Web Analytics Tools
Web Analytics Tools Overview
Top Rated Web Analytics Products
These products won a Top Rated award for having excellent customer satisfaction ratings. The list is based purely on reviews; there is no paid placement, and analyst opinions do not influence the rankings. Read more about the Top Rated criteria.
Web Analytics Tools TrustMap
TrustMaps are two-dimensional charts that compare products based on trScore and research frequency by prospective buyers. Products must have 10 or more ratings to appear on this TrustMap.
Web Analytics Products
(1-25 of 82) Sorted by Most Reviews
Google Analytics is perhaps the best-known web analytics product and, as a free product, it has massive adoption. Although it lacks some enterprise-level features compared to its competitors in the space, the launch of the paid Google Analytics Premium edition seems likely to close…
Smartlook
Smartlook is an analytics solution tool for websites, iOS/Android apps, and various app frameworks, that answers the "whys" behind users' actions. It helps users understand precisely how customers interact with website and app — watch recordings, create heatmaps, use automatic tracked…
AT Internet provides digital analytics. Active for over 20 years, AT Internet's goal is helping customers measure their audience, optimise their digital performance and create value. From data collection to exploration, activation, and the sharing of actionable insights, AT Internet'…
Adobe Analytics
Adobe acquired Omniture in 2009 and re-branded the platform as SiteCatalyst. It is now part of Adobe Marketing Cloud along with other products such as social marketing, test and targeting, and tag management. SiteCatalyst is one of the leading vendors in the web analytics category…
Hotjar is a conversion rate optimization tool for digital marketers. Features include heatmapping, visual session recording, conversion funnel analytics, form analytics, feedback polls and surveys, and usability testing. The tool is used by digital analysts, UX designers, web developers…
Parse.ly is a content optimization platform for online publishers. It provides in-depth analytics and helps maximize the performance of the digital content. It features a dashboard geared for editorial and business staff and an API that can be used by a product team to create…
Google Analytics 360 (formerly Google Analytics Premium) is an enterprise-level analytics solution that includes a full service suite of features offering a singular view of the consumer across platforms and devices. It also provides full integration with the Google stack, data-driven…
FullStory
FullStory headquartered in Atlanta offers a heat map and session recording / replay application, presented as a digital experience analytics solution that provides on-the-fly conversion funnels, advanced search capabilities, video-like replay of real user sessions, and robust debugging…
Learn More About Web Analytics Tools
What is Web Analytics?
Web analytics tools track website user activity. Tracking activity gives organizations the ability to optimize their content.
Web analytics have also grown beyond tracking web usage to include interactions with social media and mobile apps. This expanded approach is sometimes called digital analytics.
The data from web analytics tools help companies evaluate and improve their online presence. Web analytics business objectives include things like:
Attracting more visitors
Increasing sales
Improving customer engagement
Improving customer retention
Insights from web analytics tools can drive actions such as:
Refining website content
Adjusting website design
Reallocating marketing dollars
The ultimate goal is to optimize for the desired business objective.
Web Analytics Features & Capabilities
Individual-level tracking
Real-time analytics
A/B testing
Mobile analytics
Attribution modeling
On-the-fly segmentation
Ecommerce tracking
Funnel analysis
Cohort analysis
Cross-device tracking
In-page analytics (Session recording, click tracking, mouse tracking, heatmaps)
Goal conversion tracking
Event tracking
Privacy compliance
On-premise option
Benchmarking
Web Analytics Tools
Tags
Most web analytics tools use page tagging to track online activity. A ‘tag’ is placed in a website’s JavaScript code.
Using the tag, analytics tools can detect when someone visits the page. The tool can also track link clicks, video views and other events. Most tools can also track users’ IP address, geography, screen size and web browser.
Cookies
Web analytics also use cookies. Cookies are a small piece of data attached to each site visitor’s browser. They are designed to track a user’s session and future visits. This helps companies identify new visitors and returning visitors, in order to understand user behavior over time
Most tools track similar web, social and mobile metrics. The most common metrics found with web analytics tools include:
The number of people using a website (visits, unique visitors, pageviews)
Who they are (geolocation of visitors, browser and device type, registered and unregistered users)
Where they came from (referring source, search keyword)
What they are doing while there (Time spent on site, conversions, click path, bounce rate)
This information is presented on a dashboard. The dashboard of web analytics tools is a central source of information for companies. Dashboards can usually be customized to segment data by user persona, date range, or other attributes.
No web analytics vendor can promise 100% accuracy in data. This is because people can delete cookies, and browsers can restrict JavaScript, for example. Therefore, different tools will produce slightly different results for the same metric. But web analytics tools still provide valuable insight into customer needs and online behavior.
Free Web Analytics Tools
Effective web analytics don’t always have to cost money. There are a number of free and freemium web analytics tools.
Google Analytics is by far the most widely adopted. StatCounter and Matomo (formerly Piwik) are also good examples of free tools. Some companies use both multiple analytics tools alongside each other (both free and paid). Some free web analytics tools are quite robust, and the vendor monetizes the tool by using the data to power other offerings such as advertising.
Pricing Information
The pricing model for web analytics tools varies by vendor. The tools go up in price as your number of Monthly Tracked People goes up. Web analytics tools run the gamut in terms of price.
Some are completely free, while others start at around $500/mo.