README

Cloudflare Web Analytics provides:

• Core Web Vitals - LCP, FID, CLS, INP, TTFB monitoring
• Page views & visits - Traffic patterns without cookies
• Referrers & paths - Traffic sources and popular pages
• Device & browser data - User agent breakdown
• Geographic data - Country-level visitor distribution
• Privacy-first - No cookies, fingerprinting, or PII collection
• Free - No cost, unlimited pageviews

Important: Web Analytics is dashboard-only. No API exists for programmatic data access.

Quick Start Decision Tree

Reading Order

1. configuration.md - Setup for proxied vs non-proxied sites
2. integration.md - Framework-specific beacon integration (React, Next.js, Vue, Nuxt, etc.)
3. patterns.md - Common use cases (performance monitoring, GDPR consent, multi-site tracking)
4. gotchas.md - Troubleshooting (SPA tracking, CSP issues, hash routing limitations)

When to Use Each File

• Setting up for first time? → Start with configuration.md
• Using React/Next.js/Vue/Nuxt? → Go to integration.md for framework code
• Need GDPR consent loading? → See patterns.md
• Beacon not loading or no data? → Check gotchas.md
• SPA not tracking navigation? → See integration.md for spa: true config

Key Concepts

Proxied vs Non-Proxied Sites

SPA Mode

Critical for modern frameworks:

Without spa: true, client-side navigation (React Router, Vue Router, Next.js routing) will NOT be tracked. Only initial page loads will register.

CSP Requirements

If using Content Security Policy, allow both domains:

Features

Core Web Vitals Debugging

• LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) - Identifies slow-loading hero images/elements
• FID (First Input Delay) - Interaction responsiveness (legacy metric)
• INP (Interaction to Next Paint) - Modern interaction responsiveness metric
• CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) - Visual stability issues
• TTFB (Time to First Byte) - Server response performance

Dashboard shows top 5 problematic elements with CSS selectors for debugging.

Traffic Filters

• Bot filtering - Exclude automated traffic from metrics
• Date ranges - Custom time period analysis
• Geographic - Country-level filtering
• Device type - Desktop, mobile, tablet breakdown
• Browser/OS - User agent filtering

Rules (Advanced - Plan-dependent)

Create custom tracking rules for advanced configurations:

Sample Rate Rules:

• Reduce data collection percentage for high-traffic sites
• Example: Track only 50% of visitors to reduce volume

Path-Based Rules:

• Different behavior per route
• Example: Exclude /admin/* or /internal/* from tracking

Host-Based Rules:

• Multi-domain configurations
• Example: Separate tracking for staging vs production subdomains

Availability: Rules feature depends on your Cloudflare plan. Check dashboard under Web Analytics → Rules to see if available. Free plans may have limited or no access.

Plan Limits

Privacy & Compliance

• No cookies - Zero client-side storage
• No fingerprinting - No tracking across sites
• No PII - IP addresses not stored
• GDPR-friendly - Minimal data collection
• CCPA-compliant - No personal data sale

EU opt-out: Dashboard option to exclude EU visitor data entirely.

Limitations

• Dashboard-only - No API for programmatic access
• No real-time - 5-10 minute data delay
• No custom events - Automatic pageview/navigation tracking only
• History API only - Hash-based routing (#/path) not supported
• No session replay - Metrics only, no user recordings
• No form tracking - Page navigation tracking only

See Also

• Cloudflare Web Analytics Docs (opens in a new tab)
• Core Web Vitals Guide (opens in a new tab)