We put CorbaCount next to the four scripts you most often find in a website footer - Google Analytics 4, the Meta Pixel, Hotjar and Google Tag Manager - across the three things that actually matter: what happens to your visitors' privacy, what you can do with the data, and how much code each one loads on every single pageview. We are upfront about what we do not do, too.
That is the gzipped size of our snippet, measured live from the file we ship. The others weigh in at roughly 35-70 KB and keep fetching more after they load.
The IP is used for the country lookup and a short bot check, then deleted - normally within minutes, never later than 24 hours. Not even a hash of it ends up in your analytics data.
The cookie lives on your own domain, the beacon goes straight to our servers in Germany and the data stays there under the GDPR. No ad network ever sees your visitors.
A single _cc_vid identifier for returning-visitor counts. No third-party cookies, no cross-site advertising profile.
Where your visitors' data goes once the script runs.
| CorbaCount | Google Analytics 4 | Meta Pixel | Hotjar | Tag Manager | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data hosting region | Germany (EU) | United States | United States | EU / US | United States |
| Sends data to an ad network | No | Yes (Google Ads) | Yes (Meta Ads) | No | Via loaded tags |
| Third-party cookies | None | Yes | Yes | Yes | Via loaded tags |
| Stores visitor IP address | No (deleted within 24 hours) | Used, not stored | Yes (ad matching) | Anonymised | Via loaded tags |
| Builds a cross-site profile | No | Yes | Yes | No | Via loaded tags |
| You own the raw data | Yes | No (Google) | No (Meta) | No (Hotjar) | n/a |
| EU consent-banner burden | Far lighter footprint | Heavy | Heavy | Heavy | Depends on tags |
| Blocked by major ad-blockers | Not by default | Yes | Yes | Often | Increasingly |
Competitor details as publicly documented at the time of writing. Last checked: 12 June 2026.
These are different categories of tool - GA4 is analytics, the Meta Pixel is ad-conversion tracking, Hotjar is heatmaps and session replay, Tag Manager is a loader. We mark where a tool genuinely wins, including where that tool is not us.
| CorbaCount | Google Analytics 4 | Meta Pixel | Hotjar | Tag Manager | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pageviews & sessions | Yes | Yes | No | Basic | No |
| Traffic sources & referrers | Yes | Yes | No | Limited | No |
| Country / browser / OS | Yes | Yes | Limited | Yes | No |
| Real-time visitors | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Goals & conversions | Yes (URL or JS) | Yes | Yes (ad) | No | Triggers only |
| Multi-step funnels | Yes (simple) | Yes (complex) | No | Yes | No |
| Visitor path / journey | Yes | Limited | No | Yes (replay) | No |
| Heatmaps | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Session recordings / replay | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Core Web Vitals (LCP/INP/CLS) | Built-in | Partial | No | No | No |
| Bot filtering | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | No |
| SEO data (backlinks, keywords, GSC) | Yes (DataForSEO + GSC) | No | No | No | No |
| Ask your own AI questions (MCP) | Yes (MCP server) | No | No | No | No |
| Mobile app | iPhone & Android (coming soon) | Yes (iOS & Android) | Ads Manager app (ad results only) | No | No |
| Ad-retargeting audiences | No | Yes | Yes | No | Via tags |
| Server-side conversions (no JS) | Yes (webhook) | Yes | Yes (CAPI) | No | Server container |
Competitor capabilities as publicly documented at the time of writing. Last checked: 12 June 2026.
Privacy-first analytics, SEO and Core Web Vitals in one dashboard - from €4/month per site.
Join the waitlistYour dashboard after a week: visitors and pageviews, every traffic source including AI assistants, and where people land. See every widget in the dashboard tour.
The extra code each tool loads on every pageview of your site. Lighter is faster - and our number is measured live, right now, from the file we serve.
| CorbaCount | Google Analytics 4 | Meta Pixel | Hotjar | Tag Manager | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tracking script, gzipped | 3.3 KB | ~50 KB | ~45 KB | ~40 KB | ~35 KB + tags |
| Tracking script, uncompressed | 9.6 KB | ~90 KB | ~110 KB | ~90 KB | ~90 KB + tags |
| Requests after it loads | One beacon / pageview | Multiple | Multiple | Many (uploads) | Every tag you add |
| Loads further third-party code | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | That is its job |
| Non-blocking transport | Yes (sendBeacon) | Yes | Partial | Partial | Depends on tags |
CorbaCount figures are measured live from the snippet we ship each time this page loads. Competitor sizes are approximate gzipped/uncompressed transfer sizes from typical public deployments as of 2026; they vary with configuration and version, and Tag Manager's footprint depends entirely on the tags you add to it. All four also fetch additional payloads after the initial script that are not counted here. Last checked: 12 June 2026.
They are - and we say so above. GA4 is the closest analogue; the Meta Pixel is ad-conversion tracking; Hotjar is heatmaps and session replay; Tag Manager is a loader for other scripts. We compare the slice that overlaps - what loads on your page and what happens to your visitors' data - and we flag where a tool does something we simply do not.
Approximate transfer sizes from typical public deployments in 2026. They move with configuration and version, and Tag Manager's size depends on the tags you load. Our own figure is the exception - it is measured live from the file we serve, every time this page renders, so it can never drift.
No - that is Hotjar's specialty, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. CorbaCount focuses on privacy-first analytics, SEO and Core Web Vitals. If you need pixel-level heatmaps and full replays, run Hotjar; the two sit happily side by side.
Yes. The tracker is one snippet you can drop in next to GA, GTM or the Meta Pixel. Run them in parallel for a month, compare the numbers, then drop whatever you no longer need.
Fair question - but they belong in a different comparison. All four are privacy-friendly tools like CorbaCount, so the tables above (built to contrast us with big-tech scripts) would not tell you much. We compared each of them properly on its own page.
The minimal one. Same privacy stance - we add visitor paths, Core Web Vitals, true realtime and a full SEO layer.
The self-hosted veteran. Powerful, but you run the server, the database and the paid plugins - we compare the real cost.
Cookieless and simple, with EU isolation rather than EU storage. No funnels, visitor paths, Web Vitals or SEO layer.
Open source and minimal by design. Self-hosting makes you the hosting provider; we add paths, realtime, Web Vitals and SEO.
Get on the waitlist for early access and locked-in pricing.
