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Lightweight Alternatives to Google Analytics

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Re: Lightweight Alternatives to Google Analytics

#101

Post by XCSme »

TomGullen wrote: post #51
mrweasel wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I realized that it doesn't actually report any useful or actionable data The actionable part never occurred to me, but makes so much sense. What action could anyone really take, based on the data presented by Google Analytics? On top of my head I can actually think of anything you could easily get from server logs.

I find time spent on page is a great way to measure performance of redesigns on page. There are numerous actionable points.

Unless your page is google.com, where more time spent on page means the experience is worse, not better.

Re: Lightweight Alternatives to Google Analytics

#102

Post by tannhaeuser »

I really hope an analytic genius can come up with a technique (like differential privacy, but I'm no expert here) that would give advertisers what they want (unique visitor counts, and very few other metrics) to place ads on sites, yet doesn't give away too much privacy, nor leads to enslavement under a single central entity. I guess if something like that doesn't come along, then only old school content-based ads (site sponsoring) without any tracking can be considered ethical (or no-ads of course). The argument against content-based ads was always that it doesn't suffice to finance even web hosting let alone content production. But with ad prices going to the bottom, I wonder if the figures still add up in favour of targetted ads today.

Re: Lightweight Alternatives to Google Analytics

#103

Post by Doctor_Fegg »

TomGullen wrote: post #44

I still can't see any solid reasons why a site owner would not use GA. Other products: - Objectively lack features - Potentially incur extra costs in money/time - May be a small barrier in m&a - May carry additional risks/attack vectors if self hosted Trying to ween off big tech is commendable, but likely detrimental to a business. Relatively high risk, low reward. I'm happy to have my mind changed. I can see a case…

If your site actively competes with a Google product, you might not want to give them access to your user data.

Re: Lightweight Alternatives to Google Analytics

#104

Post by TomGullen »

XCSme wrote: post #101
TomGullen wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find time spent on page is a great way to measure performance of redesigns on page. There are numerous actionable points.

Unless your page is google.com, where more time spent on page means the experience is worse, not better.

Context is important, and it's one metric amongst others that should be used.

The point is, there are clearly actionable points GA can offer. It's disingenuous to think there are not.

Re: Lightweight Alternatives to Google Analytics

#105

Post by srrr »

Kjeldahl wrote: post #92

I was recently looking for a good tool that supports both web site analytics and app analytics (custom events, typically pushed by SPAs). I looked at GA, Amplitude and finally Matomo (which I ended up with). GA and Amplitude either did not offer or made it hard to work down to the micro level, essentially tracking known individual users down to the singular event level. Matomo makes this easy, although it certainly l…

There are many packages listed at https://github.com/onurakpolat/awesome-analytics . Heap is an example of macro+micro+web+app.

Re: Lightweight Alternatives to Google Analytics

#106

Post by lhdj »

jbrooksuk wrote: post #42

I've been happily using Fathom Analytics: https://usefathom.com and I have zero complaints. No tracking. Privacy focused. Lightweight. You embed from your own domain. They even do site monitoring now!

My company switched to Fathom from GA about 4 days ago.

We build privacy software so it felt slightly hypocritical to use a privacy-intrusive service like GA. So far so good.

I went from 0 to Fathom in under 20 mins and for our basic requirements it works really well .

Good job Fathom team :)

Re: Lightweight Alternatives to Google Analytics

#107

Post by twic »

sc11 wrote: post #77
icebraining wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's surprising, considering the virality is part of the license text, not the law; does the law prohibit that clause?

Here's a good explanation: https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/eupl/news/why-viral-l... The short answer is that there are certain protections that ensure interoperability, and that linking to software does not make it a derivative work.

That's an interesting analysis.

That directive is usually understood to be about reverse engineering in order to build compatible software: "to obtain the necessary information to achieve the interoperability of an independently created program with other programs" being a key bit.

It's not immediately clear to me - a programmer but not a lawyer - that this has any bearing on whether linking creates a derivative work.

Have any other experts, or courts, weighed in on whether this analysis is sound?

Re: Lightweight Alternatives to Google Analytics

#108

Post by srrr »

JackWritesCode wrote: post #94
Kjeldahl wrote: post #92

I was recently looking for a good tool that supports both web site analytics and app analytics (custom events, typically pushed by SPAs). I looked at GA, Amplitude and finally Matomo (which I ended up with). GA and Amplitude either did not offer or made it hard to work down to the micro level, essentially tracking known individual users down to the singular event level. Matomo makes this easy, although it certainly l…

Less companies are focusing on user level tracking, as it’s an invasion of privacy and compliance doesn’t allow it

Less companies are focusing on user level tracking because one single user is not a meaningful statistical group.

Companies focusing on user level tracking today provide a different set of tools one might be used to and that can of course be compliant, see https://www.hotjar.com/.

Re: Lightweight Alternatives to Google Analytics

#109

Post by tannhaeuser »

elondaits wrote: post #73
TomGullen wrote: post #44

I still can't see any solid reasons why a site owner would not use GA. Other products: - Objectively lack features - Potentially incur extra costs in money/time - May be a small barrier in m&a - May carry additional risks/attack vectors if self hosted Trying to ween off big tech is commendable, but likely detrimental to a business. Relatively high risk, low reward. I'm happy to have my mind changed. I can see a case…

GDPR compliance. GDPR is the European privacy law. It protects European citizens so it applies not only to European companies but any company that does business in Europe (having offices or advertising/selling there). Google does not give much assurance regarding their GDPR compliance... their text on that subject is mostly CYA and then they make it your responsibility to decide how to use it in compliance (if at all…

> GA is a bad look

Totally agree, but are there "acceptable" CDNs, like unpkg? What about Google Fonts?

> The GDPR gives you a small window to count visitors through cookies as long as all private information (even IP) is anonymized.

If it's not too much to ask, could you expand on that a bit, or share a link? I guess you mean it's ok to send a browser fingerprint for unique visitor stats without having to ask for permission, but I'm not aware of any legal debate let alone court decision with respect to that.

Edit: obviously I can't read ("through cookies"), but cookies for unique visitor counts aren't "functional" are they, so my interpretation is that those cookies need consent; I'd love to hear otherwise though

Re: Lightweight Alternatives to Google Analytics

#110

Post by spockz »

jbrooksuk wrote: post #42

I've been happily using Fathom Analytics: https://usefathom.com and I have zero complaints. No tracking. Privacy focused. Lightweight. You embed from your own domain. They even do site monitoring now!

From the site:

> Our on-demand, auto-scaling servers will never slow your site down. Our tracker file is served via our super-fast CDN, with endpoints located around the world to ensure fast page loads.

This suggests that this solution is not self hosted. Is there a solution like this which is really self hosted? This service is one small change away from actually tracking.

Edit: Piwik/Matomo[1] appears to be the most mature one. [1]: https://matomo.org/

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