8 Google Analytics privacy focussed alternatives
Tags: analytics, watercooler
Published: 2022-03-18 16:38:00

TLDR; I switched to Fathom. You can find a comparison table at the bottom.

As many of you may have read, Google Analytics is illegal in some countries nowadays.

This has to do with GPDR rulings and Google Analytics transmitting personal data outside the EU.

You can check the countries where Google Analytics is illegal here: [isgoogleanalyticsillegal.com](https://isgoogleanalyticsillegal.com/).

I was a big user of Google Analytics because it works and it's easy, but I knew it wasn't right.
And I was getting more and more annoyed by the fact that Google was benefiting so much from the data of people I was trying to help.

It was not worth having such a useless vanity metric on Google when there are so many great and privacy-focused alternatives.

In this article, I'll go over some alternatives you can use instead of Google Analytics.

## No more analytics

You could opt to have no more analytics if you are not using it.
This would even help speed up your website as you don't need to load any of the tracking scripts.

However, many of us like to do analytics on which pages perform well and how people are using our website.

## Cloudflare Analytics

I started by using this. However, it quickly turned out to not be ideal as they have only a 30 day retention period.

So your data will only be valid for 30 days, which is not enough for most people.

It does work super well, and if you are hosting on Cloudflare pages, it will even be injected by them to optimize the load.

I won't go into more details for Cloudflare as this is such a deal-breaker for most people.

## Matomo

Matomo is an open-source alternative to Google Analytics. They have quite a community behind it.
And a promise to be free forever!

You might know it by its former name, "Piwik, " one of the first open-sourced big analytics systems.

They allow you to self-host it for free. This will, of course, mean you'll need a server of your own.

They offer paid options you can add on, and they have quite a few of them!

Alternatively, you can choose a hosted solution starting at 19EUR per month.

When using the hosted solution, the cool thing is that you get all their plugins included.

And a big win for them is that they provide a Google Analytics data importer.

[Check out Matomo](https://matomo.org/)

Or

[View Matomo demo dashboard](https://demo.matomo.cloud/index.php?module=CoreHome&action=index&idSite=1&period=day&date=yesterday#?period=day&date=yesterday&category=Dashboard_Dashboard&subcategory=1)

## GoatCounter

Another open-source legend is GoatCounter, a super funny name and simple setup.

It has a super-simple interface, but actually, it works. This interface removes the hassle and confusion you might have had in Google Analytics.

GoatCounter's basic model is also free, but you can only use that on non-commercial projects.

The follow-up plans are not expensive, though, starting at 5EUR a month, and growing to 30EUR, which is not costly.

[Check our GoatCounter](https://www.goatcounter.com/)

Or

[View GoatCounter demo dashboard](https://stats.arp242.net/)

## Fair Analytics

This tool is built from a legal/privacy standpoint and has a law firm specializing in data protection to validate all they do.

If you are looking for the best data protection tool, this could be for you.

They only have early-bird pricing, so this might change in the near future.

Pricing starts at 1,99EUR a month.

[Check out Fair Analytics](https://www.fairanalytics.de/)

Or

[View Fair Analytics demo dashboard](https://www.fairanalytics.de/demo/)

## Simple Analytics

As the name suggests, it's simple analytics. The dashboard is set up super simple.

They focus on making things as anonymous as possible and provide many extra tools.

These extra tools make it attractive, I think, and include a Tweet viewer and an extended API.

Pricing starts at $19 per month. (Or 9$ if you pay for a year)

[Check out Simple Analytics](https://simpleanalytics.com/)

Or

[View Simple Analytics demo dashboard](https://simpleanalytics.com/simpleanalytics.com)

## Unami

Unami is another free and easy-to-use self-hosted alternative. It's used by Hashnode these days.

It looks cool, but the downside for people might be the self-hosting.

If you don't mind that it's a great tool, with a lot of cool options to it.

They offer a lot of configuration when you want to start tracking, which is perfect if you want these options.

[Check out Unami](https://umami.is/)

Or

[View Unami demo dashboard](https://app.umami.is/share/8rmHaheU/umami.is)

## Plausible

My choices were narrowed down between Plausible and Fathom, they have a lot of social proof behind them, and both do a lot of things great.

Plausible is open source, and you can even opt to self-host it.

It's a two-person team, and the story behind the product is inspiring.

It's not the cheapest product, but you have to realize you are paying for your data to be respected.

Pricing as low as £90 a year.

[Check out Plausible](https://plausible.io/)

Or

[View Plausible demo dashboard](https://plausible.io/plausible.io)

## Fathom

This ended up being my choice. It was quite a long debate between Fathom and Plausible, but Fathom was the winner.

I can't tell you why. I reached out to 4 of these frameworks, and Fathom was super helpful with their roadmap sharing and generally helping answer my questions.

Like the other tools, it's super simple to set up, and the dashboard is clear and easy to navigate.

Pricing starts at $140 a year.

Fathom is also an indie hacker project, which I love to support.

[Check out Fathom](https://usefathom.com/ref/NWGFPG) (This is a referral link)

Or

[View Fathom demo dashboard](https://app.usefathom.com/share/deasaicp/hilarious+platypus#/?filters=%5B%5D&range=last_7_days&site=114903)

## Comparison

|                         | Matomo  | GoatCounter | Fair   | Simple | Unami | Plausible | Fathom |
| ----------------------- | ------- | ----------- | ------ | ------ | ----- | --------- | ------ |
| Price (entry-level)     | free    | free        | 2,2$/M | 9$/M   | free  | 12$/M     | 14$/M  |
| Price (1M page-views)   | 180$/M  | 34$/M       | 11$/M  | 49$/M  | free  | 92$/M     | 54$/M  |
| Current visitors        | ✅      | ✅          | ✅     | ✅     | ✅    | ✅        | ✅     |
| Unique visitors         | ✅      | ❌          | ❌     | ❌     | ❌    | ✅        | ✅     |
| Total pageviews         | ✅      | ✅          | ✅     | ✅     | ✅    | ✅        | ✅     |
| Bounce rate             | ✅      | ❌          | ❌     | ❌     | ✅    | ✅        | ✅     |
| Bundle size             | 22.8 KB | ~3.5KB      | ?      | ?      | ?     | <1 KB     | <1 KB  |
| API                     | ✅      | ❌          | ?      | ✅     | ✅    | ✅        | ✅     |
| Google Analytics Import | ✅      | ❌          | ❌     | ❌     | ❌    | 📍        | 📍     |
| Custom domain           | ❌      | ❌          | ❌     | ❌     | ✅    | ✅        | ✅     |
| Open source             | ✅      | ✅          | ❌     | ❌     | ✅    | ✅        | ✅     |
| Goals/Events            | ✅      | ✅          | ✅     | ✅     | ✅    | ✅        | ✅     |

The 📍 represent roadmap tasks and will be added soon.

### Thank you for reading, and let's connect!

Thank you for reading my blog. Feel free to subscribe to my email newsletter and connect on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/DailyDevTipsBlog) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/DailyDevTips1)