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Rating
4.5/5
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 privacy focussed open-source web analytics tool, which gives you 100% data-ownership. You can even use Matomo without needing to ask for consent.
Open Web Analytics is the free and open source web analytics framework that lets you stay in control of how you instrument and analyze the use of your websites and application
B2B website visitor identification in real-time. Uncover your anonymous B2B website visitors and fuel your business growth.
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
  • The software is open source
  • It is very customizable
  • Ecommerce reporting
  • Privacy friendly
  • The script is lightweight
  • Great for B2B leadgen
  • Company insights
  • Simple implementation
  • The world's largest B2B IP address database
  • Ability to tag users
Cons
  • Steep learning curve
  • Implementation can be hard
  • Inaccurate data sampling
  • UI is not easy to use
  • Integrations
  • Branding method
  • Limited reporting features
  • Technical skill required
  • Comply with data privacy regulations
  • You need a secure server
  • Limited features
  • Cluttered interface
  • Crashes sometimes

Pricing information

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

Account Management

Trackable Items
100
30
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)
  • Not applicable
  • United Kingdom
  • 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
You
Lead Forensics
Data Freshness
4-8 hours (most reports), up to 24-48 hours
15 minutes or more
Realtime
Realtime
Data Retention
Customizable up to 14 months
Unlimited and customizable
Unlimited
3 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
by means of the REST API
by means of an API
Data Export
With sheets, BigQuery or API
to CSV, XML, Json or Looker Studio or via HTTP API
by means of the REST API
by means of an API
Compliance
  • GDPR
  • CCPA
  • GDPR
  • CCPA
  • ePrivacy
  • GDPR
  • CCPA
  • GDPR
  • CCPA
Cookieless
Google Analytics relies on first-party cookies.
Matomo offers cookieless tracking.
Sets first-party cookies (owa_v, owa_c, session). Lifetimes can be shortened or made session-only.
The basic tracking code sets no cookie; an optional first-party cookie (lfuuid) can be enabled.

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
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
Ecommerce Reporting
Extensive e-commerce reports

User Experience Features

Heatmaps
GA4 does not offer heatmaps
Filter specific pages or hide elements on the page
Session Recordings
GA4 does not offer recordings
Record specific pages or only after activity or duration
Domstream
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
also called triggers
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.
Because Open Web Analytics is open source, all documentation is found on GitHub. Apart from the community, there are no support options available.
Lead Forensics support options consist of country-specific phone numbers nu and a form on the website to contact sales or support.
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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