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Rating
4.5/5
5/5
5/5
5/5
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 analytics suite with a focus on user privacy and data security. Optimize the customer journey where it was previously impossible.
Enterprise-level web analytics. Adobe Analytics lets you mix, match, and analyze data from any digital point in the customer journey.
Pirsch is a simple, cookie-free, open-source web analytics solution that integrates easily into your website or backend.
Pros
  • GA4 is free to use
  • Many functionalities
  • The reports are customisable
  • Large community
  • Extensive documentation
  • GA4 is easily scalable
  • Ease of use
  • Great authorisation management
  • Packed with features
  • Community forum
  • Intergrated tag & consent management
  • Great segmentation
  • Good video tracking
  • Customizable
  • Easy report creation
  • Lightweight, cookie-free and open-source
  • Pirsch's backend integration requires no client-side scripts and delivers the same accurate results without the interference of adblockers
  • Extensive API
  • Fully-fledged access management
  • Comprehensive filtering by any metric including event metadata
Cons
  • Steep learning curve
  • Implementation can be hard
  • Inaccurate data sampling
  • UI is not easy to use
  • No progressive payment plan
  • Ecommerce reporting can be improved
  • Pricing can be quite steep
  • Tech support can be improved
  • Can be difficult to implement
  • Can be challenging to get educated
  • Visitors are only recognized for up to 24 hours to comply with the privacy policy
  • Heatmaps and session recordings are not available

Pricing information

Starting Price
StandardFree
GA4 360$50k+ per year
Core - 500k€35 p/m
Enterprise€366 p/m
SelectOn req.
PrimeOn req.
UltimateOn req.
Free trial period
Free plan
Free plan
Free plan
30 days

Account Management

Trackable Items
100
10 sites or apps (free) Unlimited (Enterprise)
Unlimited
Unlimited
User Seats
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
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)
  • United States
  • European Economic Area (EEA)
  • United States
  • European Economic Area (EEA)
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
Adobe Analytics
You
Data Freshness
4-8 hours (most reports), up to 24-48 hours
30 min
2 hours
Realtime
Data Retention
Customizable up to 14 months
Up to 25 months
25 months by default
Unlimited
Data Sampling
Explorations might use sampled data
By default Piwik does not sample data
Some Audience Manager reports display results sampled data
Data Import
Import cost, offline or user/client ID data
Import cost data, search keywords, user/client ID and audience data
Though data sources, API or data connectors
Import from Plausible, Fathom or Google Analytics
Data Export
With sheets, BigQuery or API
As CSV, XML, JSON, or via an API
Through data feeds, a data warehouse or FTP and SFTP
via API or CSV
Compliance
  • GDPR
  • CCPA
  • GDPR
  • CCPA
  • HIPAA
  • LGPD
  • ePrivacy
  • PECR
  • GDPR
  • CCPA
  • HIPAA
  • PECR
  • GDPR
  • CCPA
  • ePrivacy
  • PECR
Cookieless
Google Analytics relies on first-party cookies.
Piwik features a cookieless tracking option
Adobe uses tracking cookies
Pirsch Analytics does not use cookies

Alerts & Automation

Custom Alerts
Custom insights, in interface or via email
Email alerts based on thresholds
Via e-mail or SMS
Email Reports
Recurring shared reporting
Daily, weekly or monthly reports
Flexible scheduled reporting
Daily, Weekly, Bi-weekly, Monthly

Reporting

Trend Reporting
Device Reporting
Device type, browser, OS and more
Device types, OS, OS versions & mobile carriers
Device type, OS, Browser, Browser version, Screen size
Funnel Reporting
Customisable funnel exploration
Detailed funnel report up to 5 steps
Bar chart funnel report
Analyze Funnels
User Flow Reporting
Flexible Sankey chart exploration
Standard, transition & reverse Sankey charts
Fallout & Flow (Sankey chart) reports
Entry and exit pages
Segmentation
Segment creation and overlap exploration
Unlimited segments
Advanced segments with Segment builder & Segment manager
Extensive filtering by any metric
Cohort Reports
Cohort exploration
Churn, rolling & latency tables
Retention Reporting
Combined with CLTV metrics
Customer loyalty eCommerce report
Retention cohort report
Attribution Reporting
Attribution models comparison
Multi-channel attribution with 98% accuracy
Apply to metrics, breakdowns or compare models
Ecommerce Reporting
Extensive e-commerce reports
Overview, order list, product, days and sessions to purchase & customer loyalty
Very flexible ecommerce reporting
Possible with custom events and goals

User Experience Features

Heatmaps
GA4 does not offer heatmaps
Create an overlay with the site inspector Chrome extension
Called activity map
Session Recordings
GA4 does not offer recordings
A/B Testing
Tag-based A/B testing and segmentation
User Feedback

Customizability

Custom Properties
25 user-scoped & 50 event-scoped dimensions
200 slots for each scope and they can't be removed
As part of custom events
Custom Metrics
50 event-scoped metrics
Also called Calculated metrics
Unlimited calculated metrics
Custom Reports
All reports are customisable
Reports in Analysis workspace are customisable
Custom Events
25 parameters per event
Include category, action, and optionally name and value
Up to 1.000 success events
With additional metadata fields (key-value pairs).
Annotations
Notes feature added in 2024
Add to any graph or include them in scheduled reports or alerts
Available in Workspace

Support

Support description
Support is available via chat and the support center.
Piwik Pro offers extensive documentation and video tutorials. They have support offices for different regions which can be contacted by email and phone.
The support of Adobe Analytics consists of an expansive knowledge base and an online community. Phone and chat options exist for certain user types. Besides that, they offer many training options and tutorials.
Email support, public Discord server
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
  • Phone
  • Email
  • Live Chat
  • Ticketing system
  • Knowledge base
  • Community

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