In times of cookie judgements, the Privacy Shield knock-out, and guidance from supervisory authorities, some companies are looking for an alternative to Google Analytics. Supervisory authorities like to mention the open source software Matomo as an example for a more privacy friendly solution.
Special attention is paid to the local installation, as it can prevent the consolidation of usage data across provider boundaries, which has been criticized by supervisory authorities. However, this can of course be excluded just as easily with Software-as-a-Service providers such as etracker and can be confirmed by an agreement for order processing.
This list of etracker’s top 10 advantages reveals what needs to be considered beyond the question of whether on-premise or cloud is important:
- Established commercial company that manages the development, versus open source community.
- etracker as a German company based in Hamburg and data processing exclusively within the EU versus Matomo, which operates from New Zealand without a proper company presence and without dedicated employees.
- Free support via e-mail and telephone with experienced full-time service staff at etracker versus support forum and limited contact options at Matomo.
- Software as a service model with experienced administrators, 24/7 monitoring and security concept with independent audits for state-of-the-art intrusion prevention at etracker versus own hosting and administration at Matomo with local installation.
- The latest Big Data technology based on raw data versus simple PHP and MySQL technology from the 1990s (peak usage 2000-2005).
- Transparent pricing at etracker versus hidden costs, e.g. through chargeable click path and funnel reports at Matomo.
- Easy migration from Google Analytics to etracker versus no comparable auto tracking and tagging configuration without coding at Matomo.
- Possibility of individual report customization at etracker versus extremely limited customization options at Matomo.
- etracker regularly undergoes independent audits for GDPR compliance and hereby verified freedom of consent versus unchecked declarations at Matomo.
- Cookie activation within a visit possible at etracker, but not at Matomo, without generating duplicate visit data.