Cookie vs. Cookieless Analytics? What to choose for your website

Do you hate that moment when you enter a new website and are immediately bombarded with a huge window asking you to “accept cookies”? Your clients hate it too.

When building a website or an online store, you need to measure traffic – to know how many people visit you and what they do on your site. However, the law (GDPR) has forced specific rules upon website owners.

When choosing a package in our calculator, you will face a choice between two analytical paths. Which one should you choose? Let us explain it as simply as possible.

1. Basic Analytics (Cookieless)

Imagine running a brick-and-mortar store and installing a simple counter at the door. You know exactly how many people entered the store today, what time was the busiest, and whether they used the main or side entrance. But you don’t know their names, you don’t follow them after they leave, and you don’t know where they live.

This is exactly how modern cookieless analytics works.

• No annoying banner: Because the script doesn’t save any personal data in the client’s browser (it doesn’t leave “cookies”), you don’t have to display a consent banner. The site is immediately ready to be read.
• 100% Privacy: You operate fully in compliance with GDPR without any extra effort.
• What do you measure? You will find out how many people visited the site, where they came from (e.g., Facebook or Google), and which subpages they read the longest.

Who is it for and what do we recommend? At otterStudio, this is our absolute favorite for digital business cards and One-Pager projects, where cleanliness and maximum speed are crucial. Moreover, if you opt for a comprehensive Multi-page website, this basic cookieless analytics is included as a standard (built into the project price).

2. Advanced Analytics (Cookies / Google Analytics 4)

Going back to our analogy: in this variant, you don’t just count people at the door. You assign a private detective to each customer. This detective follows the customer around the store, watches what they click, notes that they put a product in the basket (but didn’t buy it), and then follows them home to show them your ads on Facebook.

Such powerful data collection requires a “Consent Mode v2” system and the implementation of Event Tracking.

• Legal requirement: Collecting such precise marketing data forces you to have a Cookie Banner and a comprehensive Privacy Policy. The user must explicitly click “I Accept”.
• What do you measure? Precise customer journeys (e.g., that a client came from an Instagram ad, clicked a red button, read an article, closed the site, and 3 days later returned via Google and made a purchase).

Who is it for and what do we recommend? We advise this option exclusively for highly expanded Multi-page websites, E-Commerce stores, and companies that invest large budgets in paid ad campaigns (Google Ads, Meta Ads). Without advanced analytics, you will burn your marketing budget not knowing which ad actually sells.

Golden rule: If you don’t plan to spend thousands on remarketing and paid ads – choose the cookieless option. Your site will load faster, look cleaner, and you will still get great-looking traffic reports.

Still not sure what will be better for your company? At otterStudio, we don’t leave clients with technological dilemmas. Go to the Contact tab and let’s talk about a solution perfectly tailored to your budget and goals.