For years, Google Analytics has been known as the go-to solution for collecting and analyzing website traffic. Many marketing professionals choose this tool, largely due to its seamless integration with other Google services like Google Ads and Google Search Console. But is GA4 truly the best option for your business, or are there other platforms worth considering? In this article, we take a closer look at GA4 and compare it to the European platform Piwik PRO.
In recent years, there has been a lot of discussion surrounding GDPR regulations, particularly regarding how Universal Analytics collected and processed data. In response, Google introduced a new analytics platform: Google Analytics 4 (GA4). However, we’ve found that GA4 sometimes falls short of expectations. While implementing Server-Side Tagging addresses some issues, there is still room for improvement. This has led us to explore alternative data platforms in search of ways to gather even more precise data.
Like Google Analytics, Piwik PRO is a web analytics platform designed to help businesses understand visitor behavior on their websites. As a privacy-friendly alternative to Google Analytics, Piwik PRO allows users to perform in-depth analyses and reporting, all while complying fully with global privacy regulations. It offers robust capabilities for data collection, analysis, and personalization while protecting user anonymity and giving organizations complete control over their data.
Why are we focusing on Piwik PRO? Well, we’ve discovered several compelling advantages of this Polish platform.
Of course, Piwik PRO and Google Analytics also share similarities. Both platforms support web and app tracking and offer extensive customization options, such as metrics, dimensions, and attribution models. Additionally, both have free and paid versions available.
Ultimately, the choice of the right platform depends on your organization’s specific needs and preferences. To help you make an informed decision, we’ve outlined the key differences so you don’t have to do the research yourself.
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| American Limited in Europe due to GDPR regulations to ensure data remains within the EU |
European Developed in compliance with GDPR regulations to ensure data remains within the EU |
| Price Completely free |
Price Free (up to 500,000 actions per month) |
| Dependent on Google Google limits control and independence over GA4 user data |
Independent party Piwik is not reliant on a multinational, ensuring no limitations on control or user data |
| Integrations Compatible with popular BI and data visualization software (Tableau, Power BI, Looker Studio) |
Integrations Compatible with popular BI and data visualization software (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, Looker Studio) |
| Interfaces – Only an analytics interface. Consent Management and Tag Manager require additional tools (e.g., GTM and/or Cookiebot). – Known for its extensive and detailed reporting capabilities. |
Interfaces – Offers a platform fully integrated with Analytics, Tag Manager, and Consent Management – Features a user-friendly dashboard customizable to specific needs |
| Both first- and third-party cookies GA4 uses first-party cookies for on-domain analytics and third-party cookies for cross-site ad tracking. |
First-party cookies only Piwik PRO exclusively uses first-party cookies, ensuring better compliance with data protection laws and user privacy |
| Data processing – Data freshness: 4 to 8 hours – Data retention: Limited to either 2 months or 14 months – Processing time: Can take up to 24 hours for all data to be fully processed |
Data processing – Data freshness: 30 minutes – Data retention: 14 months – Data availability: Visible and usable within 30 minutes |
| Tracking Uses event-based tracking, resulting in a comprehensive engagement overview across multiple levels. |
Tracking Uses hit-based tracking, which is limited to session-level data and provides a less flexible engagement overview |
| Reporting features – Live traffic/live map – No consent declaration – No heatmaps, clickmaps, or scrollmap reports – Includes data retention options |
Reporting features – Live traffic/live map – Includes a consent declaration – Offers heatmaps, clickmaps, and scrollmap reports – 14 months or more of data retention (no sampling) |
| BigQuery Option for raw data export to BigQuery with GA4 |
BigQuery Option for raw data export to BigQuery is available in GA4 |
| Anonymizing data – No zero-identity tracking: data can be stored without an IP address and Cookie ID – Google’s IP anonymization does not fully protect data |
Anonymizing data – Advanced data anonymization – Supports zero-identity tracking – Utilizes IP anonymization |
We’ve compared several metrics—users, sessions, pageviews, and organic visitors—collected by both Piwik PRO and GA4 to examine the differences in figures. It’s important to note that the GA4 data was gathered without the use of server-side tagging (SST). SST significantly impacts the accuracy of measurements, especially for browsers that prioritize user privacy (such as Safari and Firefox), which often result in underreported data in GA4. Both platforms were active during the same period for this analysis.
For this study, we aggregated data from various websites and noticed a few key patterns. Our analysis revealed that Piwik PRO consistently reported higher values than Google Analytics 4. The chart below illustrates the percentage differences between Piwik and GA4 for each of these metrics.
Piwik PRO demonstrates a more consistent performance across a wider range of browsers, making it a strong alternative for in-depth website analysis, especially if you’re truly data-driven. Additionally, this highlights just how critical server-side tagging is for precise data collection in GA4.
When we compare the data from Piwik PRO and GA4 side by side in a single, clear chart, the differences become strikingly apparent. Piwik appears to collect more data in terms of user counts, sessions, pageviews, and organic search traffic. These insights confirm that Piwik provides a more detailed overview of your website’s activities.
Choosing the right platform is ultimately a personal decision. Both platforms offer unique advantages, and the differences are clear. Piwik PRO stands out particularly for its compliance with GDPR privacy laws. If privacy is not a significant concern for your organization, you may choose to stick with Google Analytics, as many already do. However, because GA4 faces limitations in Europe to ensure data remains within the EU, the future of this Google platform is still uncertain. We continue to closely monitor developments around Google Analytics 4 in Europe.
The decision between Piwik PRO and Google Analytics ultimately depends on the specific needs and priorities of your organization.
If you don’t yet have a Google Analytics 4 property or if this article has sparked your interest in Piwik PRO, we warmly invite you to contact us to explore the possibilities!
