Piwik Analytics for those who know
Updated April 29, 2015
Piwik Analytics for those who know
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
2.2.0
Overall Satisfaction with Piwik
We use Piwik as an alternative to Google Analytics for our clients who want to track their web site statistics and would rather not have their data hosted by Google. In addition, we use it to track our own website's data.
Pros
- Multiple sites can be easily configured and tracked in one central dashboard.
- There is more than one way to track the site visits - javascript is not necessary (but is of course the easiest way to track)
- With the new version 2.0, various reports can be 'widgetized' and embedded in other web pages that are not necessarily part of the main Piwik domain (i.e. you can embed live reports in a client's intranet)
Cons
- Initial setup is simple, but you'll need to know something about your server environment.
- Importing raw data from server logs is not trivial, and takes a bit of work to get right.
- As with any analytics program, Piwik has enabled us to look at where the traffic is going and how to optimize for that traffic. In particular, the nightly email reports keep the design and account staff engaged with the sites and give them a 'big picture' view.
I have used Google Analytics in the past and still do for our clients who wish to use it, although I am not absolutely familiar with its features. AWStats & Urchin of course analyze the raw server logs, but are not as feature rich or configurable as Piwik.
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