Live data from Hacker News

An alternative to using Google Analytics on your website

plausible.io

1–10 of 311 posts

Re: An alternative to using Google Analytics on your website

#4
I like that they gave some alternatives.

With the web there are a lot of crusade like topics that while technically correct the maelstrom of finger waving blog posts really don't seem to change much and few really offer workable solutions to accomplish the goals that doing the thing they don't want you to do accomplishes.

Re: An alternative to using Google Analytics on your website

#5
The biggest drawback to not having Google Analytics on your website is if you choose to run Google Ads for your site and you have to retarget/remarket on Google properties. Without Google Analytics you are out of luck as you can enable remarketing only in Google Analytics (and you would need Analytics linked to Google Ads). If you have a personal website or a business that grows organically without needing to use Advertising then you can go ahead with any analytics provider of your choice. But the value add provided by using Google Analytics far outweighs other negatives from a business point of view.

Re: An alternative to using Google Analytics on your website

#7
post #4

I like that they gave some alternatives. With the web there are a lot of crusade like topics that while technically correct the maelstrom of finger waving blog posts really don't seem to change much and few really offer workable solutions to accomplish the goals that doing the thing they don't want you to do accomplishes.

One alternative that should be seriously considered is not having analytics at all. I don't doubt that they're useful for many people in many situations, but consider whether they're useful to you in your situation. When was the last time you look at analytics? What did you learn from it? What actions did you take? Are you really gaining anything from them? I think most personal blogs, for example, gain nothing from having analytics running. In fact I'd argue almost all non-commercial activity has no reason to gather analytics.

Re: An alternative to using Google Analytics on your website

#9
I've been using Simple Analytics* and it's been great so far! Tbh I just want to see how many page views, on which pages, and where they're coming from. None of the google tracking bs

Plausible looks nice though, so maybe I'll check that out too

*: https://simpleanalytics.com/

Re: An alternative to using Google Analytics on your website

#10
post #7
post #4

I like that they gave some alternatives. With the web there are a lot of crusade like topics that while technically correct the maelstrom of finger waving blog posts really don't seem to change much and few really offer workable solutions to accomplish the goals that doing the thing they don't want you to do accomplishes.

One alternative that should be seriously considered is not having analytics at all. I don't doubt that they're useful for many people in many situations, but consider whether they're useful to you in your situation. When was the last time you look at analytics? What did you learn from it? What actions did you take? Are you really gaining anything from them? I think most personal blogs, for example, gain nothing from…

I think that's a valid argument that is there in the blog post.

I do like that they did actually include some alternatives that still were analytics.

Post reply on HN