Matomo Alternative for WordPress: The Criteria That Count

People looking for a Matomo alternative are rarely looking for more features. Usually it's the opposite: fewer parts that need maintaining. These five criteria separate the alternatives that deliver on that from those that merely shift the effort elsewhere.

Criterion 1: How many systems will you be running afterward?

This is the question that determines the effort. An alternative that brings its own installation, its own database, or its own cron job has moved your problem, not solved it. Check: does everything run within WordPress, or does something get added alongside it?

Criterion 2: Where are the numbers stored?

If the reports live in the site's database, they're automatically covered by the backup and by WordPress user management. If they live somewhere else, you need a separate answer for both — and, if in doubt, a data processing agreement.

A good test: imagine restoring a backup from last week. Are the visitor numbers then from last week too? If not, they're stored outside.

Criterion 3: Does it measure without cookies — by default?

Many tools can work cookie-free if you configure them correctly. The difference lies in what happens when nobody configures anything. Kakapo Analytics has no cookie option: it measures the way it measures, and the question never comes up.

Criterion 4: What's included, and what costs extra?

With many providers, heatmaps, session recordings, form analysis, and A/B tests are add-on purchases. Add up the final total, not the starting price. In Kakapo Analytics, these sections are part of the plugin.

Criterion 5: Who can see which numbers?

As soon as more than one person is involved, this becomes a practical matter. If the alternative comes with its own user management, you maintain two lists. If it relies on WordPress roles, you maintain one. Kakapo Analytics grants access to individual sections per role; the system pages are excluded from this.

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