In today’s article, we will be comparing the top three website analytics tools available. The tools we will be covering are Piwik, Clicky, and Google Analytics. We will go over the general views and reason users download each tool as well as the features and disadvantages.
Google analytics
When it comes to analyzing the data of your website from tracking conversions to seeing how many people visit your site on a daily basis one of the first tools that comes to everyone’s mind is Google Analytics. This tool, in particular, has gained a quite a large following, since it is both free and offers a direct look at how Google views your site. Many say that it is the fact that it is free that brings it to most users attention but along with that, it has many robust functions and options to see how well your website is running and how well it is ranked by search engines. Some of the opposing arguments for Google Analytics are that the tool has too many options and has a poor way of displaying them to the casual user, also that the tool as a whole has a very steep learning curve. Both of these disadvantages and more are overlooked due to the fact that there are many guides to using the tool that helps to overcome these issues.
Features
- Advertising reports
- SEO reports
- Real-time reporting
- Traffic sources
- Event tracking
Clicky
When using Google Analytics many users complain about the amount of options being thrown at you and the clunky and oversaturated main screen. This is where Clicky excels with a simple but informative interface it gives you everything you could ask for in a nice simple package but also much more information. After just a few keystrokes you can find yourself using one of Clicky’s most well-known features which is Clicky Analytics Spy. With this tool you can see how many users are clicking on each link on your webpage. You can experiment by adding more banners, add additional text, or even completely new links to see if you get more of less clicks the possibilities are endless. With both the easy copy and paste install and availability of Google analytics many users find themselves using both tools side by side. But along with many of these great features come some downsides. One of the disadvantages is that Clicky charges extra for many features and then even more for other features. They have a free, a Pro, and a Pro Plus package. But even with that in mind everything you get at the price of even the Pro Plus package still rivals and bests many paid tools.
Features
- Search terms
- Traffic sources
- Nationality of visitors
- Real-Time Analytics
- Customizable Tracking
Piwik
With its fully customizable home page and sleek view Piwik is definitely one of the best when it comes to visual. It also brings to the table a fully functional IPhone and Android application for on the go use. Along with the availability of adding multiple websites to the home page there are also multiple ways to track the information other than java script. Now on to price Piwik is free but only if you host your own server, and there is no copy and paste way to install this tool like some of the other analytics tools. Instead there is a five minute installation guide that you can use to assist in the process. Another downside is to access the support system that Piwik has set up you have to upgrade to the Pro version of the tool which is $65 a month at the lowest and this allows you 300,000 page views per month.
Features
- Customizable Dashboard
- View Detailed Log of Individual Visitors
- Map of Visitor Countries
- Visitor Browsers
- Best Search Engines