Compare
Compare Analytics Tools
Rating
4.5/5
5/5
5/5
4/5
Summary
A customisable and free web analytics tool. Get insights into user behavior with an event-based tracking model, and know what drives sales and traffic with extensive attribution methods.
A free privacy focussed open-source web analytics tool, which gives you 100% data-ownership. You can even use Matomo without needing to ask for consent.
A free analytics suite with a focus on user privacy and data security. Optimize the customer journey where it was previously impossible.
Hotjar provides Product Experience Insights about your website that show how users behave and what they feel strongly about, so product teams can deliver real value to them.
Pros
- GA4 is free to use
- Many functionalities
- The reports are customisable
- Large community
- Extensive documentation
- GA4 is easily scalable
- Data display
- Flexible data visualisation
- Engagement reporting
- Privacy oriented
- Ease of use
- Great authorisation management
- Packed with features
- Community forum
- Intergrated tag & consent management
- Comes with great heatmaps
- Includes session recordings
- Good polling function
- Hotjar features exit surveys
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- Implementation can be hard
- Inaccurate data sampling
- UI is not easy to use
- Integrations
- Branding method
- No progressive payment plan
- Ecommerce reporting can be improved
- Hotjar is not available for mobile
- Steep pricing for large organisations
- Hard to exclude URLs from reports
Pricing information
Starting Price
| Standard | Free |
| GA4 360 | $50k+ per year |
| On-Premise | Free |
| Cloud | €19+ p/m |
| Core - 500k | €35 p/m |
| Enterprise | €366 p/m |
| Basic | Free |
| Plus | $49+ p/m |
| Business | On req. |
| Scale | On req. |
Free trial period
Free plan
21 days
Free plan
Free plan
Account Management
Trackable Items
100
30
10 sites or apps (free) Unlimited (Enterprise)
Unlimited
User Seats
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
1
Account Security
- Single Sign-on
- Two-factor Authentication
- Single Sign-on
- Two-factor Authentication
- Single Sign-on
- Two-factor Authentication
- Single Sign-on
- Two-factor Authentication
Data Processing
Data Center Locations
- European Economic Area (EEA)
- United Kingdom
- United States
- European Economic Area (EEA)
- European Economic Area (EEA)
- United States
- European Economic Area (EEA)
- United States
Software Hosting
- Public Cloud
- Private Cloud
- On-Premise
- Public Cloud
- Private Cloud
- On-Premise
- Public Cloud
- Private Cloud
- On-Premise
- Public Cloud
- Private Cloud
- On-Premise
Data Ownership
Google Analytics 4
You
You
Hotjar
Data Freshness
4-8 hours (most reports), up to 24-48 hours
15 minutes or more
30 min
30 minutes
Data Retention
Customizable up to 14 months
Unlimited and customizable
Up to 25 months
12 months
Data Sampling
Explorations might use sampled data
Matomo doesn’t use data sampling
By default Piwik does not sample data
Data Import
Import cost, offline or user/client ID data
Import Google Analytics data, search keywords & server logs
Import cost data, search keywords, user/client ID and audience data
Send user data to Hotjar to enhance analysis
Data Export
With sheets, BigQuery or API
to CSV, XML, Json or Looker Studio or via HTTP API
As CSV, XML, JSON, or via an API
Export recording meta data
Compliance
- GDPR
- CCPA
- GDPR
- CCPA
- ePrivacy
- GDPR
- CCPA
- HIPAA
- LGPD
- ePrivacy
- PECR
- GDPR
- CCPA
Cookieless
Google Analytics relies on first-party cookies.
Matomo offers cookieless tracking.
Piwik features a cookieless tracking option
Hotjar relies on first-party cookies.
Alerts & Automation
Custom Alerts
Custom insights, in interface or via email
Receive alerts from every report by email or SMS
Email alerts based on thresholds
in the interface, via e-mail or Slack
Email Reports
Recurring shared reporting
Detailed daily, weekly and monthly reports
Daily, weekly or monthly reports
e.g. daily survey responses reports
Reporting
Trend Reporting
Device Reporting
Device type, browser, OS and more
See on which device the user was
Funnel Reporting
Customisable funnel exploration
Basic funnel reporting
Detailed funnel report up to 5 steps
Discover why users drop off
User Flow Reporting
Flexible Sankey chart exploration
With flexible Sankey chart
Standard, transition & reverse Sankey charts
Segmentation
Segment creation and overlap exploration
Based on visit, interaction, campaign, ecommerce, demographics & device
Unlimited segments
Create custom filters for recordings
Cohort Reports
Cohort exploration
Analyse and segment by cohort
Retention Reporting
Combined with CLTV metrics
Customer loyalty eCommerce report
Attribution Reporting
Attribution models comparison
Model comparison report
Multi-channel attribution with 98% accuracy
Ecommerce Reporting
Extensive e-commerce reports
Overview, order list, product, days and sessions to purchase & customer loyalty
User Experience Features
Heatmaps
GA4 does not offer heatmaps
Filter specific pages or hide elements on the page
Create an overlay with the site inspector Chrome extension
Unlimited
Session Recordings
GA4 does not offer recordings
Record specific pages or only after activity or duration
Record all interaction with your site
A/B Testing
A/B Testing Platform (premium feature)
No A/B testing tool only integrations
User Feedback
Place NPS ratings or a survey pop-up on every page
Customizability
Custom Properties
25 user-scoped & 50 event-scoped dimensions
5-15 for each scope and can't delete them
200 slots for each scope and they can't be removed
Custom Metrics
50 event-scoped metrics
Also called Calculated metrics
Custom Reports
All reports are customisable
Flexible report design
Custom Events
25 parameters per event
Include category, action, and optionally name and value
Track and filter sessions & heatmaps
Annotations
Notes feature added in 2024
On any graph or via API
Add to any graph or include them in scheduled reports or alerts
Hotjar does not have annotations
Support
Support description
Support is available via chat and the support center.
Matomo offers extensive documentation and video tutorials. Because Matomo is an open source product, you can also get help from a large community. Do you need personal help? Contact Matomo's support team for general issues or contact Innocraft for Matomo Cloud-hosted services.
Piwik Pro offers extensive documentation and video tutorials. They have support offices for different regions which can be contacted by email and phone.
Hotjar offers extensive documentation and a ticketing support system. Most requests are answered within 1-2 business days, but often faster.
Support Options
- Phone
- Live Chat
- Ticketing system
- Knowledge base
- Community
- Phone
- Live Chat
- Ticketing system
- Knowledge base
- Community
- Phone
- Live Chat
- Ticketing system
- Knowledge base
- Community
- Phone
- Live Chat
- Ticketing system
- Knowledge base
- Community