Measuring Traffic

Updated 4 months ago

Depending on your service tier with Osano, your account may have a limit on monthly traffic, also called consent views.

This guide explains what “traffic” means in Osano, why it might look different from your other tools, and how to estimate it.

Each time a unique visitor requests Osano’s script (osano.js) from our servers, it counts as one traffic event for that 24-hour period.

Whether or not that visitor sees a new consent banner, the visit still counts toward traffic.

You can get a good sense of your expected traffic using:

Note: The numbers you see in Google Analytics or other tracking tools will not match Osano exactly, because those tools define traffic differently.

You may notice differences between Osano’s traffic counts and what you see in tools like Google Analytics. Common reasons include:

Different definitions of traffic

Opt-in and opt-out rates

+ Osano automatically turns off certain trackers until a visitor consents (to comply with privacy laws).
This means some users won’t show up in your analytics, even though Osano records their traffic.
Some analytics platforms (e.g., Google’s Consent Mode) can help fill these gaps, but tracking will always be influenced by consent choices.

Multiple domains under one Osano account

+ Osano’s traffic includes visits across all domains managed in your account, which may not align with the domain(s) connected to your analytics tool.

Testing traffic

+ Load testing, QA, or unit tests run on your live site may inflate your Osano traffic numbers.

Bot traffic

+ Some automated visits may be counted by Osano but excluded by your analytics tools.

Q: Why does Google Analytics sometimes show half the traffic that Osano does?

This usually happens because Osano counts all visitors, while GA only counts visitors who accept cookies and allow the GA tag to fire.
Example: If 1,000 people load your site, Osano counts all 1,000. If only 500 accept cookies, GA will only show 500.
Ad blockers, browser restrictions, and GA filters can reduce GA’s numbers even further.

Q: Which number is “right” — Osano’s or GA’s?

Both are correct within their own definitions.
Osano measures every unique visitor once per day, while GA measures only the visitors it’s allowed to track.

Q: Can I make the numbers match more closely?

Tools like Google Consent Mode can help GA estimate “missing” visits, but by design, GA will never fully match Osano. This is expected when complying with privacy requirements.

Q: Are there ways to reduce my Osano traffic counts?

In some cases, yes, but traffic growth is also a natural result of increased site usage. As more users visit your site, Osano traffic will scale accordingly, which is expected behavior.
Osano measures traffic based on each individual download of the Osano JavaScript and counts visitors rather than sessions. Because Osano is typically implemented at the root level of a domain, traffic from all environments where Osano.js is installed will be included in the traffic count. This includes production, non-production, staging, QA, and automated testing environments. Osano does not differentiate between production and non-production traffic.

If you are seeing unexpectedly high traffic, there may be opportunities to reduce unnecessary volume:

Non-production environments
If Osano is installed on staging, QA, or other pre-production environments that receive significant automated or internal traffic, removing Osano from those environments can reduce overall traffic counts.
Automated testing
Automated tests that repeatedly load pages will trigger Osano script downloads and contribute to traffic volume. Adjusting test configurations or excluding Osano from those environments may help reduce traffic.