Cloudflare Web Analytics: what it measures and how to enable it on your website
A practical guide to Cloudflare Web Analytics: what it measures, how to enable it with or without proxy, what visits and Core Web Vitals are, and when to add GA4.
You launched your website a month ago and someone asks how many people visit it. You answer "quite a few, I think," because you have no single number in sight. And when a customer says the page loads slowly, you don't know whether it happens to everyone or just to them.
The simplest solution is to turn on an analytics tool that already comes with Cloudflare. Here is what it measures and how to switch it on.
What is Cloudflare Web Analytics?
It is Cloudflare's analytics tool for seeing how your website behaves and performs. According to its official documentation, it offers privacy-focused analytics without changing DNS or using the Cloudflare proxy, and it is available on all plans.
That makes it useful for businesses whose website is already on another host: you don't have to move anything to start measuring. If you don't know the platform yet, check what the free Cloudflare plan includes.
What metrics does it show?
It shows visits, page views, load time and Core Web Vitals. The metrics documentation defines each one precisely:
| Metric | What it means according to Cloudflare |
|---|---|
| Visits | A page view that comes from another website or a direct link |
| Page views | A successful HTTP response with HTML content |
| Load time | The total time the page needs to load |
| Core Web Vitals | Google metrics that capture the user experience more completely |
Notice one detail: a single visit can include several page views. If someone arrives from Google and browses three pages, that is one visit and three page views.
How do you enable it in each case?
It depends on where your site lives: with proxy it turns on by itself, on Pages you enable it in Metrics, and on other sites you paste a snippet. According to the getting started guide:
- Site with the Cloudflare proxy: you add the site, choose the hostname, and automatic setup is already on, with no code.
- Cloudflare Pages project: you enable it in the project's Metrics section and the snippet is added on the next deployment. If your site is or will be there, see how to migrate from WordPress to Cloudflare Pages without losing SEO.
- Site without proxy: you copy the JavaScript snippet from Manage site and paste it into your HTML before the closing body tag. Data can take a few minutes to appear.
Common mistake: expecting data on a proxied site whose server sends
Cache-Control: public, no-transform. Cloudflare warns that in that case the script is not injected automatically and the analytics do not work.
What limits does it have?
The main limit is 10 sites when they are not behind the Cloudflare proxy. According to the limits page, proxied sites have no such cap. For an agency or a business with several domains, this matters: plan which sites you will measure without proxy.
On privacy, Cloudflare states that it does not track individual end users across its customers' properties and that it collects the minimum information needed, that is, timing metrics to show how sites perform. Even so, review your privacy notice and the data regulations that apply to your business.
What Core Web Vitals values should I aim for?
Aim for an LCP of up to 2.5 seconds, an INP of 200 milliseconds or less, and a CLS of 0.1 or less. Those are the "good" thresholds published by web.dev, measured at the 75th percentile of page loads, separating mobile and desktop.
If your numbers fall outside the range, you have a concrete starting point. In the guide on website speed and Core Web Vitals we saw why every millisecond affects your sales.
When should you add GA4?
Add GA4 when you need to know which business actions your visitors take. Web Analytics tells you how many people arrive and how well your site loads; on its own it does not measure clicks to WhatsApp or bookings. For that, define your key events in GA4 and use both tools as complements: one looks at performance, the other at the business.
In short
Back to the uncomfortable question: now you can answer how many visits your website gets and whether it loads well, with a code snippet or a click in Metrics. Measure the basics first, compare against the Core Web Vitals thresholds, and add GA4 when you want to tie traffic to sales. If you would rather have us build your website and its measurement, check out our web development service.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to use the Cloudflare proxy to use Web Analytics?
No. According to Cloudflare, the product offers analytics without changing DNS or using the proxy. On sites without proxy, you install it by pasting a JavaScript snippet.
How many sites can I measure?
Cloudflare states that sites without proxy have a cap of 10, while proxied sites have no such limit.
What does Cloudflare count as a visit?
A visit is a page view that comes from another website or a direct link. One visit can include several page views.
What are good Core Web Vitals values?
According to web.dev, a good LCP happens within 2.5 seconds, a good INP is 200 milliseconds or less, and a good CLS is 0.1 or less, measured at the 75th percentile.
Does it replace Google Analytics?
No. Web Analytics focuses on visits, loading and performance. To measure business events, such as clicks to WhatsApp or bookings, GA4 is still useful.
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