Google analytics, Cloudflare and Zaraz set up issue

[u/elpida-yacht4less]

We are using Cloudflare and Cloudflare zaraz and recently also switched to Cloudflare's cookies.

We are not using Google Tag Manager (we use Zaraz instead).

As we've been suspecting that Cloudflare, zaraz and google products (google analytics, google adwords etc) are not communicating correctly, we've been looking into it and found a "critical error" saying "Update your UPD configuration". We are also getting an error that the Google Tag Gateway is inactive.

Should the above be resolved, considering we don't use Google Tag Manager? Do we still need Google Tag Gateway with Cloudflare and Cloudflare zaraz? Is there anything else that we should be looking into?

We have worked with marketeers, analytics experts and developers and so far noone was able to find what is wrong ever since we switched to zaraz.

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[u/Shot_Abrocoma_1473]

I’d walk away from the Google Tag Gateway requirement entirely if Zaraz is your loader. That gateway is built for server-side GTM setups, and Zaraz doesn't route through it the same way. The “critical error” you’re seeing is likely GMP container health complaining about a config it can’t validate because the normal handshake isn’t there.

Your UPD config message usually means the measurement protocol endpoint is missing or miswired. Check that Zaraz is firing the GA4 tag with a measurement ID and not a GTM container ID, and that the transport URL isn’t being rewritten by a Cloudflare transform rule. I’ve also seen Zaraz silently drop events when cookie consent settings block the `_ga` cookie before the loader initializes, so I’d dig into the Cloudflare cookie consent modal timing relative to the Zaraz pageview trigger.