Compare
Compare Analytics Tools
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 analytics suite with a focus on user privacy and data security. Optimize the customer journey where it was previously impossible.
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
Fullstory is a digital experience analytics platform that combines session replay, product analytics and AI-generated insights, with a permanent free plan.
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
- The software is open source
- It is very customizable
- Ecommerce reporting
- Privacy friendly
- The script is lightweight
- Permanent free plan with session replay
- Choice of EU or US data center
- SOC 2 and ISO 27001, 27701 and 42001 certifications
- Warehouse sync to BigQuery, Snowflake and Redshift
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
- Limited reporting features
- Technical skill required
- Comply with data privacy regulations
- You need a secure server
- Paid prices not published
- Dashboards and StoryAI not in the free plan
- Alerts and retention reports need an Advanced or Enterprise plan
- Moving to the EU data center means opening a new account
Pricing information
Starting Price
| Standard | Free |
| GA4 360 | $50k+ per year |
| Core - 500k | €35 p/m |
| Enterprise | €366 p/m |
| FullstoryFree | Free |
| Business | On req. |
| Advanced | On req. |
| Enterprise | On req. |
Free trial period
Free plan
Free plan
Free plan
Free plan
Account Management
Trackable Items
100
10 sites or apps (free) Unlimited (Enterprise)
Unlimited
User Seats
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
10 on FullstoryFree, paid plans not published
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
- Not applicable
- 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
You
Data Freshness
4-8 hours (most reports), up to 24-48 hours
30 min
Realtime
Data Retention
Customizable up to 14 months
Up to 25 months
Unlimited
12 months on FullstoryFree, paid plans not published
Data Sampling
Explorations might use sampled data
By default Piwik does not sample data
Data Import
Import cost, offline or user/client ID data
Import cost data, search keywords, user/client ID and audience data
by means of the REST API
Browser and Server APIs, Segment and Tealium integrations
Data Export
With sheets, BigQuery or API
As CSV, XML, JSON, or via an API
by means of the REST API
Anywhere Warehouse (hourly sync to BigQuery, Redshift, Snowflake), add-on
Compliance
- GDPR
- CCPA
- GDPR
- CCPA
- HIPAA
- LGPD
- ePrivacy
- PECR
- GDPR
- CCPA
- GDPR
- CCPA
Cookieless
Google Analytics relies on first-party cookies.
Piwik features a cookieless tracking option
Sets first-party cookies (owa_v, owa_c, session). Lifetimes can be shortened or made session-only.
Capture needs the first-party fs_uid cookie
Alerts & Automation
Custom Alerts
Custom insights, in interface or via email
Email alerts based on thresholds
Metric, segment and opportunity alerts by email, in-app, Slack, Teams; Advanced and Enterprise
Email Reports
Recurring shared reporting
Daily, weekly or monthly reports
Reporting
Trend Reporting
Metric trends
Device Reporting
Device type, browser, OS and more
Device breakdown
Funnel Reporting
Customisable funnel exploration
Detailed funnel report up to 5 steps
Funnels and conversions
User Flow Reporting
Flexible Sankey chart exploration
Standard, transition & reverse Sankey charts
Journey maps, page flows
Segmentation
Segment creation and overlap exploration
Unlimited segments
User segments
Cohort Reports
Cohort exploration
Retention Reporting
Combined with CLTV metrics
Customer loyalty eCommerce report
Advanced and Enterprise
Attribution Reporting
Attribution models comparison
Multi-channel attribution with 98% accuracy
Ecommerce Reporting
Extensive e-commerce reports
Overview, order list, product, days and sessions to purchase & customer loyalty
Order Completed and Product Purchased events
User Experience Features
Heatmaps
GA4 does not offer heatmaps
Create an overlay with the site inspector Chrome extension
Click and scroll maps
Session Recordings
GA4 does not offer recordings
Domstream
Session replay, included in FullstoryFree
A/B Testing
A/B experiments in Guides and Surveys add-on; Optimizely integration
User Feedback
Guides and Surveys add-on
Customizability
Custom Properties
25 user-scoped & 50 event-scoped dimensions
200 slots for each scope and they can't be removed
Custom event and user properties
Custom Metrics
50 event-scoped metrics
Also called Calculated metrics
Custom calculations
Custom Reports
All reports are customisable
Dashboards, paid plans
Custom Events
25 parameters per event
Include category, action, and optionally name and value
Annotations
Notes feature added in 2024
Add to any graph or include them in scheduled reports or alerts
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.
Because Open Web Analytics is open source, all documentation is found on GitHub. Apart from the community, there are no support options available.
Support is by email and support ticket during regional weekday business hours, with a help center and community forum. Free plan tickets have a 2 business day response target, paying customers 1 business day. A Premium Support add-on gives 24/7 critical support. The FullstoryFree help article lists email support as a paid plan feature, while the support hours article lists a response target for free plan customers.
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