A GDPR compliant Google Analytics alternative

Google Analytics 4 and Clientlog answer different questions. Google Analytics is built around users, audiences and advertising. Clientlog is built around sessions, structured events and rules you keep in version control. This page sets the two side by side so the choice rests on what you need to measure.

At a glance

Consent

Google Analytics stores identifiers in cookies so that a returning visitor is recognised. Under PECR in the UK, and the ePrivacy rules in the EU, that storage has required consent, which is why most sites running Google Analytics show a cookie banner. Google’s consent mode adjusts what the tag sends when consent is refused, and Google models the missing data.

Clientlog stores one session identifier in sessionStorage and no identifier that survives the visit. That storage is still covered by PECR. The UK’s statistical-purposes exception, in force since February 2026, is the route by which analytics storage can proceed without consent, subject to conditions. The cookie banner guide covers how both tools relate to it.

Data location and transfers

Google Analytics data is processed on Google’s global infrastructure. In 2022, data protection authorities in Austria, France and Italy found specific uses of Universal Analytics unlawful because of transfers to the United States. Transfers now rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and its UK extension.

Clientlog data is stored and processed in the AWS London region, with AWS as the only subprocessor. No international transfer is involved. See GDPR compliant analytics.

Identity

Google Analytics builds a picture of a user across visits and, with Google signals enabled, across devices. That is the source of its audience and retention reports.

Clientlog has no user. A session is one visit in one tab, and two sessions from the same person cannot be linked. Retention cohorts and lifetime value are outside its model. If you need them for signed-in users, sessionIdFn can group sessions by your own account identifier, and the privacy obligations that follow are yours.

Conversions and definitions

In Google Analytics, a key event is marked in the interface. The definition lives in a form, its history is an audit log at best, and a change to the site that breaks it shows up as a quiet drop in a chart.

In Clientlog, a conversion is a rule in a YAML file:

- rule_id: signup
  tag: converted
  description: Completed a signup
  logic: {"in": ["user.signup.success", {"var": "session.actions"}]}

clog plan shows drift between the file and what is deployed, clog apply deploys it, and clog test runs it against stored sessions in CI. See rules and analytics rules as code.

Journeys

Google Analytics offers path exploration over its event stream. Clientlog puts page identity in the action name (page.view.pricing), aggregates each session into an ordered action sequence, and computes a transition matrix from it, so landing pages, exit pages and drop-off points are available without defining a funnel first. See user journey analysis.

Where Google Analytics is the right tool

• You buy Google Ads and want audiences, remarketing and bid optimisation fed from the same data.
• You need user-level retention, cohorts or cross-device reporting.
• Your marketing team works in the GA interface and Looker Studio.
• You want a free tool with a large ecosystem of guides and integrations.

Where Clientlog fits

• You want analytics without cookies and without an identifier that outlives the visit.
• You want your data in the UK, queryable over an API and a CLI.
• You want conversion definitions reviewed, tested and versioned with the code they measure.
• You treat a drop-off in a journey as a defect to debug.

The two can run side by side: Clientlog for product and journey measurement, Google Analytics for advertising, behind its consent banner.

Next

• Quickstart
• Google Analytics without a cookie banner
• Pricing and early access