5 Open Source Alternatives to Google Analytics

For all those who want to be in control of their own data.

Forty years ago today, the 108 Convention on Data Protection was adopted. It was the first binding international treaty on data protection and the model for a large number of data protection regulations.

Since 2007, 28 January has therefore been European Data Protection Day, a day of action based on the initiative of the Council of Europe. The United States and Canada also joined the European Commission's initiative in 2008. Data Privacy Day is therefore celebrated in these countries at the same time as European Data Protection Day.

The aim of the initiative is to sensitise citizens to the issue of data protection. Further information on this year's European Data Privacy Day can be found at the Council of Europe and at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, for Construction and Home Affairs.

However, we do not only want to inform you about data protection as an abstract construct, but also show you ways to better protect your analytical data. For us, individual online platforms and websites in general also include the option to decide on the use of one's own analytics data. In the following, we have prepared a comparison of open source alternatives to Google Analytics and present 5 tools that can help you with your data analysis.

The big difference is that all tools offer self-hosting. This means that data sovereignty can be guaranteed. When log data is stored, the privacy of visitors can be better guaranteed. However, with self-hosting, admins also have to take care of the maintenance and operation of the application.

One advantage of programmes that are decoupled from the Google product line is that many ad blockers can be bypassed. This also captures users with an activated ad blocker.
The main disadvantage of these tools is a mostly limited product scope and a less seamless integration into the rest of the Google universe.

If you want to know more:

Matomo

This free open-source tool can keep up with the market leader Google Analytics in many places. The big difference here is that Matomo can be hosted on your own servers. To support data protection, Matomo offers additional data protection features that allow data to be configured in such a way that it is either automatically anonymised or integrated in a data protection-compliant manner. The disadvantage compared to Google Analytics is a more complex installation, configuration and maintenance. Matomo bietet zusätzlich viele umfassende Features.

✓ Self-hosting or bookable as a service

✓ allows multiple user accounts

✓ easily expandable through plug-ins

✓ free of charge in self-hosting

✓ offers comprehensive web analytics

✓ no technical limitation for data storage and processing

✓ allows import of Google Analytics data

Open Web Analytics

This tool is similar to Google Analytics in its presentation and usability. Open Web Analytics is also free of charge. For larger companies, the heat map display is very interesting, where mouse movements on a website can be analysed. Open Web Analytics does not limit how many websites and data sets can be tracked and thus, like Matomo, offers a clear advantage over Google Analytics, where the free package is limited to traffic of ten million hits per month.

✓ self-hosting or bookable as a service

✓ allows multiple user accounts

✓ layout can be adapted to the user's wishes

✓ free of charge in self-hosting

✓ offers comprehensive web analytics

✓ heatmap of user behaviour

✓ allows search term tracking and website usage history tracking

If an overview of the data is enough for you:

Plausible

The selling point of Plausible is its complete differentiation from Google Analytics. The tool emphasises simplicity and ease of use, describing itself as simple, light-weight and user-friendly. All important key figures are therefore presented at a glance. Here, too, there is the option to host the tool yourself. Like the other three light-weight alternatives, Plausible does not use cookies, so it does not collect any personal data.

✓ self-hosting or bookable as a service

✓ allows one user account

✓ light-weight

✓ optimised for speed

✓ can be linked to Google Search Console

Fathom

Visually, there are similarities between Fathom and Plausible. Here, too, great importance is attached to manageability and data protection friendliness. In contrast to Plausible, however, Fathom allows the use of multiple user accounts. The tool describes itself as robust and able to cope with larger traffic storms. It is hosted either as "Fathom light" on its own server or for a fee at Fathom itself. Fathom also does not use cookies and works with anonymised data.

✓ self-hosting or bookable as a service

✓ allows multiple user accounts

✓ light-weight

✓ can handle larger amounts of traffic

Umami

Umami is also a simple and fast alternative to Google Analytics. The tool analyses open-source traffic and is limited to the evaluation of page views and countries of origin. The presentation is clear and no cookies are used here either. Personal data is therefore not collected. Umami can be downloaded from GitHub and hosted by the user.

✓ self-hosting

✓ allows multiple user accounts

✓ free of charge in self-hosting

✓ light-weight

✓ allows analysis data to be shared online with the community