Cookie banner
- GA4 + GTM + a banner
- Often blocks pageviews until Accept. Consent Mode is another project.
- Pulse
- Our stats always run. The bar is only for extra scripts you paste.
Compare
Pulse vs Google Analytics
You shouldn’t need GA4, GTM and a consent tool to find out if the contact form worked. Pulse is the one-stop shop. Google stays optional.
What you install
- GA4 + GTM + a banner
- GA4 property, GTM container, a banner tool. Three admin UIs.
- Pulse
- One script. Board, banner and destinations live in Pulse.
Clicks and forms
- GA4 + GTM + a banner
- Triggers, variables, preview mode, publish the container.
- Pulse
- Pick the element on the live site. Publish the board.
Keep Google
- GA4 + GTM + a banner
- You already live there.
- Pulse
- Optional. Same Pulse event can POST to GA4 Measurement Protocol.
Identifiers
- GA4 + GTM + a banner
- Cookies, client ids, sometimes ads signals.
- Pulse
- No tracking cookies. Daily hash. IP used in memory, then discarded.
We will not clone
- GA4 + GTM + a banner
- Explorations, BigQuery export, user-id stitching, attribution models.
- Pulse
- We don’t do those. Or session replay, heatmaps, named people.
| GA4 + GTM + a banner | Pulse | |
|---|---|---|
| Cookie banner | Often blocks pageviews until Accept. Consent Mode is another project. | Our stats always run. The bar is only for extra scripts you paste. |
| What you install | GA4 property, GTM container, a banner tool. Three admin UIs. | One script. Board, banner and destinations live in Pulse. |
| Clicks and forms | Triggers, variables, preview mode, publish the container. | Pick the element on the live site. Publish the board. |
| Keep Google | You already live there. | Optional. Same Pulse event can POST to GA4 Measurement Protocol. |
| Identifiers | Cookies, client ids, sometimes ads signals. | No tracking cookies. Daily hash. IP used in memory, then discarded. |
| We will not clone | Explorations, BigQuery export, user-id stitching, attribution models. | We don’t do those. Or session replay, heatmaps, named people. |
When you still want GA
Paste the measurement id in Pulse. Events land in our dashboard first, then we fan out. If Google is down, you still have the row. Reject on the banner still counts for Pulse; GA only loads if they Accept.
Also see analytics without a cookie banner, vs Plausible, vs Fathom, vs Simple Analytics, and Pulse for agencies.