Otus gives you two ways to measure each site. Cookieless mode stores nothing in your visitors' browsers, so in most EU countries you don't need a cookie banner for analytics. Full tracking mode adds returning visitors and attribution across visits for everyone who says yes to cookies, and keeps counting everyone who doesn't.
Visual: cookieless mode and full tracking mode side by side
Recognise visitors who come back, so you can see retention and loyalty over time.
Follow the path from a first visit to a sign-up or purchase days later, and credit the campaign that started it.
Anyone who declines is counted anonymously, the same way as in cookieless mode. Rather not? Only load Otus after a yes.
Full tracking mode only stores a first-party cookie and a visitor ID in the browser after a visitor says yes, and only on your own domain. No third-party cookies and no tracking across sites. This mode needs a consent banner. Otus doesn't include one, but works with any consent banner that supports Google Consent Mode.
The choice mostly comes down to one question: do you need to recognise visitors who come back, or follow them across visits to a sale? If you do, choose full tracking. If not, cookieless mode gives you everything else without a cookie banner.
| Feature | Cookieless | Full tracking |
|---|---|---|
| Stored in the browser | Nothing | A first-party cookie and a visitor ID, after a yes |
| Cookie banner for analytics | Not needed in most EU countries | Needed |
| Visitors counted | Everyone | Everyone; those who say no are counted anonymously |
| Returning visitors | No | Yes, for visitors who said yes |
| Attribution across visits | Within one visit | Across visits, for visitors who said yes |
| Conversion forwarding | Within the same visit | Within each ad platform's conversion window |
Add Otus to your site in under five minutes and get your first weekly summary within a week.