Matomo Review
This Matomo review is based on real world use in a business environment. How easy is it to get started, does it provide useful information and should you add it to your website/app?
⭐ TL;DR: I’m a huge fan of Matomo, I think it’s a great bit of kit. It is a solid alternative to Google Analytics and I highly recommend it.
9/10 – Highly recommended
Matomo is an open-source web analytics platform that helps users track, analyze, and optimize their website’s performance.
With Matomo, users can access detailed information about website traffic, including visitor location, referral sources, and much more.
Matomo also comes with a variety of features, such as custom reports, real-time visitor tracking, and more, to help users make informed decisions about their website’s performance.
Matomo has been around since 2007 and was founded by Matthieu Aubry. The software was originally called Piwik and was designed to be an open-source web analytics platform for users of any skill level.
In 2018, Piwik was rebranded as Matomo, which has since become the world’s most popular open-source web analytics platform.
Who is Matomo for?
Matomo is for anyone who wants to track and analyze the performance of their website. It is designed to be an easy-to-use, powerful, and feature-rich web analytics solution for users of any skill level.
With Matomo, users can gain insights into website visitor traffic, including visitor location, referral sources, and more, to help them make informed decisions to improve their website’s performance.
Matomo is used by many websites, including a variety of businesses, organizations, and individuals. Some examples of websites that use Matomo include:
- The Guardian: The Guardian uses Matomo to track and analyze website performance.
- Greenpeace: Greenpeace uses Matomo to gain insights into website visitor traffic and make informed decisions to optimize their website’s performance.
- WordPress: WordPress uses Matomo to track and analyze their website’s performance.
- DuckDuckGo: DuckDuckGo uses Matomo to track website performance and make informed decisions about their website’s content and features.
- BBC: The BBC uses Matomo to track visitor activity, conversion rates, and more.
- Mozilla: Mozilla uses Matomo to track and analyze website performance and optimize their website’s content and features.
Getting Started with Matomo
Getting started with Matomo is easy and straightforward.
- First, sign up for a free Matomo account and create a new website in your account.
- Then, choose the tracking code for your website and insert it into your website’s code.
- Finally, start tracking your website’s performance by viewing the detailed reports that Matomo provides.
With Matomo, you can easily track and analyze website visitor traffic and make informed decisions to optimize your website’s performance.
Matomo Analytics Tag Manager is a powerful tool that allows users to easily manage their website tags and track website performance.
With Matomo Analytics Tag Manager, users can easily create, manage, and track tags, such as Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and more. Users can also use Matomo Analytics Tag Manager to track custom variables, such as user type or product category, to gain more insights into website performance. Matomo Analytics Tag Manager is easy to set up and use, and provides users with powerful features to help them track and analyze their website’s performance.
Benefits of Using Matomo
Matomo offers numerous benefits to users looking to track, analyze, and optimize their website’s performance.
- Matomo is an open-source web analytics platform, so users can access detailed information about website traffic without having to pay for expensive software licenses.
- Matomo comes with a variety of features, such as custom reports, real-time visitor tracking, and more, to help users make informed decisions about their website’s performance.
- Finally, Matomo is easy to use and can be set up quickly, so users can start tracking their website’s performance in no time.
Disadvantages of Using Matomo
Although Matomo offers many advantages over Google Analytics, there are some drawbacks to using the platform.
- For example, Matomo does not have the same level of integration with other platforms as Google Analytics does, which may limit its usefulness for users who need to track their website’s performance across multiple platforms.
- Additionally, Matomo does not offer the same level of customer support as Google Analytics, which may make it difficult for users to get help with any technical issues they may encounter.
- Finally, Matomo does not have the same level of third-party integrations as Google Analytics, so users may not be able to take advantage of all the features they need.
Matomo reports
Matomo provides a variety of reports to help users track and analyze website performance. Some of these come out of the box and others are an additional cost. These reports include:
- Visitor Logs: detailed information about website visitors, including visitor location, time spent on the website, referral sources, and more.
- Custom Reports: users can create custom reports to track their website’s performance over time.
- Real-Time Visitor Tracking: users can track visitor activity in real-time, including page views, clicks, and more.
- Event Tracking: users can track events on their website, such as downloads, form submissions, and more.
- Conversion Tracking: users can track the performance of their website’s calls-to-action.
- Funnel Visualization: users can view the progression of visitors through the different stages of their website’s conversion funnel.
- Heatmaps: users can view a visual representation of how visitors interact with their website’s content.
- A/B Testing: users can test different versions of their website to determine which one performs better.
- Custom Variables: users can track custom variables, such as user type or product category, to gain more insights into website performance.
Extending Matomo Analytics
The Matomo Marketplace is an online store where users can purchase additional plugins, themes, and services for their Matomo accounts. The Marketplace offers a wide range of products and services, including custom reports, visitor segmentation, heatmaps, A/B testing, and more. Users can also find services such as website design, development, and optimization to help them improve their website’s performance.
Matomo and privacy
Matomo is designed with privacy in mind. All data collected by Matomo is stored on the user’s own server and is not shared with any third parties.
Matomo also has a number of features to ensure user privacy, including data encryption, data obfuscation, and an opt-out feature for visitors.
Matomo does not collect any personally identifiable information or store user data on its servers. This ensures that user data is kept secure and private at all times.
Self-hosted Matomo
Matomo is an open-source web analytics platform that is self-hosted, meaning users have the freedom and flexibility to install and configure the software on their own server. This provides users with full control over their data, allowing them to customize the software to their exact needs and preferences, as well as manage their analytics data with maximum security and privacy.
Self-hosted Matomo is free to download and use. However, users may need to purchase additional products or services, such as web hosting, to set up Matomo on their own server.
Additionally, users may need to purchase plugins, themes, and services from the Matomo Marketplace to extend the functionality of their Matomo account. Prices for additional products and services vary depending on the user’s specific needs and requirements.
Matomo Cloud
Matomo Cloud is a cloud-hosted version of Matomo that offers users an easy way to access the powerful analytics features of Matomo without having to manage the software on their own server. With Matomo Cloud, users can easily set up their website for tracking and start collecting data in minutes.
Matomo Cloud is available in a variety of plans, ranging from the Free Plan to the Enterprise Plan. The Free Plan is completely free and allows users to track up to 500 page views per day.
The Pro Plan starts at $29 per month and allows users to track up to 5 million page views per month. The Enterprise Plan offers additional features and is tailored to the specific needs of each customer. Pricing for the Enterprise Plan is based on the customer’s specific needs and requirements.
Open source alternatives to Matomo
For users who are looking for open-source alternatives to Matomo, there are several options available.
One popular open-source web analytics platform is Open Web Analytics, which is a free and open-source software package that provides users with detailed information about website traffic, including visitor location, referral sources, and more.
Another options is Clicky, which is a web analytics service that offers users detailed insights into website performance, including visitor logs, conversion tracking, heatmaps, and more.
Plausible Analytics is another web analytics solution that offers users detailed insights into website performance. Plausible Analytics is a lightweight, open-source, and privacy-focused analytics solution that does not collect any personally identifiable information or store user data on its servers.
Plausible Analytics offers a variety of features, such as visitor logs, conversion tracking, heatmaps, and more, to help users track and analyze their website’s performance. Additionally, Plausible Analytics is easy to set up and use, so users can quickly start tracking their website’s performance.
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