Are you looking to keep up with the latest trends in web analytics in 2023?
Have you been searching for alternatives to Google Analytics that are reliable and cost-effective? If so, then this blog post is for you!
We've put together a comprehensive list of examples featuring the 10 best Google Analytics alternatives for tracking all your data with confidence.
Clarity By Microsoft [Free]
Here, we will provide an overview of each platform's key features & pricing structure to give you a better idea about which one might be right for your needs. Keep reading to learn more - our top picks are sure to help get you on track.
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What Are The Best Google Analytics Alternatives?
When it comes to tracking data, you don't have to limit yourself to just Google Analytics. There are plenty of other options available that can provide the same level of insights and benefits for a fraction of the cost.
Here is an overview of our top 10 picks for Google Analytics alternatives in 2023:
1. Hotjar
Hotjar is a great choice for those wanting to track their web pages without breaking the bank. The heatmaps and recordings features of this analytics tool allow you to get a better understanding of how visitors are interacting with your page, while the survey tool can help you collect important data from users.
The heatmaps feature is particularly useful for gaining insights into user behavior, as you can see what part of the page they spend their most time on or which buttons they clicked.
The recordings feature of the analytics tool allows you to get an even clearer picture of user experience by allowing you to view the mouse movements they make.
Hotjar’s commitment to end user privacy ensures that all website data collected has a secure connection, so you can feel confident in your data collection.
There is a free plan available and the pricing structure has been designed to scale with your business’ growth - making it a great option for any size of business. Hotjar also has easy installation options, so there are no long waits or complicated setups. All these features make Hotjar the top alternative to Google Analytics in 2023.
Key Features
- Heatmaps for understanding customer journey
- Recordings for viewing mouse movements
- Surveys for collecting data from site visitors
- End user privacy protection
- Conversion tracking for actionable insights and predictive analysis
- Easy installation options
- Allows integrations with Zapier, GA4, and Slack
Pricing
- The platform offers three different products: Observe, Ask, and Engage.
- The pricing plans for each product are different.
- You can create a custom package for yourself including the products you need.
- The platform offers a free plan for all products.
2. Fathom
Fathom is a simple website analytics platform that collects anonymous data from your users without collecting any personal information. It is compliant with all the major privacy regulations, including GDPR and CCPA, as well as many other local laws like ePrivacy and PECR.
The lightweight script it uses ensures good SEO performance while also bypassing most ad blockers. Fathom also allows you to easily see all the sites you’re tracking and send email reports. Plus, there is no cookie banner needed, and they offer unlimited data retention. If you are looking for the best alternatives to Google Analytics, Fathom is certainly worth considering.
Key Features
- Compliant with all major privacy regulations
- Lightweight script ensures good SEO performance
- Fathom analytics bypasses ad blockers
- View all sites being tracked at a glance
- Send email reports easily
- Export your data in CSV
Pricing
- Pay $14 per month for up to 100,000 monthly page views.
- Choose $24 per month plan for up to 200,000 monthly page views.
- For 300,000 monthly page views, you can opt for a $44 per month subscription.
- All the plans allow you to add up to 50 websites.
3. Smartlook
Smartlook is an advanced web analytics tool that offers plenty of features to help you gain insights into user experience and engagement. Unlike Google Analytics, it gives you the ability to watch recordings of what users are doing on your website or app so you can easily identify any areas needing improvement. The Heatmaps feature also gives you an instant overview of where your users click and how far they scroll. Smartlook offers both web and mobile app analytics as well.
This website analytics tool also offers event tracking, which allows you to track custom events within an app or website. Additionally, Smartlook offers GDPR compliance assurance and easy setup for mobile apps, making it an excellent choice for those looking to stay ahead of the curve in 2023.
Key Features
- Heatmaps to identify user engagement
- Event tracking for apps and websites
- GDPR compliance assurance
- Recordings of user sessions
- GDPR compliance assurance
- Easy setup for mobile apps and websites
Pricing
- The free plan allows 15oo sessions per month.
- You can opt for the Startup plan for $39 a month with 5000 monthly sessions.
- The Business plan allows 15000 monthly sessions for 15000 sessions/month.
- You can get a custom quote for the Enterprise plan.
4. Matomo
Matomo is a comprehensive open-source analytics software that offers various features to track visitor behavior and optimize the user experience.
The platform provides detailed insights into user searches and navigation paths, allowing you to gain a better understanding of their wants and needs. Additionally, Matomo can easily import data from Google Analytics and securely store personal information in accordance with privacy laws.
The platform's data is accurate without any data sampling, and there are no limitations on the amount of data you can track. Matomo's user-friendly interface and enhanced insights make it an ideal choice for those looking to understand their web traffic better.
Plus, it's GDPR and CCPA compliant to ensure all tracking activities are completely secure. If you are looking for Google Analytics alternatives that are reliable, cost-effective, and secure, then Matomo is a perfect choice.
Key Features
- Allows data import from Google Analytics
- No data sampling or limits on the amount of data tracked
- Comprehensive analytics dashboard
- Real-time insights & reporting
- User behavior & path tracking
- GDPR/CCPA compliant
- Open-source analytics software
- User-friendly interface
- Easy setup & installation
Pricing
- Matomo offers a free plan with limited features.
- The platform offers a number of paid plans according to your monthly traffic.
- You can access advanced features like Heatmap or A/B testing at an additional price.
5. GoSquared
GoSquared is a powerful behavioral analytics software that provides real-time insights into your visitors, their behavior, and your content's performance. Its intuitive dashboard makes it easy to analyze all the data quickly and easily.
Plus, GoSquared features helpful support and is fully GDPR compliant and engineered for privacy. Setup is also easy and fast, and the lightest JavaScript Snippet in the industry makes installation a breeze.
Additionally, you can add unlimited teammates and take advantage of integrations with other web analytics tools you may use for your business.
This web traffic analytics solution tracks real-time data by default and provides daily email reports, so you can stay on top of what's happening with your analytics. If you are searching for simple Google Analytics alternatives with powerful features, GoSquared is the way to go.
Key Features
- Real-time data tracking
- Easy setup and installation
- Create custom reports via email daily
- GDPR compliant
- Unlimited teammates
- Lightweight JavaScript Snippet
- Simple dashboard for easy data analysis
Pricing:
- The Starter plan for 100,000 pageviews will cost you $9 per month.
- The Standard plan is for $24 per month and supports up to 500,000 monthly pageviews.
- The Pro plan with support for 1 Million pageviews costs $49 per month.
- You can purchase the scale plan for $99 a month if you want to track up to 2.5 Million pageviews.
6. Plausible
Plausible is a lightweight and privacy-friendly analytics platform that easily tracks your campaigns and analyzes your website performance.
It's simple to set up. All you need to do is add a single line of code to your website or app. A great feature of Plausible is its API, which allows for integration with other services like Search Console. Plausible offers reporting via email and Slack, and its dashboard can be filtered by anything you click on.
It's also fully compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and PECR, so you don't have to worry about any privacy issues. Plus, it's powered by European cloud infrastructure.
The lightweight script is served as a first-party connection, which allows faster loading times. The platform allows you to invite team members and share your dashboard, so everyone can stay on top of the collected data. The dashboard is simple and no cookie banners are needed for this Google Analytics alternative.
If you're looking for an efficient and cost-effective web analytics tool that respects user privacy, Plausible is the way to go.
Key Features
- Lightweight, privacy-friendly analytics platform
- Easily track campaigns and website performance
- Dashboard can be filtered by anything you click on
- Fully compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and PECR
- Powered by European cloud infrastructure
- Invite team members to share your dashboard
- No cookie banners needed
Pricing
- The platform offers multiple plans according to your monthly traffic.
- All the plans include support for up to 50 websites.
- A 30-day free trial is also available without the need of any credit card.
7. Simple Analytics
Simple Analytics is an EU-based analytics platform that gives you detailed insights into how visitors interact with your website.
It offers a range of features, including GDPR and PECR-compliant privacy measures, data encryption, and the ability to export your data to third-party services.
Simple Analytics also allows you to import data from Google Analytics and use WordPress, Google Tag Manager, or their many front-end framework plugins. This alternative to Google Analytics does not store any personal data about your site visitors as well.
Additionally, you can use the automated reports feature to analyze visitor behavior across devices. Simple Analytics is worth considering if you need a Google Analytics alternative that offers simple yet effective reporting and insights.
Key Features
- Simple and convenient analytics dashboard
- Export data to third-party services
- Import data from Google Analytics
- WordPress, GTM, or frontend framework plugins
- Data encryption
- Privacy Compliance
- EU Data warehouse for increased protection
- Does not store any personal data
- Analyze behavior across devices
Pricing
- The starter plan offers 100,000 data points for $19 per month.
- You can avail 1,000,000 data points with the Business plan for $59 a month.
- The Enterprise plan starts at $99+ per month and you are charged as per the usage.
8. Heap
Heap is an advanced analytics software that captures user data for complete understanding. It captures the entire digital experience of every user, uses advanced data science capabilities for opportunity analysis, and provides session replay to understand pain points.
This platform integrates across your tech stack to provide a single place from which you can make data-driven decisions.
Heap also utilizes data science to remove blindspots and uncover unknown opportunities, helping you improve your conversion rate and retention.
The analytics dashboard and charts allow for easy data visualization, and its AI-powered insights can save hours of manual work. You can segment the users to better target and personalize efforts.
The cross-platform analytics tool allows you to track user experience on all the devices. If you are in the market for an advanced Google Analytics alternative that is powered by data science, then Heap is the solution for you.
Key Features
- Automatically capture every user event, including clicks, taps and page views
- AI-powered insights to save hours of manual work
- Comprehensive analytics dashboard
- Customizable reports for easy visualization
- Session replay to understand customer behavior and pain points
- Complete data ownership
- Segment users to better target and personalize efforts
- Mobile analytics support to track user experience on all devices
Pricing
- With the free plan, you can get up to 10,000 monthly sessions.
- You can contact the sales team for a quote on the paid plans.
9. Clarity By Microsoft
Microsoft's Clarity is the perfect Google Analytics alternative for anyone looking to track user activity on their website.
This free tool offers session recordings, heatmaps, and a range of metrics that can be used to analyze user behavior. It also comes with support for Ajax & single-page apps, so you can get an even more precise picture of how your site is performing.
With its built-in integrations, you can also sync it with Google Analytics for a seamless transition from one platform to another.
Clarity does not sample the traffic data, which makes it ideal for accurate analysis. Finally, Clarity is compliant with GDPR and CCPA regulations so your own data is secure and privacy concerns are addressed.
Key Features
- Session recordings
- Heatmaps for insights
- Support for Ajax & single-page apps
- No sampling of data for qualitative analytics
- Integrations with Google Analytics
- Compliant with GDPR & CCPA regulations
- Cross-platform support
Pricing
- Free
10. Lucky Orange
Lucky Orange is a solid Google Analytics alternative, offering an intuitive interface and plenty of features to track your website data.It provides session recordings that allow you to gain insight into user experience on your site, dynamic heatmaps for visualizing the user interaction, and the ability to build unlimited dashboards.
Users will also benefit from Lucky Orange's live chat and survey capabilities, website visitors profiles, and announcements.
You can also analyze conversion funnels and measure performance in real time. If you need a Google Analytics alternative that offers a wide range of features, Lucky Orange is definitely worth considering.
Key Features
- Session recordings to gain insight into the entire user journey
- Dynamic heatmaps to visualize user interactions
- Live chat and survey capabilities
- Offers integrations with your tech stack
- Analyze Conversion funnels to monitor user behavior
- Real-time analytics tool with customer journey analysis
Pricing
- The free plan allows 500 pageviews per month.
- The paid plans range between $18/month to $150/month.
- You can get a custom quote for the Enterprise plan.
Why Move Away From Google Analytics?
Google Analytics has been a popular choice for web analytics platforms over the last decade, but as technology advances, it is becoming increasingly important to consider alternative solutions. The primary reasons businesses are choosing other analytics tools are convenience, privacy concerns, and user-centric reporting.
Convenience:
Google Analytics is often seen as a time saver for website owners. Still, with the introduction of newer web analytics platforms, it can be difficult to keep up with the changes and data that come along with it.
Additionally, many businesses believe that Google Analytics alternatives provide faster setup times, better customization options, and more intuitive designs.
Privacy Concerns:
With recent data privacy regulations such as GDPR, companies are increasingly concerned about how their user's data is being collected, stored, and used.
Google Analytics collects sensitive customer data in ways that can be perceived as intrusive, including collecting personally identifiable information (PII). This raises concerns for businesses when it comes to compliance with ever-changing privacy regulations.
Google's major chunk of revenue comes from advertising, which can lead to a conflict of interest regarding the user's privacy. This is one of the reasons why businesses are searching for an alternative to Google Analytics that can collect data without any privacy concerns and provide predictive analytics.
User-Centric Reporting:
Google's tool does not provide a holistic view of customers’ journeys, leading to fragmented insights and an incomplete understanding of user behavior.
Many Google Analytics alternatives and analytics tools allow businesses to take a user-centric approach to reporting, providing insights that can be used to drive better decision-making.
Frequently Asked Questions
The free version of Google Analytics is available for everyone. However, certain fees are involved if you would like to upgrade to the Google Analytics 360 plan.
The paid plan offers advanced features and supports essential for larger businesses.
A major chunk of Google's revenue comes from Google ads, which can lead to a conflict of interest regarding the user's privacy.
Additionally, Google Analytics does not provide a holistic view of customers’ journeys, and some businesses see its data collection methods as intrusive.
Most of the Google Analytics alternatives like Fathom, Hotjar, Adobe Analytics, or Smartlook offer faster setup times, efficient customer support teams, better customization options, and more intuitive designs that make them more attractive options than Google Analytics.
Everyone who has a website, blog, or any kind of online presence needs to utilize web analytics in order to get the most out of their digital marketing efforts.
This includes individual bloggers, small and large businesses, e-commerce websites, and more. Website analytics provide valuable insights like user behavior, which helps marketers understand their target audience and optimize their campaigns.
It also allows marketers to measure progress and adjust affiliate marketing strategies based on results. Web analytics is an invaluable tool for anyone looking to succeed in digital marketing!
Final Thoughts
Google Analytics is a powerful tool, but it’s not the only one out there. If you’re looking for an alternative to GA4, consider one of these 10 best Google Analytics alternatives in 2023. Not sure which to choose?
Go with Hotjar or Fathom. Both are great all-around options that will give you the insights you need to make confident decisions about your website and online marketing efforts.