Seeking Advice on Privacy-Preserving Analytics Tools for a Website

Privacy Questions
1

Hello everyone,

I’m in the process of selecting a privacy-friendly analytics tool for a website I’m managing. Privacy is a top priority, and I want to make sure I choose a solution that balances useful insights with strong data protection and user privacy.

I’ve come across a few options that look promising, including:

  • Fathom Analytics
  • Simple Analytics
  • Umami
  • Matomo
  • Plausible

Does anyone have experience with these tools? I’d love to hear about your thoughts on:

  • How well they preserve user privacy
  • Ease of use and integration
  • The kind of insights you can get without compromising privacy
  • Any other tool you’d recommend for privacy-first website analytics

Thanks in advance for your insights and recommendations!

1 Like
2

Would also like to express my interest in this matter.
Available to contribute to this discussion in an active manner.

Please clarify whether you handle all aspects of hosting yourself or if you utilize a managed hosting service, VPS.

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3

Currently the site in question is hosted on Vercel.

4

Could you kindly elaborate on the factors that influenced your decision to select this particular provider?

During my own research and analysis of user feedback on Privacy Guides, I did not come across any mention of Vercel.

5

Decision to host on vercel wasn’t based on privacy. We needed a free hosting providing easy deployment for multiple sites without worrying about dev ops. That said we don’t intend to stick to Vercel forever. Might move to a VPS soon when we have the opportunity.

6

I believe this is the key area to focus your efforts on before you start using tools to analyze security.

In addition, input data such as your current hosting provider and the privacy and security tools they have in their arsenal will be covered in a similar topic.

I may be overlooking something, so please forgive my lack of experience.

However, we are in similar situations, and I am also very interested in the safety of my future resource and in the safety of my visitors.

7

Interesting solutions with sick functionality that sharpened my attention this weekend:

  1. Fathom Analytics
  2. Simple Analytics
  3. Umami
  4. Matomo (formerly Piwik)
  5. Plausible
  6. GoatCounter
  7. Ackee

When evaluating these tools, consider the following aspects:

  1. The ability to own the data yourself is a key advantage of stand-alone solutions such as Umami, Matomo, Plausible and Ackee.

  2. Compliance requirements: It is essential to ensure that the tool you choose complies with the specific privacy regulations applicable to your jurisdiction and user base.

  3. Self-hosted solutions will require more technical knowledge for customization and maintenance or training. Are you willing to invest the time and resources to learn the necessary technical skills?

  4. How important is scalability to your business? Consider whether the tool can handle the expected traffic volume and grow with your needs.

  5. Вывозите ли вы это по финансам.

8

Plausible is a strong candidate.

Allow me to explain:


It doesn't use cookies, 
anonymizes IP addresses, 
Fully compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and PECR regulations.

Collects minimal data.

Straightforward = add one line of JavaScript.

Open Source

Made and hosted in EU.

Umami is an excellent option for those who prefer a self-hosted solution, though it does require more technical startegy.

Matomo is a feature-rich tool that can be complex and collect more data.

GoatCounter can be used as an additional tool. It is open source and offers a free tier.

Another options to consider is microanalytics, which I found to be an intriguing approach.

It is a relatively new entrant in the market, but it is gaining popularity and has received positive reviews.

    1. They do not use cookies and only harvest a minimum amount of data.
    1. They are fully compliant with GDPR.
    1. The platform is straightforward to set up and focuses on key metrics.

You can choose to host Netlify Analytics, which gives you access to their built-in server-side analytics (no JavaScript required).

    1. They do not require cookies, and no personal data is collected.
    1. Their seamless integration is a notable advantage.

In considering them as hosting for a side project, the key data I’m interested in:

Unique visitors

Top pages

Bandwidth and resource utilization

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9

Do you have any experience with website analytic tools, and know what metrics you are looking for?

In the past, I’ve also looked at privacy-preserving analytics tools, and decided that plausible would be my go to option. Privacy is one part of it, but other important things for me:

  • Paid business model that will keep their self-hosted option funded
  • Lightweight script (< 1 KB)
  • Important key data. Have used google analytics and they give to much data.
  • Easy to use with filtering. Check out their live demo
  • GDPR-compliant. They say in a article that you can use them “without the need for consent or cookie banners”. I’m not confident enough about GDPR to say if this is actually true, but from experience it’s challenging to setup cookies GDPR-compliant correctly.
  • From their articles they are open and clear about what their goals are. Makes me trust the people behind the software more.

The one thing I wished was better was A/B testing, and I found Matomo better at this.

1 Like
10

Swetrix is another option

11

Thank for your reply. Makes sense to me.

12

Thanks for recommendation. This looks interesting. Will check it out

13

I have decide to use Plausible for now. Seems simple to use, cookieless, follows GDPR, meets my requirements. Thanks for all your recommendations