The Fastest Loading Web Analytics (Scripts Under 4KB)

To help create a fast website, you need a fast-loading web analytics script.

The best lightweight analytics script is probably Fathom which uses a one-way hash to record user visits without using traditional tracking methods. The script is just 1.6 KB (kilobytes), and Fathom serves it from an AWS (Amazon Web Service) CDN.

Let’s look at the file sizes of various web analytics scripts:

KB Size Of Various Web Analytics Scripts

• Google Tag Manager =  45.7 KB (kilobytes)
• Matomo Analytics = 22.8 KB 
• Google Analytics = 17.7 KB 
• ga-lite (a smaller subset of Google Analytics JS client) = 10 KB
• Simple Analytics =  3 KB 
• Fathom Analytics = 1.6 KB
• Plausible Analytics = <1 KB
• LunarLytics = <1 KB

A List Of Lightweight Web Analytics Providers

These services have web analytics scripts under 4KB in size:

Simple Analytics (3KB Script)

• Website: Simple Analytics
• Headquarters: Netherlands
• Servers: Netherlands
• Analytics method: uses javascript — no cookies
• Script: https://scripts.simpleanalyticscdn.com/latest.js
• Size of Analytics script: 3KB
• Price: 10 websites — $108 per year – 100,000 “datapoints” per month (page views or “events”)
• Payments types accepted: Credit Card, Paypal, Bitcoin

You own your account data, and your data is encrypted. The company has a strong privacy policy.

Simple Analytics is compliant with GDPR, PECR, and CCPA.

The company does not store personal data about your visitors.

Fathom Analytics (1.6KB Script)

• Website: Fathom Analytics
• Headquarters: Canada
• Servers: Germany (Hetzner)
• Analytics method: DNS record addition (see this detailed explanation)
• Script: https://cdn.usefathom.com/script.js
• Size of Analytics script: 1.6KB
• Tested load time: 30ms (milliseconds)
• Price: $140 per year — up to 100,000 monthly page views — unlimited sites included
• Payments types accepted: Credit Card

Fathom has a lightweight script — just 1.6KB in size. Typical load times are around 30 milliseconds. Most of their components are hosted on AWS (Amazon Web Service). European traffic is routed through European-owned infrastructure.

Fathom uses a unique visit recording method. They store SHA256 hashes (more info) to determine unique visitors over 24 hours without creating any privacy risk.

The service is GDPR, CCPA, ePrivacy, and PECR compliant.

Plausible Analytics (<1KB Script)

• Website: Plausible Analytics
• Headquarters: Europe (Estonia)
• Analytics method: uses javascript, no cookies
• Script: https://plausible.io/js/script.js
• Size of Analytics script: 938 bytes
• Tested load time: 203ms
• Price: $96 per year — 100,000 page views per month — 50 sites included
• Payments types accepted: Credit Card, Paypal

Plausible Analytics has a lightweight web analytics script with a file size of 938 bytes.

Supports UTM tracking. A UTM code is a simple snippet code that you can add to the end of a URL to track the performance of campaigns and content. 

Plausible Analytics says the analytics can still be done without collecting any personal data and without using cookies.

LunarLytics (<1KB Script)

• Site: LunarLytics
• Analytics method: No IP tracking, fingerprinting, or cookies.
• Size of Analytics file: <1KB
• Price: $120 per year – 250,000 page views per month — unlimited sites included
• Payments types accepted: Credit Card

Another script that is less than 1KB. LunarLytics meets these requirements: GDPR, CCPA, and PECR.

You retrain all data ownership.