Website analytics can help websites keep track of all their visitors. In addition, it is a tool that helps website owners understand how visitors interact with their websites.
Matomo is a popular web analytics tool, but it has its drawbacks. In this article, we'll dive into Matomo and showcase a few alternatives that might suit you better.
- What is Matomo used for?
- Matomo Pricing
- Matomo Alternatives
- Things to Look For in an Analytics Tool
- Frequently Asked Questions
What is Matomo used for?
Matomo is an analytics tool that branched out of a popular open-source analytics tool called Piwik. One benefit of Matomo is that it comes with a self-host (on-premise) and cloud version. Most people choose the cloud version, though, as the self-host version requires dedicated knowledge of servers.
Though Matomo comes with many useful features and reasonable pricing, the UI is reported to be complex by some of its users. In this case, choosing a more straightforward, easy-to-use, and understandable alternative is better.
Matomo Pricing
Two price options are available for Matomo: a self-hosted version and a cloud-hosted version. The cloud plan is priced per site. The cloud-hosted version starts at $19 per month for 100k monthly pageviews.
The self-hosted version is free; users can upgrade to the premium version for extra features like heatmaps, session recordings, and A/B testing.
Matomo Alternatives
Previously known as Piwik, Matomo is a well-liked open-source analytics tool. However, there may be better options for some. The very steep learning curve of Matomo is one of its drawbacks, which could be difficult for those who are less tech-savvy.
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.
Also, simple doesn’t refer to a lack of features here. It's a robust web analytics tool that doubles as a minimal product analytics tool, too, with event and goal-tracking capabilities.
Now let's review a few benefits of using Simple Analytics over Adobe Analytics.
Pros of using Simple Analytics
- Simplified UI - Using tools that are easy to navigate around is always preferred over complex ones. Simple Analytics offers a straightforward user interface that makes analysis easier. Working with it is, therefore, a smooth activity.
- Affordable Pricing- Simple Analytics is exceptionally cost-effective. They offer both product and web analytics tools at a reasonable price. They have plans starting at $9/month. It packs the tools and features from the most expensive tools for a friendly price.
- Automated Event Collection- Another feature that makes Simple Analytics stand out in its product category is automated event collection. While you must manually set additional tags for other tools, Simple Analytics does the job for you. Once you link it to your website, it lets you track the metrics of all action buttons just by hovering over them.
- Mini Websites- As a business with an online presence, you often get featured in the conversation of your users. You might get a mention on Twitter or a feature on a website. While most tools let you know where you got a mention, they don’t deliver the specifics. Simple Analytics stands out here. It gives you the specifics of your feature and helps you track it through a mini website.
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. It caters to companies and has plans for individuals and students. It ensures the best features are available at a reasonable price.
The pricing of Simple Analytics starts at a low $9/month, making it a pocket-friendly tool for all businesses.
Plausible
Plausible is a lightweight and privacy-focused web analytics tool that provides website owners insights into visitor behavior. It was founded in 2019 and is based in Estonia.
Plausible offers a clean and straightforward user interface that makes it easy to use.
They do have a focus on privacy, but according to many independent researchers and thought leaders, it may not be as privacy-friendly as they state. More can be read in this article, which was popular on HackerNews.
Pros
- Provides detailed reports on visitor behavior.
- Privacy-focused, which means it doesn't use cookies or collect personal data.
- Offers a clean and straightforward user interface.
- Provides customizable dashboards and reports.
- Offers a free trial.
Cons
- Limited features compared to other paid options.
- A lower degree of in-depth reporting.
- Other solutions are more privacy-friendly.
Pricing
Plausible’s pricing starts at $9/month when paid monthly or $7.5/month when paid annually. Though this is indeed affordable, you’ll have to keep in mind that this is the pricing for websites with less than 10,000 page views.
The next tier starts at $19/month when paid monthly or ~$15.9/month when paid annually for websites with less than 100,000 pageviews.
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.
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.
Things to Look For in an Analytics Tool
Selecting a tool for product analytics is a crucial decision. Therefore, be sure to go through this checklist before making a choice. You're good to go if the tool provides these:
- Ease of Use: Regardless of your chosen product, it must be simple to use. You shouldn’t spend your precious 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. Inaccurate data might lead to misjudged decisions that impact your business.
- Straightforward UI: Most of the time, you don’t need 75 custom dashboards (looking at you, Google). A straightforward overview of what’s happening on your website will give you the insights you need instantly. Look for a tool that gives you the insights you need without too many distracting bells and whistles.
- Lightweight: Your website is your storefront on the internet. Providing the best possible experience to your visitors matters. Installing an analytics script has an impact on your page speed. Choose an analytics tool that doesn’t slow your website down. This not only affects your visitors’ experience. Google will notice this as well.
- Privacy: The world is moving in a direction where privacy is becoming increasingly important. Google Analytics has been declared illegal in multiple EU countries. You don’t want to get caught up in this mess. Take privacy or compliance with regulation into account.
- Integration: To get a complete picture of your business, the tool should be able to integrate with other devices you use, such as your CRM or dashboarding tools.
- Pricing: Consider the tool's pricing and ensure it aligns with your budget. Take advantage of some companies' free trials or basic versions to ensure the product suits your needs before committing to a paying plan.
Although this checklist can assist you in getting started, there may be other factors for your organization that you need to consider.
Feel free to try Simple Analytics if you want a tool that checks these boxes. It provides the insights you need in a straightforward dashboard while being 100% GDPR compliant.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Matomo GDPR-compliant?
Matomo is GDPR-compliant in the sense it does not transfer data to the U.S. like Google Analytics. However, if you want to use Matomo, you still need a cookie banner. It is possible to use Matomo without cookies, but this is not the regular setup. If you want a cookieless solution, you should look at Simple Analytics.
What is the strongest competitor to Google Analytics?
It depends on what your needs are. Looking at market share, Matomo is the strongest competitor. It’s a complex analytics tool that is comparable to Google Analytics in terms of features. If you need a simple Google Analytics alternative that is GDPR-compliant and doesn’t use cookies, you will like Simple Analytics.
What are the disadvantages of Matomo?
Matomo is a complex analytics tool that has a steep learning curve. To use it properly, you will need some experience and training. It also requires you to use an annoying cookie banner on your website. If you are looking for an analytics tool that gives you the insights you need without the hassle and without a cookie banner, try Simple Analytics.
Why is Simple Analytics preferred over Matomo?
Simple Analytics gives you the insights you need in a straightforward dashboard. Matomo is a complex analytics tool that requires training and experience. In contrast to Matomo, Simple Analytics is also cookieless by design. Hence, you don’t need a cookie banner, and it’s 100% GDPR-compliant out of the box.
Is Matomo free?
There is a self-hosted version of Matomo. You can install it for free, but you must pay for hosting and maintaining your own servers. If you are not technical, this is not an option. The cloud-hosted version is not free and is more expensive than other analytics tools like Simple Analytics and Fathom Analytics.