Category
Web and product analytics
By the editors of Analytics1.comLast reviewed 19 October 2026
The short answer
How many people visit, where do they come from, and what do they do?
On this page 9 sections
Web analytics counts visits and traces them back to a source. Product analytics follows what signed-in users do over weeks and months. The two overlap, and most small businesses only need the first. The mistake we see most often is buying a product analytics tool to answer a web analytics question, then never setting up the events that make it useful.
Start with the question
| If the question is | Look first at | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Which channels send visitors who buy or enquire? | GA4 | Free, integrates with Google Ads conversions, and most agencies already know it. |
| How much traffic do we get, with no cookie banner? | Plausible or Fathom | Cookieless by design, one-page dashboards, nothing to configure. |
| We must keep analytics data on our own servers | Matomo (self-hosted) | Open source, you own the database, GA-style reports. |
| Where do users drop off in our app's signup flow? | Mixpanel or PostHog | Event-based funnels and retention built around user IDs. |
| We want session replay, feature flags and analytics together | PostHog | One open-source platform covering all three. |
None of these tools tell you which phone calls or offline sales came from which ad. For that you need call and lead tracking. None of them name the companies behind anonymous B2B visits either; that is visitor identification.
What to set up on day one
- Define three to five conversions that matter (an enquiry, a purchase, a booked call) before you look at any traffic report.
- Tag every campaign link with UTM parameters. Untagged email and social traffic shows up as direct or referral and distorts every channel report.
- Exclude your own team's traffic and test environments.
- Decide who owns the account. Agencies should be added as users on the client's property, never the other way round.
Self-hosting your analytics
Matomo, Plausible Community Edition and Umami can run on a server you control, which keeps the data in your hands and off third-party processors. A small VPS is enough for most small sites, but you take on updates, backups and security. See how to self-host Matomo or Plausible.
Choosing a tool for app or SaaS behaviour? See best product analytics tools and GA4 vs Mixpanel.
At a glance
| Feature | GA4 | Plausible | Matomo | PostHog | Mixpanel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open source | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Self-hosting option | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Built without cookies | No | Yes | n/s (not stated on the vendor’s site) | n/s (not stated on the vendor’s site) | n/s (not stated on the vendor’s site) |
| Free hosted tier | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Google Ads integration | Yes | No | n/s (not stated on the vendor’s site) | n/s (not stated on the vendor’s site) | n/s (not stated on the vendor’s site) |
| Session replay | No | No | n/s (not stated on the vendor’s site) | Yes | Yes |
| Feature flags | No | No | No | Yes | n/s (not stated on the vendor’s site) |
Guides
GA4 alternatives: when to switch and what to switch to
Plausible, Matomo, Fathom, PostHog and Mixpanel compared with Google Analytics 4 by the job each one does, with honest reasons to stay on GA4.
Product analytics vs web analytics: which one do you need?
The difference between web analytics (sessions and sources) and product analytics (users and events over time), with examples of the questions each answers.
UTM parameters explained (with a free UTM builder)
What the five UTM parameters do, naming rules that keep reports clean, common mistakes, and a free in-browser UTM builder.
Marketing attribution models explained
First-click, last-click, linear, time-decay, position-based and data-driven attribution, explained with one worked example and how to pick one.
A/B testing for small business: traffic and significance
How to run an A/B test on a small site, how much traffic you need, how to read statistical significance, and when not to test. With a free calculator.
How to set up event tracking in GA4
GA4 event tracking step by step: automatic, enhanced measurement, recommended and custom events, key events, custom dimensions, and how to test them.
Google Consent Mode v2 explained: basic vs advanced
What Consent Mode v2 is, the four consent signals, basic versus advanced mode, when it is required, and what modelled data can and cannot recover.
Server-side tagging for GA4: is it worth it?
How server-side Google Tag Manager works, what it improves (control, cookie life, page speed), what it does not change (consent), and what it costs to run.
Why GA4 numbers don't match Google Ads, Shopify or your CRM
The usual reasons GA4 disagrees with Google Ads, Shopify, Search Console and your CRM: consent, ad blockers, attribution, dates, thresholds and definitions.
Website analytics for healthcare practices and HIPAA
What medical, dental and therapy practices need to know about GA4, ad pixels and call tracking under HIPAA, the HHS tracking bulletin and the FTC.
How to set up Google Tag Manager (and GA4 through it)
Google Tag Manager set-up step by step: account and container, the two snippets, the Google tag for GA4, preview with Tag Assistant, and publishing versions.
How to track form submissions with Google Tag Manager
Three reliable ways to track form submissions in GTM and send them to GA4 as generate_lead: the Form Submission trigger, a thank-you page, and a data layer push.
How to build a funnel exploration in GA4
Build a GA4 funnel exploration step by step: open vs closed funnels, directly vs indirectly followed by, elapsed time, next action and breakdowns, with a lead-gen example.
How to set up cross-domain tracking in GA4
GA4 cross-domain measurement step by step: where the setting lives, the _gl parameter, how to test it, self-referrals, and the redirects and scripts that break it.
How to exclude internal traffic in GA4
Exclude your own team's visits from GA4: define internal traffic by IP, create the data filter, test before activating, and handle remote staff and developer traffic.
GA4 BigQuery export: set-up, limits and costs
How the free GA4 to BigQuery export works: daily vs streaming export, the 1 million events a day limit on standard properties, table names, sandbox, and what it costs.
How to self-host Matomo or Plausible analytics
Self-hosted analytics compared: Matomo On-Premise vs Plausible Community Edition, server requirements and sizing, what you give up, and where to host them.
Cohort analysis explained, with GA4 steps
What a cohort retention table shows, how to read the triangle, standard vs rolling vs cumulative retention, and how to build a cohort exploration in GA4.
Choosing and pricing
Tool profiles and comparisons
Profile
Cloudways
Managed cloud hosting on public cloud servers, a practical home for self-hosted analytics.
Profile
Hostinger
Low-cost VPS hosting with a Docker template, a fit for self-hosting Matomo, Plausible or Umami analytics.
Comparison
GA4 vs Plausible vs Matomo
Google Analytics 4, Plausible and Matomo compared on privacy, data ownership, ads integration, reporting depth and effort.
Comparison
GA4 vs Mixpanel: web analytics vs product analytics
Google Analytics 4 and Mixpanel compared: what each is built for, free limits, data retention, funnels and retention reports, and when to run both.
Other tools in this space
Plain links, no commission. Listed so you can compare fairly.
- Google Analytics 4: The default. Free, deep Google Ads integration, steep learning curve for custom reports.
- Plausible: Lightweight, cookieless, open source. Paid hosted plans or self-host.
- Matomo: Open-source GA alternative, hosted or self-hosted, popular with public-sector and EU sites.
- Fathom: Privacy-first hosted analytics with a single-screen dashboard.
- Mixpanel: Event-based product analytics: funnels, retention, cohorts.
- PostHog: Open-source product analytics plus session replay, feature flags and experiments.
From our network: Softwares scores business software across many more categories on a published formula.
Questions
- Do small businesses need anything beyond GA4?
- Often not for traffic. Where GA4 falls short is calls, offline sales and form leads that need to reach a CRM with their source attached. That gap is filled by call and lead tracking rather than by a second web analytics tool.
- Is cookieless analytics accurate?
- It counts visits well and avoids consent-banner losses, so totals are often higher than GA4 in regions where many visitors decline cookies. It cannot follow one person across days or devices, so it is weaker for long sales cycles.