GDPR Proof Alternatives to Google Analytics

Major commotion in the marketing landscape: Google Analytics is under the magnifying glass of European privacy watchdogs. It would not comply with the GDPR rules. Potentially bad news, given that many marketers and website owners use Google Analytics to measure the traffic at their websites and the success of their campaigns. Google is under attack throughout Europe on many fronts. Although it is not yet sure whether Google Analytics will be banned, the uncertainty remains whether Google will fully comply with GDPR or not. Therefore, companies might want to get out of the Google ecosystem. So, what are good, privacy-friendly alternatives to Google Analytics?

Plausible

Plausible Analytics is a company from Estonia. They only use EU-based suppliers, and thus they only use servers located in the EU. In addition, you have the option to choose to host Plausible yourself, consistently choosing which hosts the data ends upon. Even if you use the cloud version, no personal data is processed and stored. Nevertheless, they offer a processing agreement, which guarantees that no personal data is processed from cookies. Therefore, it is entirely GDPR-proof.

If you have less than 100,000 page views per month, Plausible Analytics is a great alternative for Google Analytics. For just $9 per month, you can start with an unlimited number of team members. However, a maximum of 50 websites is covered by the monitor. With Plausible Analytics, it is possible to monitor page views, bounce rates, referrers, and UTM codes. And, also set up, for example, custom events and reports. The same can be done with Google Analytics. Reports can be sent via email and Slack. You can export data as .csv, among other things, and there is an API.

Matomo Analytics

Matomo is mainly robust in actual-time analytics. Further, Matomo is a precious web analytics platform and has the capabilities that marketers need to investigate website visitors, campaigns, and consumer behavior on their websites. Matomo, especially as an installation, has a few advantages over its primary competitor Google Analytics. Being open-source reduces the cost of ownership and results in the flexibility to modify Matomo to bespoke needs.

Or… Keep using Google Analytics

In case Google makes the necessary adjustments to be GDPR proof, we can continue to use this handy tool. In the end, it comes down to what your needs are. On the other hand, it is good to experiment with alternatives. To secure your own future.