A Google Analytics alternative for the part GA doesn't answer: why visitors leave.
GA4 is free and built around acquisition and ads. Trace is built around the experience on your pages: what frustrates visitors, what breaks, and which fix moved your goal. Without cookies, and without your data going to an ad company.
Keep Google Analytics if you need
- Google Ads, Search Console and campaign attribution
- Channel reports your marketing team lives in
- Up to 14 months of event history for free
Choose Trace if you want
- Data that stays with you, hosted in the EU or on your own server
- Visitor counts that don't drop when people decline GA's cookies
- Clear answers about UX: what to fix first, and whether it worked
Side by side
| Google Analytics | Trace | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Acquisition, campaigns and ads | The experience on your pages |
| Visitors who decline cookies | Estimated with modelling in advanced consent mode | Counted directly, no cookie needed |
| Who processes the data | Trace in Finland, or only your own server | |
| Frustration and errors | Not without custom work | Dead clicks, rage clicks, errors, failed requests |
| Campaigns | Yes, its strength | Per landing page, not per campaign |
| Data kept | Up to 14 months | 30 days free, longer on paid plans, unlimited self-hosted |
| Self-host | No | Yes, open source |
Google Analytics details from its public documentation, checked 29 October 2026. Spot something out of date? Tell us.
Moving from Google Analytics: what maps to what
You don't need to choose. Most teams keep GA for campaigns and put Trace on the pages that matter.
| In Google Analytics | In Trace |
|---|---|
| Landing page report | Pages with exit rate, scroll, problems |
| Funnel exploration | Funnels in trace.json |
| Conversions (key events) | Goals with targets |
| Custom events (gtag) | trace.track() |
Run them side by side for a month
Add the Trace tag next to Google Analytics. It adds 8.4 KB and does its work when the browser is idle.
Keep GA for campaigns. Put Trace on the pages your ads land on, and fix their worst problem.
Read the verdict on what you shipped. Keep what still earns its place. Compare conversion on that landing page before and after.
Questions from Google Analytics users
Why does Trace show more visitors than GA?
GA counts those who accept cookies and estimates the rest. Trace counts them directly, because it needs no cookie.
Can I remove my cookie banner?
Only if nothing else on your site needs one. GA and Ads still do. Check with your own counsel.
Do my marketers need to learn something new?
The dashboard is one page of ranked problems and goals. The technical parts are for your developers.
Related: Plausible vs Trace · Umami vs Trace · Microsoft Clarity alternative · All comparisons