Google Analytics is illegal in growing European countries.

Tl;dr

Google Analytics has become illegal in those countries:

• Austria
• France
• Italy
• Denmark

Why are countries banning Google Analytics?

With a growing number of European countries implementing GDPR, the question on many marketers’ minds is what impact this new legislation will have. From now on, website visitors must consent to data collection and usage. This includes Google Analytics which has been used on billions of sites worldwide. And while there are multiple ways to avoid this issue, it will take time for everyone to adapt.

We think that a reverse proxy mechanism could be a potential solution. But it requires development time and investment into servers and maintenance. Is it really worth it? Universal Google Analytics (the one most people are used to) will stop working in June 2023 and will be replaced by Google Analytics 4, which - according to Google - is more focused on privacy.

The GDPR is made to protect the privacy of European citizens. This means, among other things, that you should be able to visit a website without your data ending up in the wrong hands. We have carefully reviewed the possible settings of Google Analytics and have come to the conclusion that you cannot use the tool in its current form without implementing supplementary measures.

Makar Juhl Holst, Senior Legal Advisor at the Danish Data Protection Agency.

The number of countries that ban Google Analytics is growing. It will likely become illegal in most European Union countries.

Statsy is a legal web analytics alternative.

We built Statsy with privacy in mind. Our focus is to measure real user experience, not to profile them. We don't store any sensitive data like user's IP. At the same time we provide you an overview of basic metrics. You can also measure Web Vitals which reflect the UX of the website.

One more thing.

We estimate carbon emission of your website and allow you to compensate the footprint.