Matomo, Plausible, Google and other Web analytics systems comparison

Which web analytics systems to use on your website?

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Let’s have a quick look at Matomo, Plausible, google and other web analytics providers and systems available for self-hosting and compare them.

Here is a Plausible analytics screenshot for example: Plausible web analytics1 Another Plausible screenshot: Plausible web analytics2

Web Analytics Overview

Web analytics refers to the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of web data to understand and optimize web usage. It helps you track:

  • Website traffic and user behavior
  • Conversion rates and goal completions
  • User demographics and sources (e.g., referral, organic, direct)
  • Device, browser, and geographic usage data

Most prominent web analytics tools available are: Google Analytics (GA4), Matomo, Plausible, Fathom and Clicky. Let’s have a closer look at them, at the Matomo specifically.

Matomo Analytics (formerly Piwik)

Matomo is a privacy-focused, open-source analytics platform that offers both self-hosted and cloud options.

Key Features

  • Full user data ownership
  • GDPR & CCPA compliance
  • No data sampling
  • Heatmaps, session recordings, form analytics
  • Tag Manager (like Google Tag Manager)
  • E-commerce tracking
  • API access for custom dashboards

List of Matomo features and screenshots: https://matomo.org/product-features/

Deployment

  • Self-hosted: Requires a PHP + MySQL/MariaDB stack
  • Cloud-hosted: Managed by Matomo team (paid)

Privacy

  • No data sharing with third parties
  • Users can opt out of tracking
  • Supports anonymization of IPs

Matomo vs. Google Analytics 4

Feature Matomo Google Analytics 4
Data Ownership Full (self-hosted) None (Google controls data)
Hosting Self-hosted / Cloud Google Cloud only
Compliance GDPR/CCPA friendly GDPR-compliant with caveats
UI Complexity Simpler, customizable More complex, evolving
Advanced ML/AI No built-in ML Yes (predictive metrics, etc.)
Customization Full control Limited
Cost Free (self-hosted) Free (but limited features)

Matomo vs. Other Alternatives

Tool Privacy Hosting Complexity Ideal For
Matomo High Self/Cloud Medium Enterprises, EU sites
Plausible Very High Self/Cloud Low Indie devs, blogs
Fathom High Cloud only Low Simplicity lovers
Clicky Medium Cloud only Medium Real-time needs
GA4 Low Cloud (Google) High Marketing-heavy sites

Standard recomendation is to choose Matomo if:

  • You need full control over user data (e.g., for compliance)
  • You’re in a highly regulated environment (e.g., government, healthcare)
  • You want deep customization and integration
  • You need e-commerce and goal tracking, heatmaps, session recordings