Chartbeat is a tool that helps website owners understand how visitors use their websites. Website analytics are beneficial since they enable website improvement. For example, owners can modify their website to make it easier to use by looking at how long visitors remain on it and which pages they visit the most.
Chartbeat is a popular analytics tool, but it has its drawbacks. In this article, we'll dive into Chartbeat and showcase a few alternatives that might suit you better.
- What is Chartbeat used for?
- Chartbeat Pricing
- Chartbeat Reviews
- Chartbeat Alternatives
- What to look for in an analytics tool
- Final Thoughts
What is Chartbeat used for?
Before we even talk about Chartbeat’s use cases, you should understand that this is of no use to you if you are not a big publishing house like New York Times or TechCrunch. You should directly jump to alternatives instead to find better choices.
Chartbeat is a specialized analytics tool built for digital publishers to provide all the data they need regarding content analytics. With Chartbeat, you can understand how users interact with the content and get tips to improve it. Apart from these specialized metrics, you also get general metrics like pageviews and other essential metrics.
Chartbeat Pricing
Chartbeat does talk much about its pricing on its landing page; it mostly talks about its offerings. One would need to contact the sales team to get an idea of Chartbeat’s pricing.
Even though the pricing isn’t live, many sites like GetApp have mentioned the pricing to be approximately $7,000/year. Chartbeat also offers tailored enterprise solutions with extra features and assistance for companies with more prominent websites.
Chartbeat Reviews
What do you like best about Chartbeat?
I love using Chartbeat to keep an eye on how stories are performing in real-time, but I also love the historical data it provides. It helps me plan future content.
What do you dislike about Chartbeat?
I haven't found anything I don't like about Chartbeat.
What problems is Chartbeat solving and how is that benefiting you?
I allows me to compare how our team members' content is performing, which influences our overall coverage strategy and fill any holes that we might be missing.
Chartbeat Alternatives
Real-time website analytics tool Chartbeat provides simple-to-understand statistics but has several drawbacks to take into account.
For example, small firms may find the cost prohibitive, and there may be serious concerns about data integrity for industries that depend on reliable data.
Therefore, it's crucial to look for alternatives, such as Simple Analytics, that offer precise data at a fair price.
Simple Analytics (easy to use and predictable pricing)
As the name goes, Simple Analytics is a simple and easy-to-use analytics tool. It's also one of the few analytics tools completely GDPR-compliant with EU-hosted servers. It's a robust web analytics tool that doubles as a minimal product analytics tool.
Though at first glance it may look simple, but it’s powerful, especially when it comes to event tracking, e-commerce or content marketing.
Pros of using Simple Analytics
- Simplified UI - Simple Analytics offers a straightforward user interface that makes analysis easier. It's 10x easier to work with than GA4. Checkout the public dashboard to see what that looks like.
- Affordable Pricing - Simple Analytics starts at a reasonable price.
- No cookie banner - Simple Analytics gives you the insights you need without using cookies or trackers. Hence, no need for an annoying cookiebanner on your website.
- Chat with your analytics - Simple Analytics AI is the latest features that lets you chat with your analytics and get insights directly.
Cons of using Simple Analytics:
The user interface of Simple Analytics is made to look simple and easy to understand so everyone, be it the founder or marketing teams, can use it easily. A Product Manager may need a few more screens, but that is something that can be quickly built with goals.
Pricing of Simple Analytics:
Simple Analytics is one of the most cost-efficient tools available in its segment. The product is perfect for businesses. It caters to companies and has plans for individuals and businesses. Therefore it ensures that the best features are available at a very reasonable price.
The pricing of Simple Analytics starts at a low $9/month, making it a pocket-friendly tool for all businesses.
Adobe Analytics
Adobe Analytics is a small part of Adobe’s giant Marketing Cloud. It’s a tool meant to be a complex web analytics tool that also comes with Business Intelligence (BI). Also, Adobe Analytics works best when you have the other Marketing Cloud tools.
If you are just looking for a simple yet powerful analytics tool, Adobe Analytics may not be the right choice as it’s complex, needs other tools to function properly, and is expensive too.
You should only consider it only if you have specific feature requirements such as predictive analytics but be ready to shed a ton of money.
Pros
- Adobe Analytics has been in business for many years, making it a mature tool with many features.
- Apart from just web analytics, it also doubles up as a marketing analytics tool with features like ad hoc analysis and multichannel data collection.
Cons
- Adobe Analytics is a sales-led product, and you would often need an implementation partner. It’s a very complex analytics tool.
- The cost of Adobe Analytics, along with the fees/charges of the implementation partner, makes it an expensive affair.
- It needs to work with many other Adobe products to give businesses all the data it can, but then it makes it very complex.
Pricing
Adobe Analytics provides three different plans along with many add-ons. The plans “Select,” “Prime,” and “Ultimate.” The pricing of all the plans is hidden behind a “Get Pricing” button, which makes you contact the sales team to get pricing info.
Though the pricing info isn’t public, however according to Nabler, the pricing is somewhere between $48,000 on the lower side and $350,000 on the high side.
Paying and justifying this much for an analytics tool is only justifiable when the revenue is in multi-millions, and even then, you can find better options.
Visitor Analytics
Visitor Analytics is a website analytics tool that calls itself a website intelligence platform as it comes with several other features, such as session recording, polls, surveys, and much more.
It’s a comprehensive solution for anyone who needs more than just web analytics, but at times, this can get overwhelming, too; with more features, the dashboards keep getting cluttered.
Pros
- Offers wide range of features.
- Simple and easy to install.
Cons
- Slightly expensive for small and medium-sized businesses.
- You may have to pay for features you won’t use in a higher plan.
- Uses fingerprinting and is not GDPR-compliant
GoSquared
GoSquared Analytics is a simple privacy-friendly analytics that was started in 2010 and was called “Live Stats” back then. The current version is an output of iteration.
The key benefit of using GoSquared is its easy-to-understand dashboard and simple setup. It’s also GDPR compliant and was confirmed by a 3rd party accreditation body.
Pros
- Simple and easy-to-understand dashboard.
- Hassle-free setup.
- Affordable pricing.
- Has multiple helpful integrations.
Cons
- Though the dashboard in easy-to-understand but the UI is a bit dated.
- Limited capabilities in event tracking.
Pricing
The pricing of GoSquared Analytics starts at $9/month for three projects (websites) and up to 100,000 pageviews. Their plans have standard features such as unlimited team sharing, email reports, event tracking, etc.
Fathom Analytics
Fathom Analytics, Plausible and Simple Analytics started at nearly the same time when there was a need for a Google Analytics alternative that is not only privacy-friendly but also easy to understand.
Fathom Analytics is built by Jack & Paul, who have been running it successfully since 2018. It’s been marketed as a simple and privacy-friendly analytics tool, but some reports suggest it may not be as privacy-friendly as it claims. In addition, their event-setting and goal-tracking capabilities are limited.
Apart from providing web analytics data, it also doubles as an uptime monitoring tool, an added feature by Fathom Analytics.
Pros
- Simple and easy-to-use dashboard
- Provides uptime monitoring as an added feature
- Supports event tracking (e.g., tracking the number of PDF downloads, Newsletter signups, etc.)
Cons
- Some users have said that the UI requires improvements.
- Other options are more privacy-friendly
- It’s event-setting, and goal-tracking features are limited
Pricing
Fathom Analytics has multiple pricing plans (10+), but the good thing is that all plans have the same feature set, with the only capping on monthly pageviews.
The pricing starts at $14/month for up to 100,000 pageviews and goes to $274/month for up to 25,000,000 monthly pageviews.
Pirsch
Pirsch Analytics is a privacy analytics tool based out of Germany. It’s an affordable and simple-to-use analytics tool with all the features such as event tracking, goal tracking, and much more. In addition to that, it’s a pretty affordable tool to start.
Pros
- Simple and easy-to-understand dashboard.
- Budget-friendly option.
- Easy to install.
Cons
- Proxying is very tricky and needs some technical knowledge (used to bypass adblockers)
- They have not been in business for long and have less track record than other solutions.
- Event-setting and goal-tracking features are limited
Pricing
Pirsch Analytics is a pretty affordable tool, especially for low-traffic websites. The pricing for Pirsch Analytics starts at $5/month when paid annually for 10,000 pageviews. The next pricing tier supports websites for up to 100,000 pageviews and costs $10/month.
Matomo
Matomo, formerly Piwik (not to be confused with Piwik PRO), is a Google Analytics alternative that provides both cloud and on-premise versions. The cloud version is recommended for those who don’t want to go through the hassle of setting and managing the server, whereas the self-hosted version is for those with deep technical knowledge.
Apart from web analytics, Matomo can also provide services such as collecting form inputs, SEO vitals checker, A/B testing tool, etc.
Pros
- The self-hosted version is free to use.
- Feature-rich.
Cons
- Payment is required to unlock additional features in the self-hosted version, and the cloud version lacks certain features.
- The UI might feel complex to some.
- Cloud plans are expensive compared to other tools.
Pricing
The pricing of Matomo depends on whether you are on the self-hosted or cloud plan. Also, based on add-one, the price might change. Currently, the self-hosted plan with no add-ons is free, and the cloud version costs ~$35/month (changes based on your local currency).
Piwik PRO
Piwik PRO and Matomo (formerly known as Piwik) evolved out of an open-source project known as Piwik.
Piwik PRO is now an enterprise-focused analytics tool built on the open-source project. It offers web and product analytics and a few other helpful additions, such as tag manager and consent manager.
Pros
- Provides detailed reports on visitor behavior, including location, device, and more.
- Open-source, which means it's free to use.
- Offers customizable dashboards and reports.
- Provides privacy-focused options.
- Offers a cloud-hosted solution.
Cons
- Complex analytics tool that requires training
- Piwik has problems with loading, data retention, and an exponential increase in disk consumption.
- Primarily meant from enterprise, hence an expensive solution.
Pricing
Piwik PRO is an enterprise solution and is expected to be expensive. If you try looking up the pricing on their site, you won’t be able to, as it requires contacting the sales team.
Though the pricing isn’t public, but according to Optimize Smart, the pricing plans start at $419/month for 1,000,000+ actions. Note that this info was shared in 2022, so the pricing is highly likely to be updated.
What to look for in an analytics tool
Selecting a tool for your analytics is a crucial decision. Be sure to go through this checklist before making a choice. You're good to go if the tool provides these:
Ease of Use: You shouldn’t spend your time on a complex web analytics tool that takes time and experience to get familiar with.
Accuracy: Getting an accurate picture of what’s happening on your website is important.
Straightforward UI: Most of the time, you don’t need 75 custom dashboards (looking at you, Google).
Lightweight: Installing an analytics script has an impact on your page speed. Choose an analytics tool that doesn’t slow your website down.
Privacy: The world is moving in a direction where privacy is becoming increasingly important.
Integration: Your analytics should be able to integrate with other tools.
Pricing: Consider the tool's pricing and ensure it aligns with your budget.
Although this checklist can assist you in getting started, there may be other factors for your organization that you need to consider.
Final Thoughts
If you want a tool that checks these boxes, then check out Simple Analytics. It provides the insights you need in a straightforward dashboard while being 100% GDPR compliant.
Want to see what that looks like? Check our public dashboard here
We believe the internet should be an independent place that is friendly to website visitors. By opting for Simple Analytics, you’ll be supporting us in our mission and protecting the privacy of your website visitors. If this resonates with you, feel free to give us a try.