Analytics
Matomo vs GA4
Matomo is the choice when data ownership is a requirement — public sector, health, anything where a regulator asks where the data lives. GA4 is the choice when you buy Google traffic and need the loop closed.
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Matomo or Google Analytics 4 — which should you use?
Matomo is the choice when data ownership is a requirement — public sector, health, anything where a regulator asks where the data lives. GA4 is the choice when you buy Google traffic and need the loop closed. Matomo starts at Cloud from roughly €19/month; self-hosting costs only your server (free tier: Self-hosted On-Premise edition is free; cloud has a trial.); Google Analytics 4 starts at $0 (free tier: Free for standard use.). Prices are list prices and change, so check the vendor pages before buying.
Last updated 3 August 2026
Matomo is the long-running open-source alternative to Google Analytics, and its selling point hasn't changed: run it on your own infrastructure and no third party sees your visitor data.
It also kept the familiar visits-and-sessions model, which is why teams frustrated by GA4's event-based reporting keep looking at it.
Side by side
Matomo and Google Analytics 4 in short.
Matomo
Open-source analytics you can self-host, with a paid cloud option hosted in the EU.
- Free
- Self-hosted On-Premise edition is free; cloud has a trial.
- Paid from
- Cloud from roughly €19/month; self-hosting costs only your server
Good at
- Self-hosting means 100% data ownership and no third-party processor
- Familiar sessions-and-visits reporting, plus heatmaps and session recording as features
- Can be configured to run without cookies and without consent in many EU setups
Weak at
- Self-hosting is a real maintenance job at scale — the database grows fast
- No native Google Ads bidding integration
Google Analytics 4
Google's free event-based analytics.
- Free
- Free for standard use.
- Paid from
- $0
Good at
- Free, with free BigQuery export
- Conversion import into Google Ads for smart bidding
- Huge ecosystem of tutorials, consultants and integrations
Weak at
- Data goes to Google; several EU regulators have raised questions about earlier versions
- Event model and interface frustrate most casual users
The differences
Where they actually diverge.
| Feature | Matomo | Google Analytics 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Data location | Your server, or EU cloud | Google's infrastructure |
| Cost | Free self-hosted; €19+/month cloud | Free |
| Reporting model | Sessions and visits | Events |
| Ads integration | Import only | Native |
| Maintenance | Yours, if self-hosted | None |
Pick one
Which one fits you.
Choose Matomo if
- A regulator, client or procurement form asks where visitor data is stored
- You want heatmaps and analytics from one self-hosted tool
- The GA4 interface has stopped anyone looking at data
Choose Google Analytics 4 if
- Google Ads is a real channel for you
- Nobody has time to maintain a server
- You want free raw data in BigQuery
When neither is the answer
If you just want to know which pages grew this month, Plausible or Fathom answer that in one screen with no server to run.
Questions
Common questions.
Is Google Analytics banned in the EU?
No. Several data protection authorities ruled against specific Universal Analytics implementations in 2022 over US data transfers. The EU-US Data Privacy Framework changed the legal basis in 2023, and GA4 added controls. It remains a contested area — take legal advice rather than a blog post's word.
How much server does self-hosted Matomo need?
Under about 100,000 monthly pageviews, a modest VPS with MySQL is fine. Beyond that you need archiving cron jobs tuned and more database resources, or the cloud version starts looking cheap.
Prices are list prices published by each vendor and change often — check the linked pricing pages before you buy. We take no affiliate commission and nobody pays to appear here.
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