Matomo vs Open Web Analytics: What are the differences?

Introduction:

Website analytics tools are essential for tracking and analyzing visitor behavior, helping businesses make data-driven decisions. Matomo and Open Web Analytics (OWA) are two popular open-source options for web analytics. While they share similarities, there are notable differences that set them apart.

1. Data Ownership and Control: One key difference between Matomo and Open Web Analytics is the level of control and ownership over data. Matomo provides full control over the data collected, allowing users to host and own their analytics data on their own servers. In contrast, Open Web Analytics offers less control as it collects and stores data on its own servers, leaving the ownership and control of the data with the OWA service provider.

2. Customization and Flexibility: Matomo offers a high degree of customization and flexibility. Users have the freedom to tailor reports to their specific needs, create custom dashboards, and apply advanced filtering and segmentation options. Open Web Analytics, while still customizable, may offer a more limited range of options for customization compared to Matomo.

3. Plugins and Integrations: Both Matomo and Open Web Analytics support plugin architectures, allowing for the integration of additional functionalities. However, Matomo has a larger and more active plugin community, offering a wide range of pre-built plugins and integrations with other popular tools and platforms. Open Web Analytics, while it does have an active community, may have a more limited selection of plugins and integrations.

4. Interface and User Experience: Matomo aims to provide a clean and user-friendly interface, making it easy for users to navigate and access the desired analytics data efficiently. Open Web Analytics also offers an intuitive user interface, but some users may find Matomo's visualizations and overall user experience to be more polished and user-friendly.

5. Privacy and GDPR Compliance: Privacy and data protection have become increasingly important in today's digital landscape. Matomo takes privacy seriously and offers robust features to help users comply with data privacy regulations such as GDPR. Open Web Analytics also provides options to respect user privacy, but the level of dedicated privacy features and compliance may vary compared to Matomo.

6. Community Support and Development: Both Matomo and Open Web Analytics have active user communities and receive regular updates. However, Matomo has a larger and more established community, with a strong developer base consistently working on improvements and bug fixes. Open Web Analytics, while actively maintained, may have a comparatively smaller community and slower development cycle.

In summary, Matomo and Open Web Analytics differ in terms of data ownership and control, customization and flexibility, plugins and integrations, interface and user experience, privacy and GDPR compliance, as well as community support and development.