Google Analytics vs. Pendo.io

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Google Analytics
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Google Analytics is perhaps the best-known web analytics product and, as a free product, it has massive adoption. Although it lacks some enterprise-level features compared to its competitors in the space, the launch of the paid Google Analytics Premium edition seems likely to close the gap.
$0
per month
Pendo.io
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Pendo.io is a product engagement platform with features for in-app analytics, surveys and feedback, and guidance.N/A
Pricing
Google AnalyticsPendo.io
Editions & Modules
Google Analytics 360
150,000
per year
Google Analytics
Free
Free
Free
Team
Contact sales team
Pro
Contact sales team
Enterprise
Contact sales team
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google AnalyticsPendo.io
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google AnalyticsPendo.io
Considered Both Products
Google Analytics

No answer on this topic

Pendo.io
Chose Pendo.io
Pendo is a lot easier to set up than Google Analytics, in my opinion. As a non-developer, it is important that I can go in and tag what needs to be tagged without having to fight for dev resources. Compared to WalkMe, I think Pendo just offered more customer analytics and was …
Chose Pendo.io
Google Analytics shows a high overview of how a page is performing. Unable to track individuals performing each action.
Chose Pendo.io
Pendo is much simpler than the competition:
  1. WalkMe seems to be very robust for guided walkthroughs, but the UI for both authors and visitors is clunky by comparison to Pendo.
  2. Google Analytics tracks anything and everything... but only if someone else has set it up properly. It's …
Chose Pendo.io
  • Heap was an excellent option. We also wanted to have the onboarding experience built-in as well, which is why we ultimately went away from them. I did speak to current users, and they loved the functionality of that platform.
  • In looking at Google Analytics, the free version …
Chose Pendo.io
Pendo.io was designed for product managers. It combines the goodness of several tools I used in the past into a one-stop shop that keeps me on top of many aspects of my job.
Chose Pendo.io
Better UI, pricing model, and data available. Most tools are either data tracking or surveying tools. Pendo is something in between.
Chose Pendo.io
We felt for our needs Pendo had a better fit for onboarding and ease of use by groups outside of Product. I think this still holds true and it's been easy for us to onboard into our product code.
Top Pros
Top Cons
TrustRadius Insights
Google AnalyticsPendo.io
Highlights

TrustRadius
Research Team Insight
Published

Google Analytics and Pendo.io are both analytics platforms for tracking user behavior and experience. Since the standard version of Google Analytics is free, it is ideal for individuals and small to midsize companies looking for robust tracking of user behavior on their websites. On the other hand, Pendo.io is popular with businesses looking for a platform to help them collect product feedback, track user engagement levels, and measure customer satisfaction. 

Features

Google Analytics is a fully-featured tool for monitoring and understanding the behavior of website and app users. It allows businesses to keep track of where most of their website traffic is coming from, and which parts of their site are attracting and engaging the most users. Google Analytics allows businesses to see their data in real-time, view user demographics, and conduct basic funnel reporting and marketing attribution modeling. The Google Analytics interface makes it easy to track multiple web properties at once and invite multiple team members to work from within one account. As part of the Google ecosystem of products and services, Google Analytics also integrates seamlessly with other Google products such as Google Ads, Google Search Console, Optimize, and Data Studio. 

Pendo.io’s primary focus is helping product teams measure user engagement, collect user feedback, and measure overall customer satisfaction. It has web analytics features similar to Google Analytics, but it offers unique features as well. For example, Pendo.io allows users to conduct in-app surveys and polls, segment user activity tracking by account type (e.g. free vs. pro), and the ability to create custom in-app user guides. According to reviewers on TrustRadius, Pendo.io’s customizable onboarding feature is great for businesses that want to proactively guide their users on how to navigate their product, adding tooltips or popups in spots where they think people may be led astray. 

Limitations

Though Google Analytics integrates seamlessly with other Google products such as Ads and Tag Manager, users say it can be difficult to integrate with smaller social media platforms. Additionally, Google Analytics does not offer exhaustive capabilities when it comes to tracking user behavior from Facebook or conversions from Facebook ads. Since Google Analytics often updates and adds new features, it can be difficult for users to navigate the frequently-changing interface. 

For its analytics simplicity, Pendo.io trades away some functionality. Businesses may find they can’t use Pendo.io’s analytics to track the user behavior they want or create a non-standard user segment. The user interface can be clunky and hard to navigate, and users on TrustRadius report that the quality of support has decreased as the product has become more popular.  

Pricing

The standard version of Google Analytics is free to use, however, users looking to connect Google Analytics to their Google Ads account will still need to pay for their ad budget. Google Analytics also does not offer users all the features that are available on the paid version of the platform, Google Analytics 360. For example, the free version does not include integration with Google BigQuery, advanced analytics, roll-up reporting across web properties, unsampled reporting, or access to the raw data. 

Pendo.io offers users a free trial version and three pricing tiers: Team, Pro, and Enterprise. The Team plan is the basic tier, while the Pro and Enterprise plans both include additional features such as integrations and premium customer support. The vendor also does not disclose pricing information on their website, but quotes are available from the vendor on request. 

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User Ratings
Google AnalyticsPendo.io
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(183 ratings)
8.6
(91 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(51 ratings)
9.0
(4 ratings)
Usability
9.9
(8 ratings)
10.0
(4 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(42 ratings)
9.7
(4 ratings)
Online Training
10.0
(2 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(7 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
6.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google AnalyticsPendo.io
Likelihood to Recommend
Google
Google Analytics is particularly well suited for tracking and analyzing customer behavior on a grocery e-commerce platform. It provides a wealth of information about customer behavior, including what products are most popular, what pages are visited the most, and where customers are coming from. This information can help the platform optimize its website for better customer engagement and conversion rates. However, Google Analytics may not be the best tool for more advanced, granular analysis of customer behavior, such as tracking individual customer journeys or understanding customer motivations. In these cases, it may be more appropriate to use additional tools or solutions that provide deeper insights into customer behavior.
Read full review
Pendo.io
Pendo is very well suited for startups and mid size product companies who are looking for -
  • Help in user experience building
  • Measuring the impact of a feature on the requirement phase itself
  • Advanced analytics to get a sense of how the product is working
  • Insights about necessary changes that are required to make the product better
Read full review
Pros
Google
  • Multiple reports to see website use and behavior
  • Allows you to customize reports with days, weeks, months, and years
  • You can build out a dashboard to easily view stats from multiple websites in one place
  • You can share analytics reports via the dashboard, automatically emailed PDFs or in other formats
Read full review
Pendo.io
  • Track usage across our platform (new and existing features) - where each customer clicks, how long they stay at certain areas within the software, etc.
  • To promote new features.
  • To train customers on how to use new features.
  • To survey our customers within the software.
Read full review
Cons
Google
  • Data sampling is somewhat inaccurate on the free tier - this is addressed in premium but is expensive.
  • Some of the UI is very similar in naming when presenting different data, some in-situ information might be useful.
  • Gotchas around filtering and data validation.
  • Implementation can be tricky, it can take a lot of time and expertise to get a full, accurate picture of your metrics.
Read full review
Pendo.io
  • I find the reporting and analytics to be a little light. They could improve custom reporting capabilities.
  • Would like to see the capabilities of the Pendo tagging tool built into the platform. (don't launch a separate product). I find the tagging tool does a much better job at selecting the components to be tagged than the platform does.
  • Sometimes takes a while to refresh counts when adding a new tag.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Google
We will continue to use Google Analytics for several reasons. It is free, which is a huge selling point. It houses all of our ecommerce stores' data, and though it can't account for refunds or fraud orders, gives us and our clients directional, real time information on individual and group store performance.
Read full review
Pendo.io
We have had an excellent experience with Pendo. When we've had questions or concerns, Pendo is very quick to respond and communicate with us. We have experienced top-notch customer support and customer engagement. We have actually modeled some of our implementation and product processes after Pendo's examples.
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Usability
Google
Google Analytics provides a wealth of data, down to minute levels. That is it's greatest detriment: find the right information when you need it can be a cumbersome task. You are able to create shortcuts, however, so it can mitigate some of this problem. Google is continually refining Analytics, so I do not doubt there will be improvements
Read full review
Pendo.io
Overall, Pendo provides a smooth interface, especially with the most recent update, and I couldn't imagine using or learning any other platform so product focused. From the moment I log into Pendo, I know where I'm going and what I'm looking for and I'm able to find that, through the interface, in as little time as possible. This helps keep me focused on doing other tasks at work so I'm not overburdened with hunting things down in the system
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Reliability and Availability
Google
We all know Google is at top when it comes to availability. We have never faced any such instances where I can suggest otherwise. All you need is a Google account, a device and internet connection to use this super powerful tool for reporting and visualising your site data, traffic, events, etc. that too in real time.
Read full review
Pendo.io
No answers on this topic
Performance
Google
This has been a catalyst for improving our site's traffic handling capabilities. We were able to identify exit% from our sites through it and we used recommendations to handle and implement the same in our sites. We have been increasing the usage of Google Analytics in our sites and never had any performance related issues if we used Analytics
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Pendo.io
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Google
The Google reps respond very quickly. However, sometimes they can overly call you to set up an apportionment. I'm very proficient and sometimes when I talk to reps, they give beginner tutorials and insights that are a waste of time. I wish Google would understand my level of expertise and assign me to a rep (long-term) that doesn't have to walk me through the basics.
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Pendo.io
They've been great anytime that we have needed help with something. They also have some really great help articles. We're able to figure most things out through their articles, but when we've had to call in they've been very helpful and we haven't had any problems. I'd highly recommend working with them.
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Online Training
Google
love the product and training they provide for businesses of all sizes. The following list of links will help you get started with Google Analytics from setup to understanding what data is being presented by Google Analytics.
  1. How to Use Google Analytics for Beginners – Mahalo’s how-to guide for beginners.
  2. A beginner’s guide to Google Analytics – A free eBook walking you through Google Analytics from setup to understanding what data is being presented.
  3. Getting to Know Your Google Analytics Dashboard – The title says it all! This is a brief post with one goal: to introduce you to the Google Analytics dashboard.
  4. Google Analytics for Beginners: How to Make the Most of Your Traffic Reports– This guide doesn’t cover setup, but it does a great job of helping you to better understand the data being presented.
  5. Google Analytics Video Tutorial 1: Setup – A video presentation that walks you through Google Analytics setup.
  6. Google Analytics Video Tutorial 2: Essential Stats – A video presentation that introduces you to some of the most important data being presented in Google Analytics.
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Pendo.io
The training schedule was well thought out and tailored to meet our needs. Chantelle stayed with us through the whole implementation and made sure that we were good to go.
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Implementation Rating
Google
I think my biggest take away from the Google Analytics implementation was that there needs to be a clear understanding of what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve it before you start. Originally the analytics were added to track visitors, but as we became more savvy with the product, we began adding more and more functionality, and defining guidelines as we went along. While not detrimental to our success, this lack of an overarching goal resulted in some minor setbacks in implementation and the collection of some messy data that is unusable.
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Pendo.io
Use Segment to install and cut developers out of the work cycle!
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Alternatives Considered
Google
I have not used Adobe Analytics as much, but I know they offer something called customer journey analytics, which we are evaluating now. I have used Semrush, and I find them much better than Google Analytics. I feel a fairly nontechnical person could learn Semrush in about a month. They also offer features like competitive analysis (on content, keywords, traffic, etc.), which is very useful. If you have to choose one among Semrush and Google Analytics, I would say go for Semrush.
Read full review
Pendo.io
WalkMe is an industry leader, but they charge an arm and a leg. Working with them you get a lot of support and CSM time, but is it really worth that price tag? Pendo.io was an easy choice for that simple reason.
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Scalability
Google
Google Analytics is currently handling the reporting and tracking of near about 80 sites in our project. And I am not talking about the sites from different projects. They may have way more accounts than that. Never ever felt a performance issue from Google's end while generating or customising reports or tracking custom events or creating custom dimensions
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Pendo.io
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Google
  • It has helped us gain understanding of what is going on on our website.
  • It has helped us determine areas that need fixing (i.e. pages with extremely high bounce rates may need to be redone).
  • It has helped us understand our biggest avenues for bringing traffic to the website and business in general.
  • It has helped guide our website redesign.
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Pendo.io
  • We have had an ROI in reduced support contacts.
  • We have had increased NPS scores due to our ability to target messaging for the right reasons to the right audience members rather than blanket distribution of information.
  • Delayed deployment in certain environments (being worked through) has led to a delay in one business area, but it is not public facing yet so we aren't heavily impacted by that yet.
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ScreenShots