The default choice for most companies’ web analytics needs is Google Analytics. It is a user-friendly product with strong capabilities straight out-of-the-box. It can provide valuable insights into your website visitors, including data about monthly page views, time on page, bounce rate, referrers, and traffic sources.
However, the latest version of Google Analytics, known as Google Analytics 4 (GA4), brings with it an event-based data model and more modern functionality. Despite this, it still falls short of providing a comprehensive picture of the customer journey, and its limitations become evident to those looking for advanced analytics. Additionally, it is vulnerable to ad-blockers, and its client-side tracking code negatively impacts site performance, which can have detrimental effects on SEO and conversion rates.
Furthermore, Google Analytics raises data privacy concerns and violates privacy laws such as GDPR, CCPA, and PECR. By using Google Analytics, you relinquish ownership of your data, allowing Google to use the data from your website traffic and user behavior for their own purposes.
The good news is that website owners are not limited to Google Analytics. The industry is shifting towards more flexible and privacy-focused web analytics solutions that, in many aspects, surpass Google Analytics. In this article, we explore different alternatives to Google Analytics, including both enterprise SaaS and open-source options.
Enterprise-level solutions are ideal for those seeking customizable tools that handle security, hosting, and maintenance costs. Some examples of enterprise alternatives to Google Analytics include Adobe Analytics, Mixpanel, and Looker. These tools offer advanced analytics features and capabilities that go beyond what Google Analytics can provide.
Open-source alternatives, on the other hand, offer control, flexibility, and access to the codebase, with friendlier pricing options for mid-market and small businesses. PostHog and Metabase are excellent examples of open-source web analytics tools that provide product analytics and business intelligence capabilities.
For those specifically looking for open-source web analytics alternatives, Plausible is a notable option. It is a web analytics tool designed for startups, freelancers, and bloggers, offering an easy-to-use dashboard to measure website traffic metrics. These alternatives provide different levels of functionality, data ownership, and privacy protection compared to Google Analytics.