GA4 alternative for Sweden
GA4 is free.
Everything around it costs.
Visitors lost to the cookie banner, US transfers after the IMY ruling, 70 KB of tracker on every page load, a dashboard built for Google Ads sellers. Spårlös gives you the same numbers without any of it. The migration takes 90 seconds.
No card required. Run Spårlös alongside GA4 for a few days to verify the numbers.
What GA4 actually costs
Three costs that never show up on Google's price list but that you pay every week.
Visitors lost to the cookie banner
Studies from France, Germany and Sweden show that cookie banners lose between 30 and 60 percent of mobile visitors who click "Reject all" or close the tab. The data you actually get from GA4 is already partial.
Legal risk
The 2023 rulings from the Swedish data protection authority (IMY) against CDON, Coop, Dagens Industri and Tele2 set the precedent. Administrative fines ranged from 0 (for active cooperation) to 12 MSEK. Plus the reputational damage of appearing in a published investigation.
Performance debt
gtag.js is roughly 70 KB minified. It counts against your Core Web Vitals, your LCP, your INP. The Spårlös tracker is 1.4 KB. On mobile over 4G the difference is measurable.
We show journeys. GA4 shows numbers.
GA4 tells you that 412 people visited /products. Spårlös shows that 47 of them clicked through to /product/ice-cream, 18 ended up in /cart, 12 bought. Not just numbers. The whole path.
- 2m 14sSweden·Chrome·Mobile/produkter/glass/vaniljJourney
- 14:23:09+0s/
- 14:23:21+12s/produkter
- 14:23:33+24s/produkter/glass
- 14:23:45+36s/produkter/glass/vaniljNow
- 47sDenmark·Safari·Desktop/blogg/imy-ga4-2026
- 5m 03sFinland·Edge·Desktop/checkout
Straight from the Spårlös dashboard.
Three things GA4 does that people don't know about
- 1. Google Signals shares your data with Google Ads
On by default on every new GA4 property. It sends visitor data to Google's ads network for "cross-device reporting". You can turn it off, but then you also lose standard reports. Most sites have it on without knowing.
- 2. Your data trains Google's ML models
Google reserves the right to use aggregated data to improve its own products, including ML models and ad algorithms. It is in the terms. There is no option to opt out.
- 3. "Your" reports are owned by Google
GA4 data is stored at Google, passes through Google's edge nodes (including the US), and is processed by Google's systems. You have a license to look at reports. You do not own the data in a legal sense. If your account is shut down you can lose everything.
Side by side
Not a feature checklist for the sales team. The points where the services actually differ.
What IMY said in 2023
In the summer of 2023 the Swedish data protection authority (IMY) published rulings against four Swedish companies (CDON, Coop, Dagens Industri, Tele2) that used Google Analytics. The conclusion: transferring personal data to the US via GA4 breaches GDPR. Administrative fines ranged between 0 and 12 million SEK.
The EU-US Data Privacy Framework has since made GA4 technically legal again, but Max Schrems has already filed a new legal challenge (Schrems III) that is expected to be decided within 2 to 4 years. Lawyers are cautious, and rightly so.
The simple rule: if your business involves the public sector, health, education, children or B2B customers with procurement officers, move away from GA4. For everyone else, do it for the UX win of dropping the cookie banner.
Migrate from GA4 to Spårlös
Total time: under an hour for a standard site. You do not have to export GA4 data unless you want to, the history is just a reference.
- Step 012 minutes
Create an account and add your domain
Takes 90 seconds. You get a 3-line code snippet to paste into your site's <head>. WordPress users skip the snippet and use our plugin for one-click connection.
- Step 0248 hours
Run Spårlös alongside GA4
Leave the GA4 tracker in place for 2 to 3 days. Compare pageview totals. Any discrepancies are usually down to bot traffic (we filter more aggressively). Once you trust the numbers, move on to step 3.
- Step 035 minutes
Remove GA4 code and the cookie banner
Remove the gtag code, the cookie banner and any consent-management libraries. Update your privacy policy: you no longer use GA4, no US transfer takes place, no cookie is required.
- Step 0410 minutes
Send the updated info to your team
Email the new dashboard link to marketing, sales and the CEO. Send the DPA to compliance. Ping your agency if they need access. The weekly report arrives automatically next Monday.
When you should stay with GA4
We gain nothing from tricking you into switching if it does not fit. Keep GA4 if:
- Your primary use is Google Ads attribution. Spårlös does not read gclid and does not connect to Google Ads. That is a deliberate privacy design, not a missing feature. Keep GA4 for that, run Spårlös alongside for UX data and compliance.
- You need to identify individual visitors across devices. Our visitor hash is cookie-free and rotates daily. We cannot follow "the same person" from laptop to mobile or across weeks. That is the entire point of cookie-free analytics. If you need a persistent user ID tied to a CRM or email, we are the wrong tool.
Custom events (click tracking, scroll depth), data warehouse export (BigQuery / Snowflake) and similar are on the roadmap if we can build them cookie-free. We would rather miss a feature for a while than break the privacy promise.
Frequently asked questions
Do I lose data when I switch?+
You lose access to the GA4 history when you delete the account. We recommend exporting the relevant data (top pages, sources, campaigns) to CSV before deletion. Spårlös starts collecting from day 1 without importing GA4 data, we do not have that retrofit yet.
How long does migration take on a large site?+
Standard site: under an hour. A larger site with more stakeholders (multiple domains, agencies managing GA4, a GTM implementation to clean up): one work day spread across 1 to 2 weeks. We have helped companies with 50+ domains.
Do you support the same goals and conversions as GA4?+
Yes. Goals are defined through URL matching (with glob patterns for dynamic pages) or funnels for multi-step flows. You do not need to configure data streams, dimensions or events like in GA4. Just mark /thanks as a goal, done.
What about Google Ads attribution and remarketing?+
If Google Ads is your primary ROI play, keep GA4 for that part. Run Spårlös alongside for UX data, retention analysis and a GDPR-safe dashboard. Many customers do exactly that and gradually remove GA4 as their ads strategy changes.
Is this really compatible with our reports?+
We report fewer dimensions than GA4, but the ones we report are the ones that actually drive decisions: pageviews, unique visitors, sources, campaigns, goals, funnels and visitor journeys. The stripped-back complexity is deliberate, not a shortcoming.
Does Spårlös cost more than GA4?+
On the invoice, yes: Spårlös starts at 59 kr/mo incl. VAT (Starter). The Hobby tier is free for 3 sites and 50,000 pageviews/mo. Once you factor in visitors lost to the cookie banner, dev time for GTM, legal work around Schrems II and 70 KB of JS per page load, Spårlös is cheaper overall.
Can I import GA4 history?+
Not yet. It is on the roadmap but we prioritize depth in live data first. For now: export to CSV/BigQuery for reference, start collecting fresh data on Spårlös from day 1.
Switch from GA4 today
Create an account in 90 seconds. All analytics free, no card required. Run Spårlös alongside GA4 so you can see your data is consistent before you turn Google off.