Privacy-Friendly Analytics for Australian Businesses

Australia's privacy landscape is changing. The Privacy Act has been under review, and expectations around how businesses handle personal data are shifting. Your analytics tool is part of that picture.

Important: This post describes product behaviour and general context, not legal advice. Your compliance obligations depend on your specific situation, jurisdiction, and implementation. Consult your legal adviser.

The Australian privacy landscape

Australia's Privacy Act 1988 governs how organisations handle personal information. The Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) outline requirements for collection, use, storage, and disclosure of personal data.

Key themes relevant to analytics:

Minimum necessary collection — collect only what you need for a stated purpose
Transparency — tell people what data you collect and why
Security — take reasonable steps to protect personal information

Privacy-friendly analytics is well-aligned with these principles. Cookieless analytics collects aggregate, non-personal data — no IP addresses stored, no individual profiles, no cross-site tracking.

This is not legal advice. Whether your analytics setup meets your specific obligations under the Privacy Act or other legislation depends on your situation. Consult your legal adviser.

What Australian Privacy Principles mean for analytics

Under the APPs, "personal information" means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable.

Standard analytics tools that store IP addresses, set persistent cookies, and build visitor profiles are collecting information that may qualify as personal information under Australian law — or may come close to it.

Cookieless analytics tools like Antlytics take a different approach:

No IP addresses stored
No persistent cookies or identifiers
No individual visitor profiles
Aggregate data only

This design is more closely aligned with data minimisation principles — collecting only what is necessary for the analytics purpose.

This is a description of Antlytics's product behaviour, not a legal compliance determination. Confirm your specific obligations with your legal adviser.

Why AUD pricing matters

Most analytics tools price in USD. For Australian businesses, this means:

Unpredictable costs as the AUD/USD exchange rate fluctuates
Bank currency conversion fees on each billing cycle
Invoice totals that do not reflect the advertised price in familiar terms

Antlytics is priced in AUD:

Starter: A$10/month
Annual: A$60/year (A$5/month)

Your invoice always shows AUD. No currency surprises.

Antlytics's approach: cookieless, no personal data

For Australian businesses, the relevant product-behaviour facts about Antlytics are:

What is collected: Pathname, referrer, country (derived from IP, not stored), device type, browser, OS, and UTM parameters if present.

What is not collected: IP addresses (not stored), personal identifiers, cookies, cross-site tracking data.

Where data is processed: Antlytics uses Supabase for database storage. Confirm the data residency details with Antlytics support if this is relevant to your situation.

Session tracking: Session continuity uses sessionStorage — cleared when the tab closes, not persistent across sessions.

For detailed privacy behaviour, see the privacy behaviour documentation.

Choosing analytics as an Australian business

When evaluating analytics tools as an Australian business, consider:

What data does the tool actually collect? Check the tracker source code or documentation, not just the marketing.
Where is data stored? Data residency matters for some regulatory contexts.
How long is data retained? Antlytics Starter retains data for two years.
Is the pricing transparent and in AUD? Avoid currency-conversion surprises on your monthly costs.
Is there a consent banner implication? For Australian sites, tools that do not use cookies may simplify your consent requirements — confirm with your legal adviser.

FAQ

Is Antlytics compliant with Australian privacy law? Antlytics's design — no cookies, no IP storage, no personal profiles — is aligned with data minimisation principles. Whether it meets your specific compliance requirements depends on your situation. Consult your legal adviser.

Does Antlytics store data in Australia? Antlytics uses Supabase for database storage. Contact support@antlytics.com to confirm current data residency details if this is a requirement for your situation.

Do I still need a privacy policy? Yes. Even with cookieless analytics, you should describe what data your site collects. See the privacy behaviour docs for language you can adapt.

Does Antlytics require a cookie consent banner? Antlytics does not use cookies. Whether you need a consent banner depends on other tools on your site and your specific regulatory obligations. Consult your legal adviser.

Is Antlytics appropriate for small Australian businesses? Yes. The Free plan covers one site. Starter is A$10/month. Both plans offer the same privacy-friendly, cookieless tracking.