Comparing Data in Google and Netlify Analytics
the datasets weren’t even close for me.
Google Analytics works by putting a client-side bit of JavaScript on your site. Netlify Analytics works by parsing server logs server-side. They are not exactly apples to apples, feature-wise. Google Analytics is, I think it’s fair to say, far more robust. You can do things like track custom events which might be very important analytics data to a site. But they both have the basics. They both want to tell you how many pageviews your homepage got, for instance.
There are two huge things that affect these numbers:
- Client-side JavaScript is blockable and tons of people use content blockers, particularly for third-party scripts from Google. Server-side logs are not blockable.
- Netlify doesn’t filter things out of that log, meaning bots are counted in addition to regular people visiting.
So I’d say: Netlify probably has more accurate numbers, but a bit inflated from the bots.
Also worth noting, you can do server-side Google Analytics. I’ve never seen anyone actually do it but it seems like a good idea.
One bit of advice from Jim:
Never assume too much from a single set of data. In other words, don’t draw all your data-driven insights from one basket.
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