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Parse.ly is used to track and analyse our website performance and data. The data is used to help identify trends, both live and over time, …
Starting at $499 per month
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What is Parse.ly?
Parse.ly is a content optimization platform for online publishers. It provides in-depth analytics and helps maximize the performance of the digital content. It features a dashboard geared for editorial and business staff and an API that can be used…
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Popular Features
- Device and Browser Reporting (5)8.484%
- Pageview Tracking (5)8.181%
- Customizable Dashboards (6)7.777%
- Referral Source Tracking (6)7.676%
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- Setup fee required
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.parse.ly/pricing
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- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Starting price (does not include set up fee)
- $499 per month
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What is Parse.ly?
Parse.ly is an analytics platform built for content and designed with the belief that the most successful companies are the ones with the best content. Winning in the digital content world, though, isn't easy. You need to create feedback loops and listen, though data, to what your audience is telling you.
With 30 unique attention metrics, subscriber tracking, and audience segmentation, content creators, analysts, editors, marketers and communications professionals can use Parse.ly to:
Grow their business and improve key metrics like reader engagement, conversions, and retention through data-driven insights.
Act on immediate real-time audience insights or analyze historical data to get a clear picture of the past and plan for the future.
With a built-in personalization platform product teams can use Parse.ly to create dynamic content experiences powered by data and personalized by user on their website and in their CMS or WCM.
With our data pipeline platform data scientists and engineers can use our enriched clickstream data to spend less time on data infrastructure and more time on data analysis and insights.
Parse.ly works with 300+ enterprise companies using their trusted data infrastructure:
The #4 most widely installed premium web technology on high-traffic sites (according to BuiltWith).
Parse.ly is used by leading media and entertainment companies, DTC brands, Fortune 500 companies, B2B enterprise companies, and anyone who believes content can move their business forward.
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Parse.ly Integrations
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Parse.ly Technical Details
| Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
| Mobile Application | Apple iOS, Mobile Web |
Frequently Asked Questions
Parse.ly is a content optimization platform for online publishers. It provides in-depth analytics and helps maximize the performance of the digital content. It features a dashboard geared for editorial and business staff and an API that can be used by a product team to create personalized or contextual experiences on a website.
Parse.ly starts at $499.
Reviewers rate Reporting in real-time highest, with a score of 8.7.
The most common users of Parse.ly are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Reviews
(51-75 of 81)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
June 25, 2020
Parse.ly is a great way to help us track our traffic
We use Parse.ly to monitor live site traffic 24/7 - it's very handy to see as a quick snapshot how the day is tracking. We also read daily summary reports from Parse.ly looking at how each article performed and where the audience was coming from (direct, social, google, news etc).
- Easy to read statistics.
- Clean, functional layout.
- I like the live 'worm' that moves up and down during the day.
- The URLs that list where some traffic came from (i.e. Twitter) are sometimes hard to read.
- It would be great to see more detail of traffic sources. For example, if a spike of views come from Twitter it would be great to see if it is a specific tweet or account the bulk of views are coming from.
June 25, 2020
Parse.ly for beginners
It's being used by different departments across the company for website analytics, as we prefer not to use tools and platforms created by key competitors.
- The user-interface is clear, simple and easy-to-use.
- Designed with editors/marketers/content creators in mind.
- The support team are quick and helpful to respond.
- It's not as robust as Google or Adobe Analytics.
- The platform has a few bugs and issues.
May 21, 2020
Need Real-Time Data? Parse.ly Is There.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Parse.ly is largely used to track real-time traffic as well as a map where users go from the get-go.
- Tracking real-time traffic.
- Following users across the site.
- Showing traffic sources
- Reporting functionality could be improved.
- It would be helpful if Parse.ly updated content without a recrawl on our end.
- It would be helpful if we could isolate traffic by the time period of publication, not just by time period — e.g. be able to see traffic ONLY for pieces published in a certain time frame without the noise of other content.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Parse.ly to determine how stories are performing on our websites. Stories that perform better are bumped up to get more attention, while stories that don't perform as well are tried out in a different section or put in a less-visible spot.
- The real-time metrics are incredibly useful.
- I love how detailed the information can get. I can find out a breakdown of the origins of the traffic, so I know which came from a push notification, from FB or Twitter, from the site itself, from a newsletter, etc. And I can tell if people are visiting my sites via desktop or mobile, time spent on site, where they went on the site after the initial article, etc. I also can see how stories perform by reporter, source, keyword, etc.
- They have excellent customer service. Any support ticket I file receives prompt attention. Other organizations can be far less responsive, so it's always nice to know in the rare instance I experience an issue with Parse.ly I will get help quickly.
- Honestly, Parse.ly is by far my favorite tool. It does everything I need it to do, and I can't say that about a single other tool/program I use on a daily basis.
May 07, 2020
Parse.ly = user friendly reporting
Parse.ly is used to track engagement, source, and trends for our editorial content and report on editorial articles. Our company finds Parse.ly more user friendly for editors. I use Parse.ly primarily to track hot/trending articles (alerts) and what sources the audience is coming from.
- Trending article alerts.
- User friendly.
- Custom sorting (for article authors in our case).
- Automated reports.
- A bigger picture view.
- More detailed look into audience demographics.
- Customizing from a user standpoint (not set up).
February 22, 2020
Great tool for editorial teams looking to understand their content
Our editorial team uses Parse.ly to gauge the success of our content—traffic patterns, engagement, how it's traveling off-platform, etc. We also use it to determine when stories might be "popping" across the Medium platform that we may want to repromote or amplify (a custom program on our platform). We also use the "referrals" section to identify possible new partnerships/aggregation opportunities for our publications.
- Detailed Referral Sources: You can see exactly what websites are converting, and in some cases can get really granular to see what pages on the sites are converting (especially useful to see what Twitter users are talking about your content to see how it's resonating and identify influencers)
- Great Real-Time Metrics: Can quickly see how a post is performing and make changes to framing if needed; can see if it's working as intended on the platforms it's optimized for.
- Reporting functions are pretty basic. It would be great to see Parse.ly build out more custom options for reporting that get a bit more advanced for users that are more comfortable with data manipulation.
- Right now you can't adjust dashboards to show a weekly or monthly trend view—this is necessary and a pain point for us as we try to identify trends.
February 15, 2020
Helpful real-time data
We use it across the whole organization to track web traffic on our website, Richmond.com, so we can make better decisions about what we cover and what is of interest to our readers. Having real-time information about what people look at allows us to change on the fly and not have to wait a day or two.
- Live tracking of traffic.
- Breaking down by input.
- Can't see what people search on Google to reach stories.
- Archive only goes back a year.
February 11, 2020
Parse.ly makes data user-friendly and accessible to all.
We use Parse.ly across the whole organization. Parse.ly allows us to track engagement with our online content and when we see something picking up steam. It's useful to see both in terms of what content is resonating and what referrer is driving the traffic.
- Allows you to track the success of your content in real time
- Allows you to see where your traffic is coming from (referrer)
- A further breakdown into email insight
February 06, 2020
Parse.ly is an evolution of audience data for the modern newsroom
We use Parse.ly within the editorial news team and it guides our decisions when it comes to what content we create online as well as what is connecting with our audience. We previously were using Chartbeat but found that it lacked the depth of information that is found within Parse.ly, especially for an editorial team where some members might not be as tech savvy as others. It's easy to find the content that works, connects and the categories that attract the most audience.
- Real-time feedback on how audiences are consuming content on the site.
- Historical analytics of best performing content, including evergreen.
- The dashboard feels a little cluttered for some of the team.
- CrowdTangle integration would be great - this is a feature we miss from Chartbeat.
February 04, 2020
Parse.ly Review
We use Parse.ly across the whole organization. Editorial uses Parse.ly to drive real-time insights into how their content is being consumed and for campaign tracking to see email clicks in real time. The delivery team uses Parse.ly to view how branded content insights are doing. Commercial uses Parse.ly to share how individual articles are performing. And we use the Parse.ly dashboard on the screen for the company to track daily performance.
- UX for non-data people
- Flexible dashboard
- Incorporate average session per user reporting
- The main dashboard to compare different time periods settings (not just set at 8 weeks) and not just page views
February 03, 2020
Helps reporters identify popular stories
I'm only familiar with its use in our newspaper newsroom, although it may be used by other departments. In the newsroom, it helps reporters identify the most read stories and how readers found those stories. Knowing what is valuable to readers helps us focus our coverage and time to best satisfy those readers.
- Tracks readership volume by hour, day and month.
- Notes where the largest number of readers for a particular story come from.
- The story counts are erratic, depending where you look. If I look under my name for how many stories I've done, the number is predictably higher than if I search by all authors.
- Tracking where the reader last visited could be easier.
January 31, 2020
Solid performance in tracking web hits
The platform is used to track hits on stories and is partly used to determine which stories are resonating with our audience. It is helpful to know which stories spark reader interest, which can then lead to decisions by newsroom staff about which stories we should follow up on in the future.
- Provides a variety of metrics.
- Allows one to see total time on site for a particular stories.
- Sometimes the system crashes and things aren't collected.
- Search function for a particular story could be better.
January 24, 2020
Parse.ly is easy to use
Parse.ly is used to track analytics on our website. It's used by a team of several dozen people, allowing for real-time conversations about what we're seeing engagement on and what we're not. It allows us to swiftly make decisions and update the website in real-time.
- Minute-by-minute analytics
- Overview page offers daily trend comparative to past days
- Too often is stops working temporarily
- Make it easier to create a report
January 24, 2020
Great product for understanding traffic and intent
Parse.ly allows us to see realtime traffic and usage along with sharing and referrals. It helps us decide how to best curate and distribute our content.
- Track reader usage habits and trends.
- Measure time spent on site and the sources of traffic those visitors came from.
- Honestly, it's pretty close to everything I expected from it. Perhaps the search function could be a bit more robust.
January 23, 2020
I'd like to see the Parse.ly analytics for this review, because Parse.ly makes finding it out worthwhile
Parse.ly is used by our newsroom to track analytics for stories and reporters. It allows us to see peak times during a day and week when our audience visits the website. It allows us to track the reach of individual stories across time. And it all allows us to see how the number and reach of stories produced by individual journalists.
- The UI is very intuitive and easy to pick up.
- The analytics are accurate in real-time, allowing us to quickly to react to well or under-performing stories.
- Having more information about where links have been shared within a social media platform would be useful (Twitter handles, specific Facebook pages, etc.).
- The UI could afford to be a little more 'cluttered', presenting disparate data sets without needing to scroll down.
January 20, 2020
Easy to use, limited data
Parse.ly is used to monitor day-to-day web traffic and understand which articles are performing best. Parse.ly is used by both editors and the analytics team. The primary business problems Parse.ly addresses are how particular pieces of content are performing and what referral sources drives the most traffic to certain articles.
- Easy to use
- Real-time
- Less data than Google Analytics
- Standard version does not have audience segments, such as subscribers
January 17, 2020
Parse.ly Review
It's used across the editorial staff of my organization. This includes writers, editors, and editorial directors. To my knowledge, it's not actively used by any other department besides editorial. It primarily helps us address what stories are doing well, both in terms of immediately viewership and how stories are doing throughout the day. With that, we can better understand what topics readers are interested in and where we should be diverting our attention and time to.
- I like most how you can actively see where traffic is coming from, whether it's a specific tweet or website that hyperlinks to a story. Parse.ly is amazingly specific with this sort of thing
- The design is terrific and you can easily shift between seeing the top performing stories of the day and the top performing stories of the past ten minutes
- The one big thing for me is that, for some reason, Parse.ly is unable to give specific links to Facebook where traffic is coming from. We often get a lot of traffic from Facebook that isn't just New York Magazine pages, and it would be great to see what those pages are
- Sometimes if using Parse.ly on mobile the page crashes. Sometimes I'm also unable to see where traffic is coming from with specific sections (such as Twitter or Smartnews), it's left blank. I think that's probably just a bug
January 13, 2020
A reliable and useful platform, with some room to improve.
My company uses Parse.ly in its newsrooms to track daily and longterm engagement by our readers, which can influence the type of story we cover or the amount of coverage we pursue.
- Frankly, it does the simple task that it's supposed to do: track the number of people who visit a story and the average time they spent on said story, giving me a breakdown over the last several minutes, the last 24 hours, or a historical period of time.
- It offers an idea of whether readership is on par for any given day of the week, or whether engagement is below or exceeding the average readership for that day of the week.
- Before my current newsroom switched to Parse.ly, I used another another platform (its largest competitor), and there were things I miss from that platform. This may be more perception than reality. But with the other platform, I felt like I was getting more real-time, live data. I felt like I could see the number of people who were currently, at that very moment, on the page. While using Parse.ly, I feel like I'm seeing a count of people who visit the page over a set period of time.
- Retention is also very important to me. When looking at the dashboard on a different platform, I could see not only how many people were on the page at any given time, but also how long they were staying on average. Again, this information felt like it was being offered in real time, and it was right on the dashboard. With Parse.ly, it seems I have to click on the actual article to get that information.
It is being used across the organization and is the primary tool that we rely on to monitor content performance and to make decisions regarding both editorial direction and production. We also use it as a means of understanding how our content is socialized across channels online and where we should be promoting our stories in the future.
- Tracking time spent.
- Tracking referrals.
- Onsite navigation.
January 07, 2020
Excellent Analytics Platform
Parse.ly is being used across the whole organization. Reporters, editors, producers, and product managers all use it. It addresses the need for analytics to tell us how our content is performing and how audiences are engaging with our content. It tells us when the audience is on the site, and how users are finding our stories.
- Real-time analytics
- Historical analytics
- A/B testing missing
- The platform could be easier to use
December 16, 2019
Parse.ly is an excellent platform and I would recommend it
The digital department use Parse.ly to track the live traffic directed to our website, talkSPORT.com. Previous analytics solutions had not provided us with a particularly good live service, whereas Parse.ly appears to suit all our needs. Furthermore, the ability to see traffic sources is remarkably useful, and it has allowed us to grow our social traffic by targeting stories at specific markets.
- The live traffic analytics are very useful as they mean we can schedule stories in at times we know are best.
- Revealing traffic sources allows us to target stories at specific markets, and tinker headlines to various audiences.
- The average traffic vs. today's traffic marker is very useful for keeping ahead of our monthly target.
- Syncing problems, while rare, occur more often than I would hope, and when they occur it is impossible to track live traffic.
December 13, 2019
A New User in a New Industry and I Love Parse.ly!
We use Parse.ly to track all of our articles on our websites. We mostly look at visitors and average visitors over a historical period to get benchmarks and compare them to each other. We look for growth stories and to see if articles about a certain event do better than the average article. Only a few people in our organization use Parse.ly, those on the research and analytics team.
- User-friendly Interface
- Good Reporting - easy to use!
- I am new to the industry so I don't see any room for improvement yet!
December 12, 2019
Useful and easy to understand
We use Parse.ly to track traffic on the website and look at the traffic that individual stories and authors across the organization are drawing to the site. The information that Parse.ly gives us as authors allows us to make decisions on the types of stories we are pursuing.
- Gives author insight on specific traffic numbers for stories.
- Uses a simple format that is easily understandable.
- I would like to be able to breakdown stories by category or subject, not just author.
- When there are errors in the tracking, which isn't often, you miss out on crucial date for certain days or times.
December 04, 2019
Easy to use analytics tool
Across the whole organisation editorially. Parse.ly allows us to work out which articles are working and what is not. It also gives us top line stats on page views and other metrics for authors, sections, historic data, and campaigns like social/newsletters.
- Campaign page views - not easy in something like Google Analytics.
- Ease of interface.
- Email reports are good.
- UK filter on Currents.
December 04, 2019
Precise and easy to read!
It is used across the creative and writing departments in order to be able to check how our articles are doing. It is also used by the Analytics department and the management for similar reasons.
- The way it breaks down the traffic on the last 10 minutes is super quick.
- Browsing Parse.ly is very easy in general.
- The e-mails on strategy are actually useful.
- It did take us a while to find where we can see our longform articles that are hosted outside our website (on Atavist, for example).
- There are posts from 2-3 years ago that don't have the numbers they originally did. In some cases, the numbers Parse.ly displays are way, way lower that what it had counted back then.