Proxima Analytics vs Cloudflare Web Analytics: A Comprehensive Comparison

If you're in the market for a web analytics tool, you may be considering both Proxima Analytics and Cloudflare Web Analytics as options. Both tools offer simple, lightweight solutions for tracking your website traffic, but there are some key differences between the two that you should be aware of before making a decision. In this detailed comparison, we'll take a closer look at the similarities and differences between Proxima and Cloudflare Analytics to help you determine which tool is the best fit for your needs.

What is Cloudflare Analytics?

Cloudflare offers two products that seem similar at first glance: Cloudflare Analytics and Cloudflare Web Analytics. However, upon closer examination, we can see that these two tools are actually quite different.

Cloudflare Analytics is a server-side analytics tool, similar to server logs. This means that you don't need to insert any snippet on your site. All you need to do is change your DNS or use Cloudflare's proxy to access these stats. However, like other server logs, Cloudflare Analytics is known for being wildly inaccurate, as it includes all bots and spam in its data. This is because it is a server-side tool, which means it doesn't have access to the same data as client-side tools like Proxima Analytics.

Cloudflare Analytics is a premium product, only available to paying customers who use Cloudflare's other services to improve their site's performance and security.

On the other hand, Cloudflare Web Analytics is a relatively new product, launched as a response to Google Analytics and other web analytics tools like Proxima Analytics. It works on the client side, using a JavaScript snippet that you need to insert into your site. Unlike Cloudflare Analytics, Cloudflare Web Analytics is free to use.

Cloudflare Web Analytics claims not to cookie your visitors, collect their personal information, or track them across sites. They say that if your site requires a cookie banner, it won't be because of them. This is similar to what Proxima does, so we'll be comparing these two tools .

Quick Look: Proxima vs Cloudflare Analytics

Comparing Proxima and Cloudflare: A Web Analytics Showdown

There are several differences between Proxima Analytics and Cloudflare Web Analytics that are worth considering if you're deciding which tool to use for your website. While both tools are designed to be easy to use and prioritize privacy, there are some key distinctions that set them apart. We'll take a closer look at these differences to help you make an informed decision about which analytics tool is the best fit for your needs.

Data Retention Limits

When it comes to data retention, Proxima and Cloudflare Web Analytics have some important differences to consider. While Proxima has no official data retention limit, Cloudflare only retains data for a maximum of 30 days. This can be a dealbreaker for many users who rely on analytics to compare longer time periods, such as month-to-month or year-over-year data. Additionally, Cloudflare's business plan, which starts at $200 per month, is required for extended data retention.

Dashboard Accuracy

While both Proxima and Cloudflare Web Analytics strive for simplicity and ease of use, there are some significant differences in the accuracy of their dashboards. Cloudflare's stats are based on a 10% sample, which means that the data displayed may not be fully representative of your website's traffic. Additionally, Cloudflare's analytics do not exclude bots, which can skew the accuracy of the data. In contrast, Proxima has no such limitations and provides more accurate, comprehensive data.

Report Limitations

When it comes to report customization, Proxima and Cloudflare Web Analytics differ in their capabilities. Cloudflare Web Analytics limits users to viewing the top 15 pages, referral sources, countries, and other metrics. This can make it difficult to work with larger data sets or websites with a higher volume of traffic. In contrast, Proxima has no such limitations and allows users to view full lists of items and filter by any metric.

Insights and Metrics

Proxima Analytics offers a more comprehensive and advanced set of features compared to Cloudflare Web Analytics. With Proxima Analytics, you can gain insights in real-time with a live view or live dashboard, allowing you to see what is happening on your site at any given moment. Additionally, Proxima Analytics provides metrics on visit duration and time on page, giving you a better understanding of how long users are staying on your site and on specific pages. This can help you gauge the quality of referral sources and make informed decisions about your website's content and design.

Proxima Analytics also includes a bounce rate metric, which is not available on Cloudflare Web Analytics. Bounce rate measures the percentage of users who leave a website after viewing just one page, and it can be a useful indicator of the quality of different pages or referral sources. With Proxima Analytics, you can easily track bounce rate and optimize your website to improve user engagement and retention.

Our service supports UTM tags, which allow you to track your marketing campaigns and emails and minimize dark traffic. This feature is not available on Cloudflare Web Analytics, making it difficult to accurately track the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

Proxima Analytics also includes goal and event tracking, allowing you to see whether users are taking the actions you are focused on and track external link clicks and other important events on your site. This feature is not available on Cloudflare Web Analytics.

Finally, Proxima Analytics can be served as a first-party connection, meaning it is less likely to be blocked by browsers and extensions. This ensures that a higher percentage of your visitors are accurately counted in your analytics data. In contrast, Cloudflare Web Analytics is frequently blocked by ad blockers and other tools, requiring the use of the premium Cloudflare Analytics tool to avoid this issue. However, this premium tool is not free, making it an additional cost for users.

Overall, Proxima Analytics offers a more comprehensive and advanced set of features compared to Cloudflare Web Analytics, making it a better choice for those looking for a robust and privacy-first analytics solution

Transparency in Web Analytics

Proxima Analytics is a fully open-source web analytics tool, meaning that its source code is publicly available and accessible on GitHub. This allows anyone to review the code and ensure that it is keeping data private and secure. Additionally, Proxima Analytics can be self-hosted, giving users the ability to manage their own server infrastructure.

In contrast, Cloudflare Web Analytics is a closed source product, meaning that its source code is not publicly available. This lack of transparency means that there is no way to know what is happening behind the scenes when using the Cloudflare script. While Cloudflare may not have an interest in the ad-tech world, this lack of transparency means that users must put their trust in the company.

For those who value transparency and control over their data, Proxima Analytics offers a more appealing option. Its open-source nature and ability to be self-hosted give users greater control and assurance that their data is being handled responsibly.

vs The Big Players

Cloudflare Web Analytics may be offered for free, but it's important to consider the potential motivations behind this decision. As a massive corporation with numerous revenue-generating products, it's possible that Cloudflare is using its analytics tool as a way to attract paying customers or gather business intelligence to improve its other services. Additionally, Cloudflare is not a specialized web analytics company, which can be reflected in the limited features and inconvenience of its dashboard.

On the other hand, our service is created and maintained by a small, independent team with a laser focus on web analytics. As a result, our product is built with the needs of our users in mind, rather than being an afterthought for a larger company. While it does cost time and money to develop, manage, and maintain a web analytics service, our subscription fees help us run a sustainable business that we can work on full-time. By choosing Proxima Analytics, you'll not only be getting a feature-rich and user-friendly web analytics tool, but you'll also be supporting indie developers, indie businesses, and the independent web.

It's worth noting that Cloudflare's decision to offer its web analytics tool for free may come at the cost of data accuracy, as the company uses aggressive data sampling and strict data history limitations to cut costs. Proxima Analytics, on the other hand, is transparent about its pricing and is committed to providing accurate and reliable data to its users.

In conclusion, both Cloudflare Web Analytics and Proxima Analytics offer valuable tools for tracking and analyzing website data. However, it's important to consider the motivations behind Cloudflare's free analytics tool and the potential impact on data accuracy. Proxima Analytics, on the other hand, is a feature-rich and user-friendly option that is created and maintained by a dedicated team of independent web analytics experts. By choosing Proxima Analytics, you'll not only be getting a comprehensive and reliable tool, but you'll also be supporting an indie bootstrapped business. Ultimately, the decision of which web analytics tool to use will depend on your specific needs and priorities.