Comparison
VisitTrack vs Cloudflare Web Analytics
Updated
TL;DR — the verdict
Choose Cloudflare Web Analytics if…
you need a free, zero-maintenance view of pageviews, top pages, referrers, countries and Core Web Vitals for a blog, docs site or side project, and you'll never need conversion tracking.
Choose VisitTrack if…
you sell something: you need signups and payments tracked as goals, funnels to see where people drop off, unsampled history, and revenue attributed to referrers and campaigns.
What is Cloudflare Web Analytics?
Cloudflare Web Analytics is Cloudflare's free, privacy-first analytics. You add a JavaScript beacon (or enable it automatically for proxied sites), and it reports visits, pageviews, top pages, referrers, countries, devices and Core Web Vitals. Cloudflare says it doesn't use the visitor's personal data, and it's designed for sites that don't run through Cloudflare's proxy too.
It's deliberately minimal. Cloudflare's own FAQ says custom events are not supported yet, there's a soft limit of ten sites per account, unsampled beacon data is kept for 7 days and then aggregated down to roughly a 10% sample, and about six months of history is available. For a free counter that's a fair trade; for a business that needs conversions it's a ceiling.
Website: www.cloudflare.com/web-analytics
VisitTrack vs Cloudflare Web Analytics: feature comparison
Cloudflare Web Analytics's column reflects its public website, docs and pricing as of October 2026.
| Feature | VisitTrack | Cloudflare Web Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue attribution (payment → source) | YesBuilt in: each payment credited to its first-touch referrer, campaign and landing page | No |
| Payment providers | Stripe, Polar, Lemon Squeezy, Paddle, Razorpay | No |
| Cookieless tracking | YesCookieless mode, or hybrid (cookieless in the EU only); the default mode keeps a first-party id | YesNo cookies; Cloudflare says it doesn't use visitors' personal data |
| Consent banner needed (EU) | No, in cookieless mode; standard mode generally needs consent in the EU | Generally no — no cookies or device storage |
| Bot filtering | YesEvery visit scored human vs bot at ingest; bots are never billed | PartlyNot documented for the JS beacon; Cloudflare's bot tools are separate products |
| AI crawler tracking (GPTBot, ClaudeBot…) | YesGPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and more, verified by reverse DNS (needs a server-side snippet) | PartlyNot in Web Analytics; Cloudflare's AI Crawl Control is a separate product for proxied sites |
| Session replay | YesOpt-in, sampled, every input masked | No |
| Heatmaps | YesClick heatmaps | No |
| Funnels | Yes | No |
| Visitor journeys / profiles | YesPer-visitor journeys and People profiles via identify() | No |
| Google Search Console | YesKeywords, clicks and impressions next to traffic | No |
| API / MCP for AI assistants | YesREST API, CLI and an MCP server (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor) | PartlyGraphQL Analytics API; no MCP server for Web Analytics documented |
| Public dashboards | YesShareable public dashboard and embeddable widgets | No |
| Hosting & data location | Hosted SaaS on EU infrastructure; no self-hosted edition | Cloudflare's global network |
| Script size | ~5 KB gzipped (replay recorder loads separately, only when on) | beacon.min.js was ~10 KB gzipped in October 2026 |
| Pricing model | Monthly events, from $5/mo; every feature on every plan; 14-day trial, no card | Free |
Cloudflare's FAQ: custom events "not yet" supported; soft limit of ten sites per account; unsampled data for 7 days, then aggregated to ~10%; six months of history.
Cloudflare Web Analytics vs VisitTrack pricing
Monthly list prices, as of October 2026. Cloudflare Web Analytics: public pricing page. VisitTrack: pricing, yearly billing gives 2 months free.
| Monthly traffic | VisitTrack | Cloudflare Web Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| 10k pageviews / month | $5/mo | Free |
| 100k pageviews / month | $19/mo | Free |
| 1M pageviews / month | $59/mo | Free |
- Cloudflare Web Analytics is free on every Cloudflare plan, including the free one.
- VisitTrack is paid (from $5/month for 10k events) because it stores every event unsampled for 3+ years and runs revenue attribution, replays and funnels on top.
Does Cloudflare Web Analytics support custom events or goals?
No. Cloudflare's Web Analytics FAQ answers "Not yet, but we may add support for this in the future." That means no signup goals, no button-click tracking and no funnels — you see where traffic comes from, not what it does.
In VisitTrack, visitrack('event', 'signup') records any action, which you can turn into a goal or a funnel step. Payments arrive from your provider's webhook and become a payment_completed event automatically, so a funnel can end in actual revenue. See custom events.
Is Cloudflare Web Analytics data sampled?
Yes, after a week. Cloudflare keeps unsampled beacon data for the past 7 days and then aggregates it down to around 10%, and queries can apply dynamic sampling on top. For trend lines on a busy site that's fine; for a small site where a referrer sends five visitors a month, a 10% sample can make that referrer disappear.
VisitTrack never samples: every human pageview and event is stored at full resolution, with 3+ years of retention on every plan.
What about AI crawlers?
If your site runs through Cloudflare's proxy, Cloudflare's separate AI Crawl Control tools can show and block AI bots at the edge, which is a real strength. Web Analytics itself is a JavaScript beacon, and AI crawlers like GPTBot don't run JavaScript, so they never appear in it. VisitTrack tracks AI crawlers with a small server-side snippet and reports GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and others separately from human traffic — see AI crawler tracking.
Cloudflare Web Analytics or VisitTrack: who should choose which?
Cloudflare Web Analytics is the better fit for
- Personal blogs, docs sites and side projects that only need counts
- Sites already on Cloudflare that want Core Web Vitals for free
- Anyone who must spend $0 on analytics
VisitTrack is the better fit for
- Products with signups, trials and payments to track
- Founders who need funnels and revenue per channel
- Small sites where sampling would hide real referrers
How to switch from Cloudflare Web Analytics to VisitTrack
- Add the VisitTrack script tag to your site's <head> — it can run alongside the Cloudflare beacon. See installation.
- Add visitrack('event', 'signup') (or your own event names) where conversions happen, and create goals for them.
- Connect Stripe, Polar, Lemon Squeezy, Paddle or Razorpay so payments are attributed to their source.
- If you want your old history, pull it from Cloudflare's GraphQL Analytics API and load daily pageviews through the historical import.
- Compare both dashboards for a couple of weeks, then remove the Cloudflare beacon or keep it for Core Web Vitals.
VisitTrack vs Cloudflare Web Analytics: FAQ
Is Cloudflare Web Analytics really free?
Yes. Cloudflare Web Analytics is free on all Cloudflare plans, including the free plan, and it works on sites that aren't proxied through Cloudflare. The trade-offs are no custom events, sampling after 7 days and about six months of history.
Does Cloudflare Web Analytics use cookies?
No. Cloudflare Web Analytics doesn't set cookies and says it doesn't use visitors' personal data, so it generally doesn't need a consent banner. VisitTrack's cookieless mode works the same way, with a daily-rotating server-side hash.
Why would I pay for VisitTrack instead of using Cloudflare for free?
Because you need conversions. VisitTrack tracks custom events, goals, funnels, journeys and payments, attributes revenue to referrers and campaigns, and keeps unsampled data for 3+ years. If you only need pageview counts, Cloudflare is a perfectly good free choice.
Can VisitTrack show Core Web Vitals like Cloudflare?
Yes. VisitTrack's script reports Web Vitals alongside pageviews; see the script configuration docs. Cloudflare's RUM-based Web Vitals reports are more detailed, so some teams keep both.
How many sites can I track?
VisitTrack includes unlimited websites on every plan; the price depends only on total monthly events. Cloudflare Web Analytics has a soft limit of ten sites per account that support can raise.
Does Cloudflare Web Analytics track AI crawlers?
No. AI crawlers don't execute the JavaScript beacon, so Web Analytics can't see them. Cloudflare's separate AI Crawl Control product covers proxied sites at the edge; VisitTrack covers any site with a server-side snippet and reports each AI crawler by name.
Keep comparing
- Cloudflare Web Analytics alternativesOptions when you outgrow pageview counts.
- Custom eventsTrack signups and any action as goals.
- AI crawler robots.txt generatorDecide which AI bots may read your site.
- VisitTrack vs Vercel Web AnalyticsBuilt into Vercel and one toggle away, but limited on Hobby and billed per event on Pro. VisitTrack adds funnels, journeys and revenue.
- VisitTrack vs GoatCounterA free, donation-supported, privacy-friendly counter run by one developer. VisitTrack is the paid step up for goals, funnels and revenue.
- VisitTrack vs PlausibleOpen-source, EU-hosted and beautifully simple. VisitTrack adds payment-provider revenue attribution, replays and heatmaps on every plan.
- All VisitTrack comparisonsEvery head-to-head, grouped by category.
Try VisitTrack next to Cloudflare Web Analytics
Add one script tag, connect your payment provider, and see which channels bring paying customers. Run it alongside your current tool for a couple of weeks and compare. 14 days free, no card required.