6 ms·

Ask HN: Any good open source alternatives to Google Analytics?

18 points by Kalpeshbhalekar 3y ago

Google Analytics seems super complicated...looking for better alternatives.

rpgbr 3y ago
It has less features, but Plausible[1] is pretty good at basics. [1] https://plausible.io https://plausible.io
- figassis 3y ago
  With everything I have to manage in my infra, clickhouse is another db I don't want to add to the list of moving parts, so I settled with Umami, which uses postgres, which I already use for most of my projects.
  - zX41ZdbW 3y ago
    ClickHouse is a simple and solid tool - you install it, it works, and it does not require attention. It is probably the less problematic data storage dependency. Works well in embedded scenarios.
- dabbz 3y ago
  I like that plausible is cookie-less, meaning no gdpr cookie banner. I also like that it obeys ad-blockers by default which lets people easily subscribe to their own privacy settings.
  - moqmar 3y ago
    Note that "Doesn't use cookies" != "Doesn't require a cookie banner" (the opposite also isn't true). The tool just doesn't collect any PII. IIRC, it can even add a session cookie that just tells it "This user was on the page before", making the analytics more useful without personally identifying users and thus still not requiring a cookie banner.
    - Kalpeshbhalekar 3y ago
      What does this mean? Can you elaborate? (Appreciate if ELI5)
      - openplatypus 3y ago
        Privacy-First is not the same as compliant with GDPR. You will find many tools being privacy focused, but not necessarily compliant. But that aside, there is a matter of consent. So if you want to skip the so-called Cookie Banner, you have to assure that: 1. you have a legitimate interest, 2. no data leaves adequate country/jurisdiction (until recently that meant no US data transfer), 3. privacy policy documents exactly what happens with the data, 4. ... and a few other points. Cookie Banner is just a common term for consent. https://wideangle.co/blog/what-is-consent-under-gdpr https://wideangle.co/blog/what-is-consent-under-gdpr
        Kalpeshbhalekar 3y ago
        Thanks a lot!
- nicbou 3y ago
  I use it on my commercial website and I'm happy with it. It's not nearly as full-featured as GA, but it gets the job done in a privacy-friendly way. Getting rid of the cookie banner is a major UX boost.
blueridge 3y ago
Not open source but I'd highly recommend: https://usefathom.com/ https://usefathom.com/
- mtmail 3y ago
  Their Fathom Lite is open source https://github.com/usefathom/fathom https://github.com/usefathom/fathom
  - Kalpeshbhalekar 3y ago
    Thanks a ton! Love this community :)
  - pdyc 3y ago
    it is not seeing any development i feel umami/pirsch is better alternative. umami is mit licensed.
zscoops 3y ago
Matomo is open source. They have a comparison with Google Analytics: https://matomo.org/matomo-vs-google-analytics-comparison/ https://matomo.org/matomo-vs-google-analytics-comparison/
- en3r0 3y ago
  Just started testing them out last week. Amazing how much better it is than GA4.
  - Kalpeshbhalekar 3y ago
    Just comparing them with Plausible & Pirsch Analytics!
- roadtonyc 3y ago
  Do you know if you can track which network (domain network like corporate network) the users are from. This was a cool feature which was in Google Analytics but in GA4 is gone and we're looking for alternatives.
  - pdyc 3y ago
    you can't . It does not give you accurate details anyway even GA used to have lot of false positives i.e. it would show traffic from amazon where really amazon was getting used as corp proxy.
adelowo 3y ago
Pirsch analytics is a great one https://github.com/pirsch-analytics/pirsch https://github.com/pirsch-analytics/pirsch
- Kalpeshbhalekar 3y ago
  Thanks! Definitely looks promising.
XCSme 3y ago
I am trying to build something different: a self-hosted premium (as in paid) analytics platform [0]. [0]: https://uxwizz.com https://uxwizz.com
- ApolloRising 3y ago
  I like this, just tried your demo and looked at your roadmap. Would love to talk more if you have time this week about it. I've used all the major systems so I can prob point you to a few features not on your roadmap.
  - XCSme 3y ago
    Hey, thanks for the feedback! You can reach me out on Twitter @XCSme or send an email at support [at] uxwizz.com, I am always happy to get feedback and discuss ideas. Currently, there are a lot more features planned than I have time to implement and I am also trying to keep the product from getting bloated. I tend to prioritize improving existing features over adding new ones. Some must-have that are planned are: API (to store or access the stored data), webhooks and more tools to help with self-hosting (Docker images, dashboard access logs, provide or integrate performance metrics, alerts, etc.). The plan is to make the platform a one-click set-and-forget installation, where nothing should break over time, and, in the rare case it does, you get notified.
firecall 3y ago
I’m looking for even a good free or nearly alternative! I’ve clients, myself included, that just want to know how much traffic we get and where from if possible. Is that too much to ask!? Google have lost the plot and assume the entire world is obsessed with customer journey metrics and tracking very single micro action on a website or App. Gawd. GA4 is just kinda annoying and too try hard.
- pdyc 3y ago
  Here are some of the (nearly free) and free alternatives umami.is (open source MIT) ackee.electerious.com (opensource MIT) pirsch.io (open source AGPL3) plausible.io (open source AGPL3) usefathom.com (lite is open source) simpleanalytics.com splitbee.io i have developed one for myself as well.
  - firecall 3y ago
    Thanks, I'll check those out! :-)
penaazv 3y ago
I wrote about Plausible Analytics (popular GA alternative) a little while ago <https://medium.com/scoutflo/the-google-analytics-alternative-you-need-c4a5542d08c8 https://medium.com/scoutflo/the-google-analytics-alternative...> It's open source!
openplatypus 3y ago
I would suggest you take a look at Wide Angle Analytics https://wideangle.co https://wideangle.co (disclaimer: our product) It is paid, but we offer free accounts for selected FOSS projects :)
enescakir 3y ago
Countly is an open source alternative. Here is comparison with Google Analytics: https://countly.com/google-analytics-alternative https://countly.com/google-analytics-alternative

Google Analytics seems super complicated...looking for better alternatives.

rpgbr 3y ago

It has less features, but Plausible[1] is pretty good at basics. [1] https://plausible.io https://plausible.io

figassis 3y ago
With everything I have to manage in my infra, clickhouse is another db I don't want to add to the list of moving parts, so I settled with Umami, which uses postgres, which I already use for most of my projects.
- zX41ZdbW 3y ago
  ClickHouse is a simple and solid tool - you install it, it works, and it does not require attention. It is probably the less problematic data storage dependency. Works well in embedded scenarios.
dabbz 3y ago
I like that plausible is cookie-less, meaning no gdpr cookie banner. I also like that it obeys ad-blockers by default which lets people easily subscribe to their own privacy settings.
- moqmar 3y ago
  Note that "Doesn't use cookies" != "Doesn't require a cookie banner" (the opposite also isn't true). The tool just doesn't collect any PII. IIRC, it can even add a session cookie that just tells it "This user was on the page before", making the analytics more useful without personally identifying users and thus still not requiring a cookie banner.
  - Kalpeshbhalekar 3y ago
    What does this mean? Can you elaborate? (Appreciate if ELI5)
    - openplatypus 3y ago
      Privacy-First is not the same as compliant with GDPR. You will find many tools being privacy focused, but not necessarily compliant. But that aside, there is a matter of consent. So if you want to skip the so-called Cookie Banner, you have to assure that: 1. you have a legitimate interest, 2. no data leaves adequate country/jurisdiction (until recently that meant no US data transfer), 3. privacy policy documents exactly what happens with the data, 4. ... and a few other points. Cookie Banner is just a common term for consent. https://wideangle.co/blog/what-is-consent-under-gdpr https://wideangle.co/blog/what-is-consent-under-gdpr
      - Kalpeshbhalekar 3y ago
        Thanks a lot!
nicbou 3y ago
I use it on my commercial website and I'm happy with it. It's not nearly as full-featured as GA, but it gets the job done in a privacy-friendly way. Getting rid of the cookie banner is a major UX boost.

blueridge 3y ago

Not open source but I'd highly recommend: https://usefathom.com/ https://usefathom.com/

mtmail 3y ago
Their Fathom Lite is open source https://github.com/usefathom/fathom https://github.com/usefathom/fathom
- Kalpeshbhalekar 3y ago
  Thanks a ton! Love this community :)
- pdyc 3y ago
  it is not seeing any development i feel umami/pirsch is better alternative. umami is mit licensed.

zscoops 3y ago

Matomo is open source. They have a comparison with Google Analytics: https://matomo.org/matomo-vs-google-analytics-comparison/ https://matomo.org/matomo-vs-google-analytics-comparison/

en3r0 3y ago
Just started testing them out last week. Amazing how much better it is than GA4.
- Kalpeshbhalekar 3y ago
  Just comparing them with Plausible & Pirsch Analytics!
roadtonyc 3y ago
Do you know if you can track which network (domain network like corporate network) the users are from. This was a cool feature which was in Google Analytics but in GA4 is gone and we're looking for alternatives.
- pdyc 3y ago
  you can't . It does not give you accurate details anyway even GA used to have lot of false positives i.e. it would show traffic from amazon where really amazon was getting used as corp proxy.

adelowo 3y ago

Pirsch analytics is a great one https://github.com/pirsch-analytics/pirsch https://github.com/pirsch-analytics/pirsch

Kalpeshbhalekar 3y ago
Thanks! Definitely looks promising.

XCSme 3y ago

I am trying to build something different: a self-hosted premium (as in paid) analytics platform [0]. [0]: https://uxwizz.com https://uxwizz.com

ApolloRising 3y ago
I like this, just tried your demo and looked at your roadmap. Would love to talk more if you have time this week about it. I've used all the major systems so I can prob point you to a few features not on your roadmap.
- XCSme 3y ago
  Hey, thanks for the feedback! You can reach me out on Twitter @XCSme or send an email at support [at] uxwizz.com, I am always happy to get feedback and discuss ideas. Currently, there are a lot more features planned than I have time to implement and I am also trying to keep the product from getting bloated. I tend to prioritize improving existing features over adding new ones. Some must-have that are planned are: API (to store or access the stored data), webhooks and more tools to help with self-hosting (Docker images, dashboard access logs, provide or integrate performance metrics, alerts, etc.). The plan is to make the platform a one-click set-and-forget installation, where nothing should break over time, and, in the rare case it does, you get notified.

firecall 3y ago

I’m looking for even a good free or nearly alternative! I’ve clients, myself included, that just want to know how much traffic we get and where from if possible. Is that too much to ask!? Google have lost the plot and assume the entire world is obsessed with customer journey metrics and tracking very single micro action on a website or App. Gawd. GA4 is just kinda annoying and too try hard.

pdyc 3y ago
Here are some of the (nearly free) and free alternatives umami.is (open source MIT) ackee.electerious.com (opensource MIT) pirsch.io (open source AGPL3) plausible.io (open source AGPL3) usefathom.com (lite is open source) simpleanalytics.com splitbee.io i have developed one for myself as well.
- firecall 3y ago
  Thanks, I'll check those out! :-)

penaazv 3y ago

I wrote about Plausible Analytics (popular GA alternative) a little while ago <https://medium.com/scoutflo/the-google-analytics-alternative-you-need-c4a5542d08c8 https://medium.com/scoutflo/the-google-analytics-alternative...> It's open source!

openplatypus 3y ago

I would suggest you take a look at Wide Angle Analytics https://wideangle.co https://wideangle.co (disclaimer: our product) It is paid, but we offer free accounts for selected FOSS projects :)

enescakir 3y ago

Countly is an open source alternative. Here is comparison with Google Analytics: https://countly.com/google-analytics-alternative https://countly.com/google-analytics-alternative