Google Analytics, GDPR and the alternative: Plausible

April 2023: 66% of websites use specific tools to analyze traffic on their pages and study user interactions. Of these, 86% have chosen Google Analytics, the undisputed leader in the sector, with an almost absolute market share.

What are the reasons for its success?

• it’s free;
• it has a vast community, providing virtually unlimited support;
• it offers a large amount of statistics to meet any need;
• it is backed by a tech giant like Google.

With these numbers, why consider alternative products? What advantages could they offer?

The issues

Google Analytics, precisely because it is such a multifaceted product, is quite complex to use and has a learning curve that requires specific skills and, in some cases, specially trained personnel.

This complexity also affects website performance: the script, especially when used through tag managers (e.g., Google Tag Manager), is heavy and often collects an excessive amount of data.

Europe and GDPR

Where does all this data go? Is Google transparent about its use?

Before the introduction of Analytics 4, the Italian Data Protection Authority (GPDP) addressed this issue. The collection of data, carried out in the United States, was deemed excessively detailed, not transparent enough, and non-compliant with European regulations.

With the new version, user data is finally stored on European servers; however, it is still processed in the U.S., conflicting with GDPR standards. Additionally, some functionalities (e.g., IP obfuscation and cookies) have been limited, making the outputs of the two versions not directly comparable.

As a result, a significant migration effort will be required, which must be completed by July 2023. Will everyone be ready?

The alternative: Plausible

At Volcanic Minds, we are always mindful of the tools we use, especially when sensitive user data is at stake. We don’t blindly follow market trends and regulations—we stay two steps ahead to ensure we’re never caught off guard.

We conducted a highly selective search, aiming for an open-source and sustainable product that fully complies with GDPR. Plausible stood out as the ideal choice: it’s community-driven, hosted on European servers, and ensures completely transparent data collection, perfectly aligned with our needs.

What tipped the scales in its favor?

• pookie-less analytics for an uninterrupted user experience, without intrusive banners;
• privacy-first approach with no unnecessary data collection;
• public dashboard option, accessible without login credentials;
• lightweight script (~1 kB) with no performance impact;
• multi-domain and multi-site support for seamless tracking;
• easy implementation with support for custom event tracking.

The product is accessible to everyone and features a very clear dashboard that provides all the key metrics of a website:

• number of visitors, both unique and aggregated;
• total visits and per-page visits;
• bounce rate and average visit duration;
• source of the visit (e.g., search engines) + keywords;
• access location;
• devices and browsers used.

Unlike Google Analytics, Plausible is a paid service, but it allows users to test all its features with a 30-day free trial. We’re very satisfied with it and can’t help but recommend it 👍

Learn more

Our Plausible dashboard

Implementation on our website

Plausible Analytics official site