GA4 fills the gaps. Clickfall labels them.
GA4 can estimate the visitors who declined consent and blend them into reports. Clickfall counts everyone it lawfully can and labels every estimate.
When people decline consent, GA4 can model them in.
Its reports say they include estimates. Not which numbers.
Clickfall and GA4, line by line.
| Clickfall | GA4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Counting without consent | Built for the UK statistics exemption: first-party, nothing identifying, an easy opt-out. | A default GA4 setup sends data to Google, so it isn’t built for the exemption. |
| Declined consent | Counted with nothing identifying. Never sent anywhere. | Can be estimated by behavioural modelling, once the property qualifies. |
| When it estimates | Only by your own rules, and only where you ask. In build. | Once a property has 1,000 events a day without consent for 7 days, and 1,000 daily consenting users on 7 of the last 28 days. |
| How estimates show | Hatched and labelled Inferred on every number they touch. | A data-quality icon says a report includes estimated user data. It doesn’t say which numbers. |
| Where the data lives | Your subdomain. EU databases, UK data law. | Google’s platform. |
| Price | Founding pricing on application. | Free. GA4 360 is paid. |
What GA4 does well
- It is free, and almost everyone already has it.
- It connects natively to Google Ads.
- Explorations, audiences and BigQuery export are mature.
Sources: Google Analytics Help: behavioural modelling for consent mode, checked 2 Oct 2026. Spotted something wrong? Email us and we'll correct it.
Know which of your numbers are real.
Asked about GA4.
Should I remove GA4?
Not necessarily. Many sites run both. Clickfall gives you the numbers you can defend; GA4 can stay for what it does well.
Does GA4 mark modelled data?
At report level: a data-quality icon says a report includes estimated user data. It doesn’t mark which numbers are estimates.
Is GA4 illegal without consent?
We don’t say that, and it isn’t that simple. A default GA4 setup isn’t built for the UK statistics exemption, because the data goes to Google.
This explains the law in plain English. It isn't legal advice.