Cookieless analytics and revenue: what you lose and keep
By Devendra Variya, co-founder of Virling. Published 2026-10-26.
Cookieless analytics keeps your visit counts but loses the link between a visitor and a payment. You can still see how much money came in. You can no longer see which channel it came from.
What cookieless mode does
Instead of storing an ID in the browser, the server makes a visitor ID from a hash of the site, the IP address and the browser's user agent, mixed with a random salt. The salt changes every day and is never stored.
What you keep
- Page views, referrers and top pages
- Sessions, because they only need 30 minutes of continuity
- Revenue totals from your payment provider
- No cookie, so no cookie banner for this tracking
What you lose
- A returning visitor counts as new each day, so visitor totals run high
- Two people behind one IP address with the same browser can count as one
- Payments cannot be linked to visits, because there is no stable ID to pass into checkout. New payments show as Unattributed
The trade
If you want to know which channel earns money, you need a stable visitor ID, which means a first-party cookie and, depending on where your visitors live, consent. If you only want clean traffic stats and no banner, cookieless is the better fit.
Do it per site
Pick per site, not per company. A marketing site where you want revenue by channel can use the cookie, and a docs site where you only want traffic can go cookieless. The steps are in cookieless mode, and privacy and consent covers when consent is needed.
Frequently asked questions
Can I track revenue by channel without cookies?
Not per payment. Without a stable visitor ID there is nothing to pass into checkout, so payments show as Unattributed. Revenue totals still count.
Is cookieless analytics less accurate?
For visitors, yes: a returning person counts as new each day. Page views and sessions are not affected.
Do I still need a cookie banner for cookieless analytics?
Cookieless mode sets no cookie, which removes the cookie banner for this tracking. Check the rules where your visitors live.
The beta is open to everyone at beta.virling.com.