In this article, Piwik Pro, Matomo and Google Analytics, the best-known analytics service, are briefly compared once again. We then present our solution for the successful (data) migration from Piwik Pro to Matomo.
Google Analytics (GA4/Universal Analytics)
Google Analytics is probably the best-known service for collecting and analyzing important data relating to user behavior and interactions for a website or app. However, you have to live with corresponding restrictions or limits in terms of access to the collected raw data, the retention period of the data or the quality of the reports.
Alternatively, you can reach for your wallet to mitigate the restrictions or limits somewhat. However, you will never get rid of these restrictions completely. In addition, data protection and privacy are not necessarily the focus of Google and therefore not of Google Analytics. It is therefore only possible to use Google Analytics in compliance with the GDPR with a correspondingly high level of effort, and the situation must always be reassessed in the event of legal changes. It should also be noted that the data collected is stored on US servers. This repeatedly leads to security concerns and debates, as Google then potentially has to make the data available to US authorities, depending on the legal situation.
Piwik Pro
Piwik Pro is a commercial alternative to Google Analytics and offers an all-in-one approach to data collection and analysis. Piwik Pro also focuses on hosting in the EU and protecting privacy to enable its customers to collect and analyze data in compliance with the GDPR. The implementation as a cloud-based SaaS solution and the similarity of the user interface also make it easier to switch from other providers, such as Google Analytics. Piwik Pro offers suitable integrations for the most important platforms and development frameworks as well as instructions on how to use and configure them.
As with many other providers of SaaS solutions, Piwik Pro could be used free of charge in the Core plan with corresponding limitations. However, this plan will be replaced by the new paid business plan in December 2025.
Matomo
Matomo is the open source solution for collecting and analyzing all important data in order to determine the relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) of your own website as accurately as possible. Although the focus is on web applications, thanks to the SDKs developed and provided by the Matomo community and Matomo's flexible tracking API, it is also possible to track users of mobile apps on Android or iOS, for example.
Another advantage of Matomo is its focus on data sovereignty and user privacy. This means that Matomo can be operated and used in compliance with the GDPR without any problems.
This is achieved, for example, by the option of hosting Matomo on-premise on your own infrastructure and thus retaining 100% control over the data collected and data access. In addition, Matomo offers numerous options for anonymizing and adjusting the collected data prior to data processing without compromising the accuracy required for the KPI. As the on-premise solution puts the infrastructure in your own hands, the flexibility of Matomo can be fully exploited without having to worry about data limits, data access options or vendor lock-in. There are therefore no limits to the scalability of the system.
In addition to the basic functions of Matomo, there is a flourishing ecosystem of free and commercial plug-ins as well as the option to develop your own plug-ins. This means that Matomo can be adapted to constantly changing requirements instead of having to adapt to the conditions of other solutions.
In our view, Matomo is the ideal solution for a GDPR-compliant analytics platform. Our teams can draw on many years of hosting experience with various Matomo instances. We have also gained a lot of experience in consulting, data analysis and development with Matomo over many years of working with a wide variety of customers and can offer our customers a comprehensive package.
How to successfully migrate (data) from Piwik Pro to Matomo
Once you have decided to switch to Matomo, the question of how to import your existing analytics data from other platforms to Matomo arises relatively quickly.
If you switch from Google Analytics to Matomo, an importer plugin is already available for this. No plugin was previously available for migrating from Piwik Pro.
To carry out such a migration, we have developed a transfer service that can be used to migrate analytics data from Piwik Pro to Matomo. This in-house development has already proven itself with customers and can now be offered to all existing Piwik Pro customers who decide to switch to Matomo.
Specialist: Matomo
What our Matomo specialists can do for you! We have been using Matomo in our projects for several years and recommend its use as a web analysis tool to our customers. Our specialists focus on your requirements, we offer youConsulting & conceptionImplementationWorkshops & training (remote or on-site)
We are happy to support you with the installation and setup of your Matomo instance - regardless of whether it is operated in the Matomo cloud, on our servers or on-premise in your data center. We replicate the processes and views known from the previous product in Matomo.
After completing the basic configuration and clarifying the transfer parameters, we transfer the raw data from Piwik Pro to Matomo.
So if you have been asking yourself the question "Stay or go?" since the announcement of the changes to the Piwik Pro pricing model or have already decided to switch to Matomo, we will be happy to support you with our know-how and expertise in every phase of your project and find the right solution for you.
Feel free to contact us without obligation. We will support you in successfully using Matomo for your tracking with full data control and data protection compliance.
