| Functionality | 7 <p>For a web analytics tool, we were pleasantly surprised by the depth of functionality that Matomo offers. Features such as heatmaps, session replays and scroll depth tracking are all unique when looking at Matomo's competitors. We also appreciate that the tool is open source and can be self-hosted should you wish.</p> | 4 <p>Google Analytics excels at website visitor tracking but struggles with product analytics. It offers solid traffic analysis and acquisition data but falls short on user behavior insights. Its real power comes from Google Ads integrations and benchmarking functionality.</p> |
| Ease of Use | 3 <p>Given the sheer breadth of functionality and dated design, we found Matomo frustrating and confusing to use. Most of its interfaces are non-standard when compared with modern web analytics products and its more powerful features take a lot of effort to fully configure. It would take an average SMB employee several hours to master the platforms use.</p> | 3 <p>GA4 is surprisingly difficult to use despite its popularity. Finding basic metrics often requires hunting through multiple screens. The learning curve is steep, and the recent redesign has only made things worse by disrupting established workflows.</p> |
| Look and feel | 2 <p>Matomo's design is very dated. Most interfaces are extremely overwhelming, confusing or clunky. Given the sheer breadth of functionality on offer this isn't exactly surprising. Additionally, we found many pages to be sluggish to load (taking >3 seconds).</p> | 2 <p>GA4's interface is cluttered and confusing. Navigation is a labyrinth of menus and submenus that hide basic information. Reports load quickly but finding the right one is a chore. The design prioritizes Google's needs over users', making common tasks unnecessarily difficult.</p> |
| Customisability | 7 <p>Matomo offers a lot of scope for customization. From custom reports to A/B tests there are a number of fine tweaks, visualization changes or experiment details which can be fine tuned to get the most out of your analytics experience. Additionally the product is open-source meaning you can self-host it if you wish to.</p> | 6 <p>Google Analytics offers decent customization through custom dimensions and metrics, but implementing these requires technical knowledge. Custom reports are possible but clunky to configure.</p> |
| Ease of Setup | 5 <p>Matomo offers a self-serve free trial like most of the tools in this sector. In terms of setup, most websites will only need to install a simple code snippet to access full functionality. That being said, if you want to take advantage of the more powerful features such as heatmaps, there is a fair amount of additional customization and setup required in the dashboard itself which can take several days.</p> | 7 <p>Drop in a tracking code and you're done. Setting up Google Analytics takes minutes, making it very simple to start with like most web analytics products. However, to make full use of the product there is a fair amount of customization that you can action after initial installation.</p> |
| Customer Support | 3 <p>Like with most analytics tools, developer documentation and knowledge bases are the primary avenue for support. Unfortunately we found Matomos to be poorly laid out and hard to navigate. Beyond that, they offer a ticket system for help queries which take a few days to get responses from.</p> | 3 <p>Support is practically non-existent for free users. Google offers documentation but it's often outdated or unclear. Users mostly rely on community forums for help, creating a significant gap compared to privacy-focused alternatives that provide stronger documentation.</p> |
| Integratability | 7 <p>Matomo offers an extensive API that goes beyond just gathering stats - it also allows you to access live data and make changes to goal/website configuration. Additionally, we were pleased to see easy set up with Google tag manager and BigQuery.</p> | 8 <p>Google Analytics integrates seamlessly with Google's ecosystem (especially Google Ads) and offers connections to major marketing platforms. Its status as the industry standard means most tools support it, though privacy-focused competitors are quickly catching up.</p> |
| Ease of Migration | 8 <p>Matomo offers self-serve export of key data directly from its web app. Additionally, it also offers a strong API through which you can pull data programatically.</p> | 5 <p>Data export options are adequate but outdated. Reports can be exported to spreadsheets or accessed via API, but the process feels clunky compared to modern alternatives.</p> |
