You’d be hard pressed to find anybody working with websites today who isn’t at least somewhat familiar with Google Analytics. This free piece of software has become something of an industry standard in the world of analytics, with around 84% of all websites known to be using tracking scripts having chosen the tool.
However, the most popular tool isn’t always the best. Agencies struggling to adapt to Google Analytics latest iteration, GA4, may be ready to throw in the towel. Additionally, clients in the European Union may be concerned about maintaining GDPR compliance within the bloc. Thankfully, Google isn’t the only player in the analytics game.
Dozens of tools are available now that directly address these concerns, with simpler user interfaces, more intuitive controls, and a greater respect for user privacy. To help those agencies looking to greener pastures, we’ve compiled a few of our favorites to kickstart your search.
Squeaky brings a simple proposition to the website analytics space; robust data collection that respects the end-user’s privacy. Their tool is 100% cookieless, meaning no annoying website banners, and is GDPR compliant out-of-the-box. That doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice data quality. In fact, because Squeaky uses a privacy-friendly approach, the company argues they can collect more useful data than the competitors. This includes session recordings, heatmaps, analytics, event tracking, journey mapping, and integrated customer feedback.
Squeaky Web Analytics is incredibly easy for Duda customers to implement thanks to their convenient Duda App. They offer a free tier that can record up to 500 sessions per month, with higher tiers for your more popular clients.
Plausible is another popular, cookieless analytics platform with a particular focus on GDPR compliance. They are proudly built and hosted within the European Union and are solely funded via subscriptions. They have built a suite of tools specifically designed for agencies including email reports, a simplified dashboard, multi-client support, and, our favorite, white label support. All of this is packaged beautifully and, at only 1KB for the tracking script, plays very well with your Duda site’s high Core Web Vital scores.
For the techiest agencies out there, Plausible even offers an open-source version of their software that can be self-hosted. This gives you complete and total ownership of your data and eliminates any monthly costs. However, their low cost, starting at only $9 a month for up to 10 sites, makes their cloud offering such a good deal that it’d be difficult to recommend the hassle of self-hosting.
Let me start out by saying that, for the vast majority of your SMB clients, this is going to be overkill. However, for agencies serving businesses with serious analytic needs, PostHog is an excellent choice. Their robust, open-source platform is popular among product leaders who need advanced features and a complete data warehouse solution.
Their free tier is extremely generous, with support for 1,000,000 analytic events per month—more than enough for the typical SMB. That’s in addition to tools like feature flags, session replays, surveys, A/B testing, and more. However, except to write a little code if you plan to implement any of these.
While their platform can seem overwhelming, understand that you don’t need to use every feature available. For agencies just looking for a privacy-focused web analytics platform, PostHog can more than meet your needs with their robust free tier. Plus, like many other options on this list, PostHog is open-source, meaning you can host it yourself for free.
Fathom Analytics prides themselves on putting end-user privacy above all else. Their platform is compliant with privacy laws around the world including the GDPR, CCPR, PECR, and more thanks to their team of legal professionals. This data is wrapped in an exceptionally intuitive platform with easy-to-use filters and client email reporting.
Like other cookieless analytic platforms, there’s no need to implement any ugly and distracting consent banners. All of their plans support up to 50 unique clients and unlimited email reports, making it perfect for agencies.
For those specifically looking to switch from Google Analytics, Fathom makes it easy with their GA Importer. This tool supports both Universal Analytics (UA) as well as Google Analytics 4 (GA4) so that no data goes to waste. Plus, since Fathom retains data indefinitely, you’ll have that data as long as you like.
Their pricing starts at $15 for up to 100,000 page views per month, with additional tiers as your needs increase.
Not every client needs a full-blown analytics solution. Some are looking for a few key engagement metrics with as little fuss as possible. Thankfully, your client’s Duda website comes with that integrated analytics out-of-the-box. Measure visitors, engagement, form submissions, and more—then send all of that data out weekly or monthly with automatic, white label emails.
This is a great option for agencies looking for a no-fuss solution to analytics, at the expense of some more advanced features.
Is your agency using an analytics platform that wasn’t mentioned here? Our community would love to know. Share your experience with website analytics, what platforms you prefer, and any tips or tricks you’ve picked up in the Duda Community.
