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10 Google Analytics 4 Alternatives to Consider in 2024
Get to know all the Google Analytics 4 alternatives and pick a solution that can help you manage your marketing and optimise for maximum ROI.
As any marketer will tell you, Google Analytics is the holy grail of tracking web traffic and performance.
The data available in Google Analytics is unmatched on a statistical level. It offers a wealth of information about how users find and interact with your website.
It’s why 90% of marketers consider Google Analytics their go-to solution for measuring web and marketing performance.
But, Google Analytics isn’t the only kid on the block.
There are plenty of other alternatives out there offering the same features and more.
You just need to know where to look.
To get you started on your journey, we’re going to present some best alternatives to Google Analytics and list some key differentiators to help you determine which tool is right for your reporting needs.
In this article, we’ll discuss:
💡 Pro Tip:
Ruler makes a great alternative to Google Analytics. Unlike Google Analytics, Ruler tracks your data on a visitor level, allowing you to successfully attribute leads and marketing-generated revenue across multiple sessions, campaigns, ads, keywords and more.
Learn everything you can discover in Ruler Analytics
If Google Analytics 4 is so powerful, why search for an alternative? While Google Analytics 4 has been a popular choice for many years, it does have some reporting issues. Let’s explore these issues one by one.
Google Analytics does a great job providing an overview of your visitors and conversions, but that’s it.
Most of the data you see in Google Analytics is anonymised.
In other words, you can’t track individual users, where they came from or what they did on your website.
Related: Tracking individuals users in Google Analytics [SOLVED]
Anonymised data in Google Analytics makes it hard for marketers to track their customer journeys.
They can see which marketing sources drive the most conversions or leads, but they have little visibility on what happens next.
As a result, marketers are left wondering about the impact of their marketing campaigns on leads and revenue.
💡 Pro Tip: Viewing your customer journey using Ruler couldn’t be easier. Using marketing attribution with Ruler allows you to track each visitor and assign value to the multiple interactions a customer has with your brand.
How to view full customer journeys with Ruler Analytics
Not all leads are generated online.
Some common ways companies generate leads are through offline means such as the telephone or in-store.
As we’ve already discussed, Google Analytics does a great job of measuring online activity but falls short when it comes to tracking offline conversions.
Related: How to track offline conversions in Google Analytics
Google Analytics doesn’t have the functionality readily available to track calls.
So, if you have a phone number on your website and you’re using Google Analytics exclusively, you have no way to collect data about your inbound calls or leads.
Privacy is going to continue into 2023 as a top focus for marketers. Google has annouced that it will give users the option to block third-party cookies in Chrome.
As it stands, Google Analytics isn’t fully compliant with the EU laws on privacy. So far, it has been banned in Austria, France, Italy, and Denmark.
The concern with Google Analytics is that it saves user data, including details about EU residents, on cloud servers in the US.
With the recent update on Google Analytics being illegal in several EU countries, the data will become more limited in Google Analytics 4.
As a result, marketers will find it increasingly challenging to track sessions and track what drives user interest.
The move to GA4 threw a wrench into attribution for many marketers.
While seemingly a small change, removing most attribution models besides “last-click” and “data-driven” option has created a significant hurdle.
Last-click assigns all credit to the final interaction before a conversion, often misleading. It overlooks earlier influences like blog posts or social media mentions that might have subtly driven the customer towards a purchase.
On the other hand, the data-driven model is a complete mystery. Its inner workings are unknown, making it difficult to trust its results.
To make matters worse, GA4’s attribution is still limited to a maximum of 90-days, creating blind spots for businesses with longer sales cycles.
With so many Google Analytics alternatives to choose from, it can be challenging to find the right one for the job. There are a few factors that can help you make the right choice. When looking for an alternative or a tool to use as an addition to Google Analytics, ideally, you want to invest in a solution that is:
Whether you are looking for an alternative or a complementary solution to enhance the data in Google Analytics, you can be sure to find a good fit here.
We understand how tricky it can be to round up the best Google Analytics alternatives alone.
That’s why we got the best minds in marketing to help put together our list of the top Google Analytics alternatives.
We may come across as biassed putting Ruler at the top of the list, but hear us out.
Ruler helps you understand how visitors become customers. It tracks website visitors across visits, noting how they found you (search engine, social media, etc.) and what interested them (keywords, campaigns).
Related: How to view full customer journeys in Ruler
When a visitor becomes a lead, Ruler connects their details to their browsing history, revealing their customer journey. This data is then sent to your CRM for easy access by your sales team.
As your marketing and sales teams nurture leads, Ruler tracks their progress. This allows marketers to see which leads convert and which fizzle out.
Finally, when a lead becomes a sale, Ruler ties the revenue amount to all the touchpoints the customer had with your brand. This lets you see the true impact of your marketing efforts and optimise your campaigns for better results.
Related: How Ruler attributes revenue to your marketing
Ruler even integrates with Google Analytics, so you can use it alongside your existing tools. It adds valuable revenue data to your Google Analytics reports, giving you a more complete picture.
While first-party tracking remains at the core of Ruler, we’ve adapted to browser and privacy regulations by integrating impression attribution. This feature allows marketers to measure campaigns even without cookies or unique identifiers.
Unlike Google Analytics, Ruler links impressions to conversions, incorporating robust models like marketing mix modelling where available.
When MMM data is absent, we rely on variables such as click-through rates, impression volumes, and other user-level signals. We then use Shapley Regression to redistribute conversion credit, showcasing campaign value across the entire funnel to stakeholders and clients.
Pricing for Ruler starts at £199 a month. You can save 20% by paying annually and there are also discounted rates for agency partners.
Unlike Google Analytics 4, which deletes your data after 2-14 months, Fathom offers forever free data storage. That’s right – access every visitor interaction from day one, even years down the line.
Fathom is also a champion for privacy. Their cookieless tracking ensures compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and other regulations, eliminating the need for intrusive cookie banners and complex setups.
Plus, Fathom delivers accurate, real-time data without sampling or machine learning. You get a crystal-clear picture of visitor behaviour and site performance, minus the delays and inaccuracies common with Google Analytics.
Fathom empowers you to make data-driven decisions with ease. Their intuitive interface condenses key metrics into a single-page dashboard. No more navigating endless menus and reports – the insights you need are readily available.
Fathom offers a free 30-day trial, with paid plans starting at just $14/month.
Google Analytics excels at revealing demographics and traffic sources, but to truly understand how visitors interact with your site, Hotjar offers a powerful suite of user behaviour insights.
Hotjar goes beyond clicks and sessions with features like session recordings, heatmaps, and surveys.
Session recordings allow you to literally watch user journeys, pinpointing areas of confusion or frustration. Heatmaps provide a visual representation of clicks, scrolls, and attention areas, helping you identify popular content and potential roadblocks.
Hotjar is a boon for both eCommerce and lead generation businesses.
Its funnel testing functionality exposes drop-off points in your checkout process, while form analytics reveals how users interact with your forms, pinpointing areas that might be causing friction and reduced conversions.
Pricing for Hotjar starts at $39 per month, making it an accessible option for businesses of all sizes.
Matomo Analytics is another cookieless web analytics platform that prioritises data ownership and user privacy.
Unlike Google Analytics, which relies on cookies and machine learning, Matomo utilises a unique config_id to track users accurately, even with cookies disabled. This ensures your reports are 100% reliable, reflecting real user behaviour.
Matomo goes beyond just privacy. Its user-friendly interface makes data analysis a breeze, and with Self-hosted Matomo Analytics, you gain complete control over where your data resides.
As an open-source platform, Matomo boasts a strong and supportive community, ready to assist you with any technical hurdles. Plus, their commitment to data security is underscored by their Security Bug Bounty program, offering an extra layer of trust.
The biggest perk? With Matomo, you own your data, 100%.
There’s no risk of external parties using your web analytics information for purposes beyond your control. Unlike freemium models like Google Analytics, Matomo empowers you to leverage your data for your own benefit, ensuring a transparent and secure analytics experience.
Matomo Analytics offers both free and paid options. The free version requires self-hosting, while paid cloud plans start at $29/month based on website traffic volumes.
For those seeking an alternative that excels at user behaviour analysis, Mixpanel stands out.
Their key strength lies in superior segmentation and goes beyond the basic or e-commerce-focused templates offered by GA4.
Mixpanel allows you to create custom segments using any user attribute, and even build complex segments with logic statements.
Furthermore, Mixpanel boasts unmatched flexibility in funnel and retention reporting. By drilling down into user behaviour at each stage, you can pinpoint exactly where conversions happen – or where users fall off.
This granular understanding empowers you to optimise your product or website for a frictionless user journey.
Mixpanel offers a free plan with limited features, while paid plans start at $28 per month.
With Piwik PRO, you get complete ownership of your data. It’s securely stored on your chosen infrastructure, public or private cloud, and never shared with anyone.
But Piwik PRO goes beyond just data privacy. It offers a wider range of features than Google Analytics, including advanced funnel analysis, customer journey mapping, and a built-in consent management platform to ensure compliance with data privacy regulations.
Unlike Google’s randomly assigned public cloud, Piwik PRO gives you complete control over your data’s location.
You can choose from secure data centres in multiple locations or opt for a private cloud solution dedicated solely to your organisation.
Piwik PRO offers a free tier with generous limitations, perfect for small businesses. Paid plans cater to growing businesses and enterprises, with pricing available upon request.
Similar to Mixpanel, Plerdy delves deeper into user behaviour, helping you understand how visitors actually interact with your site.
Its suite of features includes heatmaps, which visually represent where visitors click and scroll, revealing areas of high engagement and potential drop-off points.
Plerdy also offers session recordings, allowing you to witness firsthand how users navigate your site, identifying any confusing elements or frustrating roadblocks.
It doesn’t just stop at user behaviour analysis. Plerdy also boasts an SEO checker to ensure your site is optimised for search engines and pop-up forms to streamline lead generation.
With Plerdy’s data-driven insights, you can make informed decisions to improve user experience, boost conversions, and ultimately achieve your website goals.
Plerdy offers various pricing plans, so you can find one that fits your budget.
For website owners who prioritise user privacy, Simple Analytics offers a compelling alternative to Google Analytics. Their core mission is privacy protection, ensuring compliance with GDPR, CCPA, PECR, and other regulations.
But security doesn’t come at the expense of usability. Simple Analytics boasts a user-friendly dashboard that delivers key insights at a glance and their innovative AI can answer your questions directly, saving you valuable time.
Simple Analytics never stores personal data about your visitors. This not only protects user privacy but also streamlines your workflow by eliminating the need for cookie consent. Plus, their Goals tracker and Events Explorer help you monitor conversions and user behaviour with ease.
Simple Analytics offers a free tier with generous limitations, making it a great option for individuals and startups. Paid plans start at just a few dollars a month, offering even more features and data analysis power.
If you crave a more granular view of user behaviour, look no further than Smartlook.
It lets you watch replays of clicks, mouse movements, and page interactions to understand how visitors explore your site.
Smartlook goes beyond the basics. It offers live streaming, so you can witness user activity as it happens – ideal for monitoring behaviour during campaigns or events. Plus, create custom event tracking to pinpoint specific actions or conversions within recordings.
And just like other analytics tools on this list, Smartlook provides heatmaps and click tracking. These features give you a visual map of where users interact most on your webpages.
Smartlook offers a free plan to get you started, with paid plans starting at $55 per month.
Woopra shines with its user-friendly interface. Forget complex code – anyone on your team can create and share insightful reports with drag-and-drop ease. Woopra lets you apply conditions and visualise everything within the platform, eliminating the need for external tools.
But Woopra’s true strength lies in its ability to unify user data. Unlike GA4, Woopra connects user activity across devices using email, phone numbers, or other identifiers you define. This allows you to map the entire customer journey, from initial touchpoint to purchase and beyond.
Woopra takes automation a step further with pre-built features like campaign triggers and platform integrations. For example, you can send personalised emails based on website behaviour or automatically offer abandoned cart discounts – all without manual intervention.
Woopra doesn’t disclose pricing publicly, but offers custom quotes based on your needs. It’s a great option for businesses seeking in-depth customer insights and powerful automation capabilities.
Honestly? The answer relies on your unique circumstances.
Each business is different.
So whether there is or isn’t a better Google Analytics 4 alternative depends solely on the nature of your business, your goals and sales cycle.
One thing is for sure, with the right Google Analytics 4 alternative, you can benefit from useful insights to reduce costs and maximise your performance.
We hope our list of tools has made your hunt for finding a Google Analytics alternative much easier.
Most tools in this list are focused on tracking the behaviour of your website visitors rather than building a picture of their interactions through the entire customer journey.
If you’re looking to gain a single view of your marketing and sales data, your best bet is to stick with a tool like Ruler Analytics.
You can learn more about how Ruler attributes revenue to your marketing. Or, if you have any questions related to Ruler, make sure to book a demo and see it in action for yourself.
