Hate Google Analytics 4? You Need To Try These Popular GA4 Alternatives

#1. Matomo

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Matomo is a popular alternative to GA4, used by over 1 million websites across 190 countries, including the United Nations.

With traffic tracking analytics, users can expect a similar range of features as GA4, but with a few extras, such as heatmaps, ecommerce insights, and SEO keyword reporting.

You can test out the analytics tool for free but you’ll have limited access to Matomo’s metrics, and you’ll have to download, host, and update the software yourself as opposed to accessing it via a browser. Pricing varies depending on your site’s traffic, with plans starting from $26 per month (for 50,000 hits.)

If you switch, Matomo helps you seamlessly import your Google Analytics data.

#2. Clicky

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Clicky promotes itself as a “privacy-friendly, real-time website analytics service.” The tool won’t track your personal data and offers similar metrics to GA4, such as page views and bounce rate.

At a time when GA4 is winning few friends with its new-look dashboards, Clicky is focusing on simplicity and ease of use. However, I felt its simple interface looked quite dated.

You can test things out with Clicky’s demo or use its free plan to get started. To unlock premium features, like custom data tracking and heatmaps, you’ll need a premium plan.

Clicky’s pricing ranges from $9.99 to $19.99 per month, but you can save 33% if you choose to be billed annually.

#3. Piwik PRO

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Piwik PRO features similar data tools to GA4, packaged together with an intuitive interface. The tool complies with privacy regulations around the world, gives website owners access to unlimited data, and helps businesses monitor user behavior with customer journey analytics.

Like the other analytics tools so far, Piwik PRO offers a limited free plan. With this, you’ll get 50,000 monthly actions for free, but you must pay extra to increase this limit.

Alternatively, you can sign up for the Enterprise plan. Pricing will vary depending on your business and traffic.

#4. Parse.ly

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Parse.ly is a widely used analytics tool that specifically targets publishers and marketers with its metrics and data, such as NBC and The Wall Street Journal. This could be a useful alternative to GA4 if you run and manage a blog site that creates a lot of content.

Unfortunately, Parse.ly is very expensive to use with pricing costing hundreds of dollars to start with. In comparison, Google Analytics 4 offers both a free and paid version.

#5. Chartbeat

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Chartbeat completes our list of Google Analytics 4 alternatives, serving big volume publishers, such as The New York Times and Vice. Like Parse.ly, Chartbeat’s analytic tools are ideal for digital publishers and marketers, helping businesses shape strategy, monitor traffic, and track reader engagement.

To get started with Chartbeat, you can request a demo from the website. You’ll be asked to fill out a simple form with contact details and business information.

Pricing will vary depending on your website’s traffic and isn’t easy to find, but you can expect it to cost thousands of dollars per year.

What’s Wrong With Google Analytics 4?

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Google Analytics 4 isn’t the easiest platform to use. Its complexity makes it less accessible for the average user, and even SEO experts find it difficult to navigate. Will Grice, the Head of Audience Development at MVF, had this to say about the shift to GA4:

“While GA4 does bring a lot of new features and insights with it, for casual users or those who are more accustomed to the simplicity of GA360, the range of options and lack of access to standard reports may be slightly overwhelming. Google is now focusing more on “events” on websites as opposed to pure analytics and insights, meaning many of the views users are used to seeing on Google Analytics are now disappearing or require manually building in the platform itself or in Google Looker Studio. For those looking to get quick insights into which pages on their website are performing well, which countries are visiting your site or store, or just to be able to use a plug-and-play style analytics platform it would be worth considering Chartbeat or Parse.ly. Both platforms offer a simple and digestible view of what people are looking at on your site.”

Maybe you’re struggling to get familiar with GA4, you’re seeking different metrics and features, or you don’t even know how to add Google Analytics to your site – whatever the case, the alternatives listed above are a good place to start.

Of course, it’s worth testing them out for yourself first. Everyone’s data needs will be different, so what doesn’t work for one website owner might work for you.