Zenith vs Google Analytics
A cookieless alternative to Google Analytics you host yourself
Google Analytics is free because your visitors' data is the price. Zenith is free because you run it. If you build sites for other people, that difference decides who your client's numbers belong to.
Zenith vs Google Analytics, feature by feature
Including the rows Zenith loses. Where Google Analytics has something behind a paid tier or a plugin, the table says so rather than pretending it is missing.
| Feature | Zenith | Google Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy & compliance | ||
| Cookie-free tracking | Yes | No |
| No cookie banner required | Yes | No |
| GDPR compliant by default | Yes | Requires configuration |
| No personal data collected | Yes | No |
| You own the raw data | Yes | No |
| Open source | MIT | No |
| Self-hosting | Yes | No |
| Analytics features | ||
| Real-time dashboard | Yes | Limited |
| Visitors, pageviews, sessions | Yes | Yes |
| Bounce rate & visit duration | Yes | Yes |
| Custom events | Yes | Yes |
| UTM & campaign tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Funnel analysis | No | Yes |
| Cohort analysis | No | Yes |
| Session replay | No | No |
| Heatmaps | No | No |
| A/B testing | No | No |
| Feature flags | No | No |
| Agency & client work | ||
| Unlimited sites per deploy | Yes | Yes |
| Cost per extra client site | Nothing | Free |
| Dashboard on the client's own domain | Yes | No |
| Client never sees a third-party tool | Yes | No |
| Automatic monthly client emails | Yes | No |
| Per-client logins | Yes | Google accounts |
| SEO | ||
| Built-in SEO audits | Yes | No |
| Core Web Vitals from a real render | Yes | Via other tools |
| SEO report emails | Yes | No |
| Setup & usability | ||
| Install | Script tag or npm | Tag or GTM |
| Learning curve | Minutes | Weeks |
| Tracking script size | ~1 KB | ~45 KB |
| API access | Yes | Yes |
| Unsampled data | Yes | No |
| Hosting & pricing | ||
| Hosting | Self-hosted | Google's cloud |
| Pricing model | Free, open source | Free, ad-funded |
| Price scales with | Nothing | Nothing |
| Every feature included | Yes | Enterprise tier for more |
The consent banner problem
GA4 sets cookies and collects data that identifies a visitor, so in the EU and UK it needs consent before it runs — and every visitor who declines is a visitor you never measured. Zenith derives a visitor hash server-side that rotates daily and stores no identifier at all, so there is nothing to consent to and nothing to ask. You measure everyone, and the banner never has to appear.
Where your client's data lives
With GA4 the raw event stream sits in Google's infrastructure, governed by Google's terms, feeding an advertising business your client is not a party to. Zenith writes to a DuckDB file on a server you control. If you delete it, it is gone; if a client leaves, you hand it over. That is a different relationship with a client than 'it's in my Google account'.
What GA4 does that Zenith does not
GA4 has funnels, audience building, attribution modelling and a direct line into Google Ads. If your work depends on any of that — particularly ad attribution — GA4 is the right tool and Zenith is not a substitute. Zenith answers who visited, what they read, where they came from, and how the site is doing technically. That is deliberately a smaller question.
Learning it
GA4 is a large product with a genuinely steep learning curve, which is a real cost when the person who has to read it is your client rather than you. Zenith has one screen per site with six numbers on it. Nobody needs training, and that matters more than it sounds when the alternative is a monthly call explaining what a GA4 exploration is.
Own your clients’ analytics.
One deploy, every site you build, no consent banner and no per-site cost. It is MIT licensed and it runs on one server.