, plugin or package |
| Data location | Google infrastructure | EU hosting on Hetzner |
| Pricing | Free standard version; paid 360 edition for large companies | 14-day Starter trial, then paid plans with clear prices (billed via Stripe) |
| Open source | No | No—a commercial hosted service |
Why GA4 needs a cookie banner—and PureMetrix usually does not
GA4 stores a client ID in a cookie on your visitors' devices. In the EU—and in Germany under § 25 TDDDG (formerly TTDSG)—that requires prior consent. So GA4 runs behind your cookie banner and only counts people who click “Accept”. Everyone who declines or ignores the banner is missing from your reports; Consent Mode can at best estimate them.
PureMetrix stores nothing on the device. Unique visitors are counted with a hash (a one-way checksum) that includes a random value, the salt. The salt is created fresh every day and deleted after 48 hours, so there is no identifier anyone has to consent to. For analytics alone you therefore usually need no banner—and you see every visitor, not just those who opted in.
- Complete numbers: no gap between visitors who accept and visitors who decline.
- Less friction: if analytics was the only reason for your banner, it can get shorter or disappear.
- Honest limits: ad pixels, embedded videos or chat widgets may still need consent—PureMetrix does not change that.
See what the banner costs you in data with the cookie banner traffic-loss calculator. Full explanation and agency checklist: analytics without a cookie banner. Have your legal counsel confirm the assessment for your whole site.
Choose GA4 when
- Ads attribution and Google ecosystem reports are the main job
- You rely on BigQuery export and detailed analysis of individual user paths
Choose PureMetrix when
- You want cookieless statistics with EU hosting and a data processing agreement (DPA)
- You want to count every visitor, not only those who accept a cookie banner
- A one-page dashboard helps your weekly decisions more than a maze of reports
- You don’t need to profile visitors for advertising
Numbers will differ—see GA4 accuracy. Practical steps: migrate from GA4.
Last updated: September 2026