Google Analytics alternatives

Why don't I just use Google Analytics?

In short:

1. GA is not GDPR-compliant.
2. GA has a very large bundle size compared to alternatives.
3. GA is more aggressively blocked by ad-blocking scripts than alternatives.
4. GA's interface is complex and confusing, especially for basic use cases.

These answers may be insufficient to get you to go from "using a free tool" to "paying for a tool", but if you are interested in the cottage industry of alternatives to Google Analytics, this page is for you.

Which alternative should I use?

IMO: Fathom.

Fathom is the best alternative to Google Analytics for most people. Fathom, Plausible, and Pirsch are all really solid choices and the difference between them is negligible; Fathom wins out due to slightly more advanced filtering features and its publicly consumable API.

Other good options:

• While Clicky suffers from a dated interface, it is by far the most affordable option for high-volume sites. If you're extremely price-sensitive, Clicky is a great option.
• Pirsch has, in my opinion, the nicest interface of any of these tools, and if you're very persnickety about your microinteractions it may be worth losing out on some of the other features of the other tools.

Why should I trust you?

I have personally used every single one of these tools listed, and built integrations with most of them. In addition, I've used (and bemoaned) Google Analytics through its many iterations, and am intimately familiar with its shortcomings and advantages.

(While Buttondown, the newsletter tool I built, does connect with some of these tools, I do not use affiliate links or receive any compensation for recommending any tool listed here. I have no angle except to save you time clicking through a bunch of pricing pages.)

Okay, gimme the deets.

Plus some caveats and miscellany:

• Clicky actually tiers its prices by daily page views rather than monthly. I've converted its pricing to monthly page views for the sake of comparison,.
• Cabin has an unlimited tier at $19/mo, with a somewhat scary "fair use applies" caveat attached to that number.

Doesn't Cloudflare have a tool?

They do! Cloudflare offers Web Analytics, which on paper looks like a great option for existing Cloudflare users. However, at the time of this writing Cloudflare Web Analytics is missing two huge pieces of functionality:

• You can only access data for the previous six months
• You cannot filter or group data by UTM parameter

Things that don't quite match up

There are a number of adjacent services that don't quite fit into this comparison, but are worth mentioning:

Counter

Counter is also an interesting option: it's open source, roughly at feature parity with the options listed above, and has a novel "Pay when ready" model that appears to be more akin to patronage than a traditional SaaS subscription.

Posthog

Posthog is a great tool, but it's not really a Google Analytics alternative. Posthog is a product analytics tool, more focused on competing with Amplitude or Mixpanel than Google Analytics. If you're looking for a product analytics tool, Posthog is a great choice, but it's not a good fit for most people looking for a Google Analytics alternative.

Piwik

Piwik is a little more involved and enterprise-focused than the drop-and-browse solutions outlined above that are at parity with one another. It is for sure privacy-compliant and has a lot of features, but focuses more on intranet use cases and data privacy features.

What about [other provider]?

Email me! I'll add it.

Gee, it sure is awfully nice of you to compile this resource and keep it up to date. What can I ever do to thank you?

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