Overview
Matomo is a privacy-first web and app analytics platform designed to help teams measure performance with accurate, first-party data. It positions itself as an ethical alternative to Google Analytics, emphasizing data ownership, privacy protection, and the ability to analyze traffic without compromising user trust.
Quick Info
- Category
- Analytics
- Pricing
- subscription
- Website
- matomo.com
Who It's For
Target Audience
Marketing, product, and analytics teams at privacy-conscious organizations that need accurate web/app insights and stronger control over data
Common Use Cases
- Replacing Google Analytics to reduce privacy risk and improve user trust
- Tracking website and mobile app usage with real-time dashboards and reports
- Importing historical Google Analytics data to preserve long-term performance baselines
- Measuring campaign and content performance without relying on sampled/estimated data
- Supporting compliance-focused analytics strategies where data ownership and security standards matter
Key Features
Privacy-first analytics
Built to minimize privacy trade-offs and protect user trust, with a strong emphasis on ethical data practices. This matters for teams trying to reduce reputational risk and align analytics with privacy expectations and regulations.
100% accurate data (no sampling/estimates)
Matomo highlights tracking 100% of available traffic rather than providing estimates. This is important for decision-making when small changes in conversion rate, funnel steps, or campaign performance materially impact revenue.
Data ownership and control
Designed so organizations can stay in full control of their analytics data rather than having it used for third-party purposes. This matters for governance, compliance, and teams that want analytics as a first-party asset.
Web and app tracking
Supports tracking for websites and mobile apps by adding a tracking code/SDK. This helps teams unify insights across platforms and understand the full customer journey.
Real-time reporting and insights
Provides real-time data to monitor performance as it happens. This is useful for campaign launches, incident monitoring (e.g., sudden traffic drops), and rapid iteration on site changes.
Google Analytics Importer
Allows importing historical Google Analytics data into Matomo. This reduces switching costs and helps teams maintain year-over-year comparisons and long-term trend analysis.
Open-source foundation (with hosted option)
Matomo is known for being open source, which can improve transparency and flexibility. For buyers, this can mean more deployment choices and potentially easier audits or customization compared to closed platforms.
Why Choose Matomo
Key Benefits
- Improves trust by aligning analytics with privacy-first expectations and ethical marketing practices
- More confident decisions with unsampled, full-traffic measurement (where available)
- Lower switching friction via Google Analytics data import for continuity and benchmarking
- Faster analysis through a user-friendly interface and ready-to-use reports
- Supports governance needs with an emphasis on data control and globally recognized security standards
Problems It Solves
- Concerns that third-party analytics may use collected data for their own purposes, creating reputational risk
- Inaccurate or sampled analytics data that leads to uncertainty and weaker decisions
- Loss of historical reporting when migrating away from Google Analytics
- Need for stronger data ownership, privacy protection, and security standards in analytics
Pricing
Matomo offers a hosted Cloud subscription with a 21-day free trial (no credit card required) and also provides an open-source/self-hosted option. Exact pricing varies by traffic volume and deployment needs; larger organizations may require custom plans.
Cloud (Free Trial)
Hosted Matomo Cloud trial to evaluate reports, tracking, and privacy-first analytics without providing a credit card.
Cloud (Paid)
PopularOngoing hosted analytics subscription typically priced by usage/traffic, including updates, hosting, and standard reporting.
Self-hosted (Open Source)
Deploy Matomo on your own infrastructure for maximum control; costs depend on hosting, maintenance, and optional premium features/support.
Enterprise/Custom
For high-traffic sites, advanced governance needs, or dedicated support requirements, pricing and terms are typically customized.
Pros & Cons
Advantages
- Strong privacy-first positioning that can reduce reputational risk compared to ad-tech-driven analytics
- Emphasis on 100% accurate tracking (no sampling) for more reliable reporting
- Google Analytics Importer reduces migration pain and preserves historical insights
- Open-source option provides transparency and flexibility for technical teams
- Trusted by a large global user base (over 1 million websites across many countries), indicating maturity
Limitations
- Self-hosting requires engineering effort for setup, scaling, updates, and security hardening
- Some organizations may need additional legal review to rely on “no consent required” approaches depending on jurisdiction and implementation
- Ecosystem and default integrations may be less extensive than Google’s advertising/marketing stack depending on your needs
Alternatives
GA4 is widely adopted and integrates tightly with Google Ads and the broader Google marketing ecosystem. Choose GA4 if you prioritize ad-platform integrations and don’t have strict data ownership/privacy requirements; choose Matomo if privacy, control, and avoiding third-party data use are top priorities.
Plausible is a simpler, lightweight privacy-focused analytics tool that’s easy to adopt for basic reporting. Choose Plausible for minimalism and quick insights; choose Matomo if you need deeper reporting, broader feature coverage, and GA data import.
Adobe Analytics is enterprise-grade with powerful segmentation and marketing analytics capabilities, but it’s typically more complex and expensive. Choose Adobe for large enterprise stacks and advanced analysis; choose Matomo for a more privacy-forward, often more approachable alternative with flexible deployment.
Getting Started
Start a Matomo Cloud 21-day free trial (no credit card required) or decide whether you need self-hosting for maximum control
Add the Matomo tracking code to your website and/or integrate the SDK for your mobile app to begin collecting data
Configure key goals/events (e.g., sign-ups, purchases, lead form submissions) and review real-time dashboards to validate tracking
If migrating from GA, use the Google Analytics Importer to bring in historical data and recreate core reports for continuity
The Bottom Line
Matomo is a strong choice for teams that want trustworthy analytics without sacrificing privacy, especially if they’re moving away from Google Analytics and care about data ownership and reputation. It’s best for organizations willing to invest a bit of setup/configuration (or pay for hosted) to get more control and accuracy; teams that mainly want ad-network optimization and deep native Google integrations may prefer GA4 instead.