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Rating
4.5/5
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.
Clarity is a free, easy-to-use tool that captures how real people actually use your site. Setup is easy and you'll start getting data in minutes.
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
  • It is free and easy to use
  • Great heatmaps
  • Unlimited session recordings
  • No data sampling
Cons
  • Steep learning curve
  • Implementation can be hard
  • Inaccurate data sampling
  • UI is not easy to use
  • Integrations
  • Branding method
  • Limited reporting features
  • Limited integrations

Pricing information

Starting Price
StandardFree
GA4 360$50k+ per year
On-PremiseFree
Cloud€19+ p/m
ClarityFree
Free trial period
Free plan
21 days
Free plan

Account Management

Trackable Items
100
30
Unlimited
User Seats
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Account Security
  • 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
Software Hosting
  • Public Cloud
  • Private Cloud
  • On-Premise
  • Public Cloud
  • Private Cloud
  • On-Premise
  • Public Cloud
  • Private Cloud
  • On-Premise
Data Ownership
Google Analytics 4
You
Microsoft Clarity
Data Freshness
4-8 hours (most reports), up to 24-48 hours
15 minutes or more
Realtime
Data Retention
Customizable up to 14 months
Unlimited and customizable
13 months
Data Sampling
Explorations might use sampled data
Matomo doesn’t use data sampling
Data Import
Import cost, offline or user/client ID data
Import Google Analytics data, search keywords & server logs
Data Export
With sheets, BigQuery or API
to CSV, XML, Json or Looker Studio or via HTTP API
Compliance
  • GDPR
  • CCPA
  • GDPR
  • CCPA
  • ePrivacy
  • GDPR
  • CCPA
  • ePrivacy
Cookieless
Google Analytics relies on first-party cookies.
Matomo offers cookieless tracking.
Clarity uses first-party cookies

Alerts & Automation

Custom Alerts
Custom insights, in interface or via email
Receive alerts from every report by email or SMS
Email Reports
Recurring shared reporting
Detailed daily, weekly and monthly reports

Reporting

Trend Reporting
Device Reporting
Device type, browser, OS and more
Device type, browser & OS widgets
Funnel Reporting
Customisable funnel exploration
Basic funnel reporting
User Flow Reporting
Flexible Sankey chart exploration
With flexible Sankey chart
Segmentation
Segment creation and overlap exploration
Based on visit, interaction, campaign, ecommerce, demographics & device
Cohort Reports
Cohort exploration
Analyse and segment by cohort
Retention Reporting
Combined with CLTV metrics
Attribution Reporting
Attribution models comparison
Model comparison report
Simple referral metrics
Ecommerce Reporting
Extensive e-commerce reports

User Experience Features

Heatmaps
GA4 does not offer heatmaps
Filter specific pages or hide elements on the page
Click, scroll & area heatmaps
Session Recordings
GA4 does not offer recordings
Record specific pages or only after activity or duration
Filter by actions, duration, pages & device
A/B Testing
A/B Testing Platform (premium feature)
User Feedback

Customizability

Custom Properties
25 user-scoped & 50 event-scoped dimensions
5-15 for each scope and can't delete them
Custom Metrics
50 event-scoped metrics
Custom Reports
All reports are customisable
Flexible report design
Custom Events
25 parameters per event
Annotations
Notes feature added in 2024
On any graph or via API

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.
Support is available via chat, email and the support center.
Support Options
  • Phone
  • Email
  • Live Chat
  • Ticketing system
  • Knowledge base
  • Community
  • Phone
  • Email
  • Live Chat
  • Ticketing system
  • Knowledge base
  • Community
  • Phone
  • Email
  • Live Chat
  • Ticketing system
  • Knowledge base
  • Community
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