Are there lighter-weight and easier-to-use alternatives to Google Analytics?
Yes! Have you ever noticed that after doing some limited online searching, or better yet after just mentioning to someone that you are looking – for a new fancy dog collar or some other product – that suddenly you are seeing ads for that item in your email, on your Facebook feed, and more? Well, you’re not crazy. The ads you see are targeted ads run by companies that are using information collected about your interests, your demographics, and more. Much of that information is supplied by Google! While Google provides free products like Google Analytics and Gmail, they also profit by selling the information those products gather.
You might question whether that is legal, and you would not be alone in your concern. A number of countries have already ruled that Google Analytics violates the GDPR privacy law, and other courts may soon follow suit. If you find yourself wondering if there are alternatives that are less aggressive, less intrusive, then read on!
Fathom Analytics is a Google Analytics alternative that doesn’t compromise visitor privacy for data and is respectful of privacy laws (like GDPR and more). Fathom provides a simple dashboard to get the data you need quickly such as visits to your website by page, referrers, browsers, devices and more. Since Fathom collects website data anonymously, it is not impacted by ad blockers so you can get a full and accurate picture of your website’s traffic.
By the way, we recently switched from GA to FA for all of the reasons outlined in this post. In fact, feel free to view our own analytics page to see what you could also have for your site.
Primary reasons to use Fathom Analytics:
- Simple to use; easy to understand
- Privacy-focused; gather useful data without spying on your visitors
- GDPR compliant; no need for cookie consent
Fathom is not the only privacy-focused analytics program available – but it’s the one we use and are happy to recommend. Give us a call to discuss adding Fathom Analytics to your website! We are able to offer to our clients at the reduced rate of $75 per year.
