What is cookieless web analytics?

Cookieless web analytics measures website traffic without setting cookies or storing personal data on a visitor's device. Instead of a persistent cookie, each visitor is identified with a short-lived, salted hash of non-personal signals (IP, user agent, domain) that resets daily. You get visitor and pageview counts without triggering consent-banner requirements.

Do I need a cookie banner if I use cookieless analytics?

No. The GDPR ePrivacy rules require consent before setting cookies or accessing a device. A cookieless analytics tool that stores no personal data falls outside that requirement, so you can embed the script directly with no consent banner and no consent management platform.

Is cookieless analytics accurate?

For aggregate traffic metrics (visitors, pageviews, sources, devices, geography) it is as accurate as cookie-based analytics. What it does not do is track individual users across sessions and sites over time. For most businesses, aggregate trends are what they actually need.

How does MetriXs identify visitors without cookies?

MetriXs computes HMAC-SHA256(daily_salt, SECRET + ":" + ip + "|" + ua + "|" + domain), truncated to 32 hex characters. The salt rotates daily at midnight UTC and is stored in Redis for 49 hours so cross-midnight sessions stay continuous. The raw IP address is never persisted, only the hash.

Does cookieless analytics work with ad blockers?

It is more resilient than cookie-based analytics. Many ad blockers and privacy extensions target known cookie-setting trackers. A small, cookieless script served from your own analytics domain is less likely to be blocked, so you see more of your real traffic.

MetriXs

Cookieless web analytics

Web analytics without cookies, without a consent banner.

Cookieless web analytics measures your traffic without setting a single cookie on a visitor’s device. No cookies means no consent banner, no consent management platform, and no legal overhead. MetriXs is a cookieless, GDPR-compliant analytics tool hosted in the EU, with a free plan and paid plans from €6/month.

Start free → See pricing

MetriXs cookieless analytics dashboard with visitor stats, traffic sources, and devices

What “cookieless” actually means

A traditional analytics tool sets a cookie in the visitor’s browser so it can recognise the same person across page loads and sessions. That cookie is personal data under the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive, which is why every site that runs Google Analytics needs a cookie banner asking for consent before the script even loads.

A cookieless analytics tool takes a different path. It identifies each visitor with a short-lived, salted hash of non-personal signals, the visitor’s IP address, browser, and the domain they are on. The hash is not a cookie, it is never written to the visitor’s device, and it rotates daily so it cannot be used to follow a person over time. The raw IP is discarded. What remains is the aggregate data you actually need: how many people visited, where they came from, what they looked at.

Because no personal data is stored and no cookie is set, a cookieless tool falls outside the consent requirement. You embed one script tag and you are done. No banner, no CMP, no “accept all” pop-up between your visitor and your content.

How MetriXs identifies visitors without cookies

MetriXs computes a visitor identifier as:

HMAC-SHA256(daily_salt, SECRET + ":" + ip + "|" + ua + "|" + domain)

Cookieless vs. cookie-based analytics

	Cookieless (MetriXs)	Cookie-based (Google Analytics)
Sets cookies	No	Yes (_ga, _gid, etc.)
Cookie banner required	No	Yes
Stores IP addresses	No (daily-salted hash only)	Yes (truncated by default)
Tracks individuals across sites	No	Yes (with Google signals)
GDPR consent before script loads	Not required	Required
Aggregate metrics accuracy	Same	Same
Script size	~4 KB	~50 KB+ (gtag.js)

Why people switch to cookieless analytics

No consent banner friction

A cookie banner is a conversion tax. Every visitor who clicks “reject all” is excluded from your numbers, and every visitor who clicks “accept” had to dismiss a pop-up before they could read your page. Cookieless analytics removes both problems.

GDPR compliance by design

No cookies and no personal data means the GDPR consent requirement does not apply. Compliance is a property of the tool, not a configuration you have to maintain.

More of your real traffic

Privacy extensions and ad blockers increasingly target cookie-based trackers. A small cookieless script served from your own analytics domain is less likely to be blocked, so you see traffic cookie-based tools miss.

A faster, lighter site

MetriXs’ tracker is around 4 KB and sets nothing on the device. Cookie-based trackers are larger and add render-blocking weight, which hurts your Core Web Vitals.

Start with cookieless analytics today

Free plan, no credit card. Paste one ~4 KB script tag and your dashboard is live. No cookies, no consent banner, no data leaving the EU.

Start free trial →

Frequently asked questions

What is cookieless web analytics?: Cookieless web analytics measures website traffic without setting cookies or storing personal data on a visitor's device. Instead of a persistent cookie, each visitor is identified with a short-lived, salted hash of non-personal signals (IP, user agent, domain) that resets daily. You get visitor and pageview counts without triggering consent-banner requirements.
Do I need a cookie banner if I use cookieless analytics?: No. The GDPR ePrivacy rules require consent before setting cookies or accessing a device. A cookieless analytics tool that stores no personal data falls outside that requirement, so you can embed the script directly with no consent banner and no consent management platform.
Is cookieless analytics accurate?: For aggregate traffic metrics (visitors, pageviews, sources, devices, geography) it is as accurate as cookie-based analytics. What it does not do is track individual users across sessions and sites over time. For most businesses, aggregate trends are what they actually need.
How does MetriXs identify visitors without cookies?: MetriXs computes HMAC-SHA256(daily_salt, SECRET + ":" + ip + "|" + ua + "|" + domain), truncated to 32 hex characters. The salt rotates daily at midnight UTC and is stored in Redis for 49 hours so cross-midnight sessions stay continuous. The raw IP address is never persisted, only the hash.
Does cookieless analytics work with ad blockers?: It is more resilient than cookie-based analytics. Many ad blockers and privacy extensions target known cookie-setting trackers. A small, cookieless script served from your own analytics domain is less likely to be blocked, so you see more of your real traffic.