Google Analytics 4 Compared to Matomo

Why is web analytics Important?

In this article, we'll go through the differences between the most popular analytics tools: Google Analytics 4 and Matomo. Are you in need of a new web analytics tool or a digital strategy? We can help you implement the right tools and set a strategy that fits your needs and starting point.

Web analytics is crucial for improving user experience, which directly impacts engagement on your website and your SEO. With web analytics you can collect, measure, analyze, and interpret data about how visitors interact with your website. This includes everything from tracking the number of visitors and their geographical location to following their movements, interactions, and where they click on the site. This can help businesses make decisions based on an understanding of what's happening on their website.

First and foremost, it's important to understand what a web analytics tool does and why it's good to have one. Web analytics tools provide you with insights into:

• Where visitors come from: What channels do users come from – is it via paid advertising, email, or organic search?

• What visitors do on the website: How long do they stay? What do they read? How do users behave?

• Are visitors new to the website or returning?

• Insights into demographics

• Which page drives the most/least traffic

• Which pages that convert

The above mentions are some points of what you can analyze through the tool, which can help you understand how users behave on your website. This allows you to tailor your content according to the needs of your visitors. For example, if you see that a visitor arrives at your most important page but only stays for a short time – then you need to review the content and navigation on that page. Through the analytics tools, it's possible to see the statistics in different ways.

Google Analytics 4: Pros and Cons

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the latest version of Google's popular web analytics tool. GA4 comes with a range of new features and improvements, but also some challenges. Here's a summary of the pros and cons:

Pros:

• Advanced data analysis: GA4 uses machine learning and AI to provide more detailed and precise data.

• Flexible tracking: The new data model offers greater flexibility to track and understand user behavior.

• Valuable visualization: Explore and analyze data with easy-to-use visualization tools.

• Seamless integration: Combine data from various Google tools, such as Google Ads.

• Scalability: GA4 is built to handle large datasets.

Cons:

• Data control: Google stores your data, which can be a disadvantage for some. Here, there's a risk that the storage can limit the use of the tool.

• Potential costs: Certain features and integrations may incur additional costs.

• Complexity: The interface can be complex and take time to learn.

In summary: GA4 offers valuable features for analyzing and understanding user behavior. We recommend this platform to those who want an established platform with the possibility of many third-party integrations.

Matomo: Pros and Cons

Matomo (formerly Piwik PRO) is similar to GA4 in many ways. The major difference is that Matomo is open source and therefore free to use without a costly license. With this analytics tool, you have full control over the data that is collected and managed. Since GDPR came into effect in 2018, more people have chosen this platform over GA4 for example. Below, we map out the advantages and disadvantages of the tool.

Pros:

• Data integrity and ownership: You have full control over your data. Matomo stores the information on your own servers (either on-premise or in the cloud), giving you complete ownership and control. This is a major advantage for those who are sensitive about sharing data with third-party providers.

• GDPR compliance: Matomo is designed with GDPR in mind and provides you with the tools you need to comply with the regulations.

• No data sampling: Unlike some versions of Google Analytics, where large datasets can be sampled, Matomo gives you access to all your raw data. This provides more accurate analyses and insights.

• Open source: Matomo is open source, which means you can customize and extend the platform according to your specific needs.

• Focus on privacy: Matomo values user privacy and offers features such as IP address anonymization and the option to opt-out of tracking.

Cons:

• Installation and maintenance: Unlike cloud-based solutions like Google Analytics 4, Matomo requires installation and maintenance of servers. This may require technical expertise or resources.

• Cost: Costs for installation, hosting, maintenance, and any add-ons may arise despite being open source.

• Complexity: There are many settings and customization options, which can be overwhelming for some.

• Fewer integrations: Compared to Google Analytics, Matomo has fewer integrations with other marketing tools.

• Smaller community and support: Although there is a community around Matomo, it is smaller than that of Google Analytics. This can make it harder to find answers to questions or get help with problems.

In summary: Matomo is a good alternative as an analytics tool instead of GA4 in many respects. We recommend this platform if privacy is a high priority, as you own 100% of the data.

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