Google Analytics vs Matomo
We give Google Analytics a 3.4 GPA and Matomo a 2.4, out of 4.0. Google Analytics grades higher on value for money, the free plan and ease of use. They get the same grade on features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Google Analytics
Google's free website and app analytics, with a paid 360 tier
Matomo
Open-source web analytics you can host yourself or in Matomo's cloud
How we grade them
| 3.4GPAGoogle AnalyticsVery good | 2.4GPAMatomoFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | A$0 for a 10,000-visitor site, or one a hundred times that size: the standard version is free, with reports, explorations, attribution and BigQuery export. Only Analytics 360, quoted by Google's sales team, costs money. | C100,000 pageviews puts Cloud Business at $42 a month billed monthly ($26 covers 50,000 hits), rising to $204 at 1M. Yearly billing takes off two months. That's mid-category. The free edition only counts if you host it. |
| Free plan and trial | AFree for sites and apps of any size, with no traffic cap a normal business would reach. The limits that do exist are about history: user- and event-level data is kept for 2 or 14 months. | CThe self-hosted Community edition is free forever with unlimited users and hits, but you need your own server and get forum support only. The cloud has a free trial with no card, length not stated. |
| Features | BTraffic and acquisition reports, funnel and path explorations, cohorts, data-driven attribution, predicted audiences and BigQuery export. The whole traffic analytics job, graded against Matomo, Plausible and Fathom. It doesn't record visits; that's Clarity's job. | BTraffic, campaigns, ecommerce, goals and visitor profiles without sampling, plus heatmaps, recordings, A/B tests, funnels and a tag manager on Cloud Business. That's the whole job in one. On your own server those extras are paid plugins. |
| Ease of use | B4.6 from 5,249 App Store ratings for its phone app. You can ask questions in plain words, but explorations, events and attribution settings take some learning to get the most from. | CNo rating on record. The cloud is a snippet, but the reports run as deep as Google Analytics', so there's learning to do. Self-hosting means running the server, updates and backups yourself. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb plus iPhone and Android apps, with links to Google Ads, Search Console, BigQuery, Tag Manager, Firebase and Salesforce Marketing Cloud. No desktop app, which keeps it off an A. | BWeb only, no desktop or phone app. It has HTTP analytics and tracking APIs, log file analytics, a Google Analytics importer and plugins for WordPress and WooCommerce. A short list of integrations, but the APIs fill the gap. |
| Best for | free traffic reports for any size of site | owning your analytics data outright |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Google Analytics and Matomo. How we grade
Where they differ
- Only Google Analytics lists iOS and Android apps.
- Matomo is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Google Analytics also covers reports.
- Matomo also covers session replay and a/B testing.
At a glance
| Google Analytics | Matomo | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | $26 per month for up to 50,000 hits, billed monthly (Cloud Business) |
| Free plan | The standard Google Analytics is free for sites and apps of any size, with reports, explorations, attribution and BigQuery export. User- and event-level data is kept for at most 14 months. | Matomo On-Premise Community: free forever and open source, hosted on your own server, with unlimited users and hits, all base features and forum support. |
| Free trial | None listed | Free trial of Matomo Cloud with all core features, no credit card; length not stated |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Matomo | |
| Price read from | marketingplatform.google.com | matomo.org |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Google Analytics
- Small businesses and site owners who want free traffic reports
- Advertisers running Google Ads campaigns
- Teams that want raw event data in BigQuery
Matomo
- Organizations that must keep analytics data on their own servers
- Public sector and EU sites with strict privacy rules
- Teams leaving Google Analytics that want similar depth
Worth knowing
Google Analytics
- Analytics 360 has no published price; it is quoted through Google's sales team.
- In the free version, user- and event-level data is kept for 2 or 14 months; 26, 38 and 50 months are 360 only.
- Intraday data freshness, sub-properties, roll-up reporting and higher limits on custom dimensions and audiences are 360 only.
- Google Ads data in reports is limited to a rolling 36 months, and Google signals data is kept no more than 26 months.
Matomo
- Self-hosted premium bundles are priced in euros only; Cloud shows dollar prices to US visitors.
- On your own server, heatmaps, session recordings, funnels and A/B testing are paid plugins or bundles, not part of the free edition.
- Cloud Business caps you at 30 websites, 30 team members and 24 months of raw data; more needs Cloud Enterprise.
- Self-hosting means you run the server, updates and backups yourself, with forum support only on the free edition.
Key features
Google Analytics
- Traffic and acquisition reports
- Shows how people reach a site or app across paid and organic channels, which pages and screens they use, and what happens in real time.
- Explorations
- Free-form analysis, open or closed funnels, path analysis, segment overlap, cohorts and user lifetime value, built by dragging fields onto a canvas.
- Attribution
- Data-driven attribution, conversion path reports and model comparisons show how each marketing channel contributes to conversions.
- Predictions and insights
- Machine learning predicts actions such as purchase or churn to build audiences, flags notable changes automatically, and answers typed questions.
- Google Ads and BigQuery links
- Imports Google Ads, Display & Video 360 and Search Ads 360 data, sends audiences and conversions back, and exports raw events to BigQuery.
Matomo
- Full web analytics without sampling
- Traffic, campaigns, ecommerce, events, site search, visitor maps and visitor profiles, with report data kept forever and no data sampling.
- Data ownership and privacy
- Data stays on your own servers or in Matomo Cloud in Frankfurt, with a GDPR manager and privacy options for what is collected.
- Heatmaps and session recordings
- Included in Cloud Business and, for self-hosters, in the Team bundle and above; also sold as a separate plugin.
- A/B testing, funnels and forms
- A/B tests, conversion funnels, user flows and form analytics come with Cloud Business; on your own server they are premium plugins or bundles.
- Google Analytics importer and APIs
- Imports historical Google Analytics data, and offers HTTP Analytics and Tracking APIs plus log file analytics.
- Tag manager
- A built-in tag manager (30 containers on Cloud Business) to add and manage tracking codes without editing the site.
Plans
Google Analytics
Google Analytics$0
Free: reports, explorations, attribution, predictive audiences, Google Ads and Search Console links, and BigQuery export.
Analytics 360Custom
Sold through sales: intraday data within an hour, sub-properties, roll-up reporting, higher limits, up to 50 months of data and SLAs.
Matomo
Community (On-Premise)$0
Free self-hosted edition you run yourself: unlimited users and hits, base features and community plugins, forum support.
Cloud Business$26
per month for up to 50,000 hits, billed monthly
Hosted in Germany: 30 sites, 30 users, 24 months of raw data, heatmaps, recordings, A/B tests, funnels. $42 a month at 100,000 hits, $204 at 1M.
Team (On-Premise)€230
per month, billed annually (€275 billed monthly)
Self-hosted plugin bundle for up to 4 users and 5M hits a month: heatmaps and recordings, funnels, custom reports, email support.
Business (On-Premise)€1,209
per month, billed annually (€1,450 billed monthly)
Up to 20 users and 30M hits a month. Adds cohorts, multi-channel attribution, roll-up reporting, activity log and white label.
Enterprise (On-Premise)€2,834
per month, billed annually (€3,400 billed monthly)
Up to 50 users and 100M hits a month, A/B testing, a customer success manager, onboarding and chat support.
Cloud EnterpriseCustom
Sold through sales for larger sites: custom allowances and raw data retention, email support and a customer success manager.
Ways to pay less
Google Analytics
No public discounts listed.
Matomo
- Annual discount
2 months free with annual billing
Matomo Cloud billed annually costs 10 times the monthly price, a 17% saving; the self-hosted bundles are also about 17% cheaper billed annually.
- Nonprofit
Discount for eligible nonprofits
Matomo says eligible nonprofit organizations and charities may receive a discount; they contact the team to learn more.
