Your UTM parameters aren’t being stripped by Brave—they’re being ignored. Brave blocks the analytics scripts that would read them, not the parameters themselves. With 101 million monthly active users (Brave 2025), this distinction matters: your campaign tracking isn’t failing because UTMs are stripped. It’s failing because GA4 never loads to capture them.

Understanding this mechanism changes your entire solution approach. You don’t need UTM protection. You need server-side tracking.

The Misconception: UTM Stripping vs Script Blocking#

Marketers often assume Brave strips UTM parameters because their campaign data shows no attribution. The logic seems sound: UTMs work in Chrome, they don’t work in Brave, therefore Brave must be removing them.

Wrong.

Brave uses EasyPrivacy filter lists to block tracking scripts, not URL patterns. Standard UTM parameters (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content, utm_term) pass through normal navigation completely intact. You can verify this yourself—open a URL with UTM parameters in Brave and check the address bar. The parameters are there.

What Brave blocks:

• Google Analytics (ga.js, analytics.js, gtag.js)
• Meta Pixel (fbevents.js)
• TikTok Pixel
• Adobe Analytics
• Most third-party measurement scripts

The scripts that would read your UTMs never execute. Your parameters arrive intact on a landing page where no tracking code runs to capture them. That’s not UTM stripping—that’s dark traffic.

You may be interested in: Brave Browser Is Killing Your GA4 Data: What 100M Privacy-First Users Mean for WordPress Tracking

What Brave Actually Strips (And When)#

Brave does strip some parameters—but they’re not your standard UTMs.

Parameters Brave strips during navigation:

• gclid (Google Click ID)
• fbclid (Facebook Click ID)
• msclkid (Microsoft Click ID)
• Other individual tracking identifiers

These click IDs enable cross-site individual tracking, which violates Brave’s privacy model. Standard UTMs focus on campaign-level segmentation, not individual user identification—so they pass through.

The Copy Clean Link feature: Brave strips all tracking parameters when users copy a link to share. This is a separate feature from navigation stripping. During normal browsing, UTMs remain intact; they’re only removed when users explicitly share links (Brave Community).

Industry experts confirm UTMs aren’t going anywhere: “UTM parameters are expected to stay since they focus on user segmentation rather than individual tracking, provided they are used as intended” (Search Engine Journal).

The Real Problem: 101 Million Invisible Visitors#

Brave reached 101 million monthly active users in September 2025 with 42 million daily active users. The browser averages 2.5 million net new users per month over the past two years (Brave 2025).

That’s 101 million people whose:

• GA4 sessions never register
• Facebook Pixel events never fire
• Conversion tracking never captures purchases
• Attribution data never reaches your analytics

“Brave operates like traditional ad blockers causing Google Analytics scripts to fail loading on websites—even if GA somehow loaded, UTMs the crucial attribution information would be absent leading to dark traffic” (Suped).

Add 31.5% of global internet users running some form of ad blocking (GWI 2024), and you’re looking at a significant portion of your audience that standard analytics simply cannot see.

Why Client-Side Solutions Can’t Fix This#

If script blocking is the problem, client-side solutions can’t be the answer. No JavaScript runs until Brave Shields allow it—and they won’t allow analytics scripts.

Solutions that don’t work:

• First-party subdomains for script delivery: Brave uses CNAME uncloaking to detect disguised third-party scripts. It checks DNS records and blocks anyway.
• Custom parameter names: Helps with Firefox stripping, not Brave blocking. Parameters aren’t the issue.
• Deferred script loading: Brave blocks scripts regardless of when they attempt to load.
• Consent mode workarounds: Brave blocks scripts before consent dialogs even display.

The fundamental problem: Brave blocks the execution environment for any client-side tracking solution.

You may be interested in: Ad Blockers Are Stripping Your UTM Parameters Before You See Them

Server-Side Tracking: The Only Reliable Solution#

Server-side tracking captures attribution data on your server—before any browser processing occurs. Brave cannot block what doesn’t run in the browser.

How it works:

1. Visitor arrives on your WordPress site with UTM parameters
2. Server-side code captures the full URL including parameters
3. Attribution data routes to GA4, Facebook CAPI, etc. via server-to-server API calls
4. Browser never executes any blockable tracking scripts

The result: Brave users become visible again. Their UTM parameters get captured. Their conversions get attributed. Your analytics shows complete data.

For WordPress sites, Transmute Engine™ handles this automatically. The inPIPE plugin captures UTMs and WooCommerce events server-side, batches them, and sends via API to your Transmute Engine server. The server routes events to all destinations simultaneously—from your first-party subdomain where Brave cannot interfere.

Coded UTM Parameters: Extra Protection Layer#

While standard UTMs survive Brave navigation, coded parameters provide additional protection against filter list evolution and other browsers that do strip parameters.

Coded UTMs replace standard prefixes with custom strings:

• utm_source=facebook → xq7k=78256503
• utm_medium=cpc → rm3p=92847361
• utm_campaign=spring_sale → yt2n=15739284

Filter lists target known patterns. Custom parameter names don’t match those patterns. Even if browsers expand stripping to include standard UTMs, coded versions continue working.

“If it became more intrusive and they blocked UTM tags it would take awhile for them all to catch on if you were to circumvent by simply tagging things in custom parameters” (Kenny Hyder, Pixel Main).

The inPIPE WordPress plugin generates both standard and coded UTM versions for every link. It automatically decodes coded parameters on landing, pushing the full attribution data to your dataLayer before any blocking occurs.

2026 Trend: Scripts at Risk, UTMs Are Safe#

Privacy browsers are growing, but UTMs themselves are likely safe. The distinction matters for planning:

What’s at risk:

• Client-side tracking scripts (GA4, Meta Pixel, etc.)
• Individual click identifiers (gclid, fbclid, msclkid)
• Third-party cookies (already blocked by Safari, Firefox, soon Chrome)

What’s likely safe:

• Standard UTM parameters (campaign segmentation, not individual tracking)
• First-party cookies set via HTTP headers
• Server-side event delivery

“Complete removal of URL parameters highly improbable due to web functionality dependency” (Multiple experts via Search Engine Journal). Too much of the web relies on query parameters for navigation, filtering, and legitimate functionality. Blanket removal would break sites—privacy browsers target tracking specifically, not URL functionality broadly.

Key Takeaways#

• Brave blocks scripts, not standard UTMs—your parameters arrive intact but GA4 never loads to read them
• gclid and fbclid ARE stripped—these individual identifiers conflict with Brave’s privacy model
• 101 million Brave users are invisible to client-side analytics, representing significant attribution gaps
• Server-side tracking bypasses script blocking—data captures on your server before browsers can interfere
• Coded UTMs provide extra protection—custom parameter names don’t match filter list patterns

Stop losing attribution to script blockers. See how server-side tracking recovers your Brave visitors.