Do cookie banners annoy you?
Updated: · Creo Analytics, IT Systeme Flores UG
This is a one-click poll with a live counter. You click yes or no, the server adds one to a counter, and that is all it stores: no IP address, no timestamp, no row per vote. Your browser remembers your answer in localStorage. It is not a representative study.
| Question | Do cookie banners annoy you? Two answers: “Yes, totally” or “No, doesn't bother me”, both styled the same |
|---|---|
| Effort | One click. No form, no email, no account |
| What the database stores | One counter per answer. No row per vote, no timestamp, no IP address, no cookie |
| What your browser stores | Your answer (“ja” or “nein”) in localStorage under the key creo-umfrage-cookie-banner, so that on your next visit you see the result instead of the buttons. It never goes to the server |
| Protection against mass clicks | At most 20 votes per minute per IP address, checked in the application's working memory, nothing of it on disk |
| Counted by | Creo Analytics itself, servers in Germany, no third-party survey tool |
| Result | Live, fresh from the server on every load, shown on the page only after your vote. One shared counter for the German, English and Spanish versions |
| Representative | No |
How does the poll work?
You click one of two buttons. Your browser sends that answer to the Creo Analytics API at platform.creoanalytics.com, the server adds one to the counter for that answer and sends back the current totals. The card shows the result as two bars. That is the whole mechanism.
There is no form, no account, no email address, no captcha. The request carries your answer in its address and nothing in its body. The server knows exactly one poll with exactly two allowed answers and refuses anything else. There is no way to create a new poll or a new answer from the outside. Anyone can read the same count there as JSON without voting; only this page deliberately shows it after your click. The German, English and Spanish versions of this page all add to the same counter.
After your click, the page writes one entry into your browser’s localStorage: the key creo-umfrage-cookie-banner with your answer, “ja” or “nein”, as its value. The next time you open this page, the script sees that entry, skips the buttons and loads the current result straight away. That entry is the only thing this page leaves on your device. The measurement script on this page leaves nothing at all.
Try it. The card is live, and the number you see is the real count at this moment.
Do cookie banners (and the endless “do you accept cookies?” prompt before you can even use a website) annoy you?
That's exactly why Creo Analytics measures cookieless, with no cookie banner. See pricing →
What does the poll store about you?
Nothing that points back at you. The database holds one row per answer, with a count in it. For this poll that is at most two rows. There is no row per vote, no IP address, no timestamp, no browser string, nothing that could be sorted by person or by time. If someone stole the table, they would learn two numbers.
The server keeps a small rate limit in its working memory so that a script cannot flood the counter within seconds: at most 20 votes per minute per IP address. That limit is never written to disk, it exists to slow abuse down, not to identify anyone, and it is gone when the process restarts.
Strictly speaking, the localStorage entry is information stored on your device. It is written only after you click, it holds nothing but the name of the poll and your answer, and it is there so the page can show you the result instead of asking you again. Delete your site data and it is gone. The buttons come back, and the server, which has nothing about you, would count you again. That is why we call the counter best effort, not a ballot box.
Why do we ask this question?
Because the answer is the reason this product exists. Creo Analytics counts visitors without cookies so that a website does not need a banner for its analytics. We built it for websites whose owners are done with banners. A poll is the honest way to find out whether that annoyance is a niche grudge or a shared one.
The second reason is the poll itself. It is a small demonstration that you can count a thing without keeping a record of the people who did it. One question, two counters, a live result. No tracking pixel, no third-party form service, no consent dialog before the consent question. If we had needed a banner to ask whether banners are annoying, the joke would have been on us.
We do not store who voted. We store how many did. That is the entire difference between counting and tracking, and it fits in one database row per answer.
What is this poll not?
It is not a representative study, and you should not quote it as one. The people who vote are visitors of a website about cookieless analytics. Most of them found this page because they searched for something about cookie banners or because the topic already bothered them. That is a self-selected group with an opinion, not a sample of the population.
There is no sample design, no weighting, no margin of error, and no way to tell whether two votes came from the same person on two devices. The only protection against double votes sits in your browser, and a cleared browser votes again. If you want a number about how people in general feel about cookie banners, look for a survey with a method section. This is a counter with a question above it.
This is also why the result is not written into this text. A number printed here would be out of date the moment someone votes, and an out-of-date number tends to get quoted as if it were a finding. The card above shows the live state. Quote it as what it is: a running poll on creoanalytics.com, with the count you saw and the day you saw it.
What does the poll have to do with Creo Analytics?
It runs on the same rule as the product: count events, do not record people. In its default cookieless mode, Creo Analytics sets no cookie, uses no localStorage, stores no IP address and counts a visitor with a hash whose salt changes every day. How that works is explained in cookieless analytics explained. Whether it needs a cookie banner is on the page web analytics without a cookie banner.
There is one difference, and it should be said plainly. The poll writes your answer into localStorage so the card can remember that you voted. The measurement script does not do that, not in cookieless mode, and not in full mode before you have given consent. The poll is a feature of this website. The product is stricter than the poll.
The counting happens on the same servers in Germany that run the product, with no survey tool, no embedded form and no request to anyone else. The documentation lists what the product stores in each mode and for how long.
Can you count something like this on your own website?
Yes, in a similar way. Creo Analytics has custom events: one line of JavaScript reports a click, a download or a completed form, optionally with properties, and the dashboard shows how often it happened and how the property values split. That works in cookieless mode, without a banner. A poll is nothing more than an event with the answer as a property.
What you will not get in cookieless mode is who did it. The event is counted with the same daily hash as everything else. You see how many people clicked yes today, not that the same person clicked yes on Tuesday and no on Friday. If your question needs that, you need the full mode, a first-party cookie and a consent banner, and you are back where this poll started.
Frequently asked questions
Is the cookie banner poll representative?
No. Whoever visits this page votes, with no sample and no weighting. The result describes the visitors of creoanalytics.com, not the population. Quote it as a running poll with a date, not as a study.
What is stored when I vote?
In the database, a counter for “ja” or “nein” goes up by one. No row per vote, no timestamp, no IP address in the counter, no cookie. In your browser, your answer is remembered in localStorage under the key creo-umfrage-cookie-banner, so that on your next visit you see the result instead of the buttons.
Can I vote more than once?
Technically yes, with another browser or after clearing your browser storage. The server does not know you and therefore cannot lock you out. A rate limit of 20 votes per minute per IP address only slows automated clicks down. The counter is deliberately not a ballot box.
Why do I only see the result after my click?
Because a visible interim result influences votes. Whoever sees that the majority says “yes” is more likely to click “yes”. That is why both buttons look the same, and the numbers appear only once your vote is in. If you want to check the count without voting, you can fetch it as JSON at platform.creoanalytics.com/api/umfrage/cookie-banner.
Does the poll itself need a cookie banner?
In our assessment, no. It sets no cookie. The only thing it stores on your device and later reads back is your own answer, and that exists only because of your click. It serves solely to show you the result instead of the buttons. This is our assessment, not legal advice.
May I quote or share the result?
Yes, with a link to this page and the date on which you saw the number. The count changes with every vote, and the German, English and Spanish versions add to the same counter. Please call it what it is: a running one-click poll, not a study.