You’ve got a beautiful and responsive website filled to the brim with engaging content. Every page and blog post is SEOed. Your digital store is so clean and intuitive, it looks like the lovechild of Apple and Amazon. And your social media game is on point.

Every ‘i’ is dotted. Every ‘t’ is crossed.

So, you’d probably think I’m crazy if I said, “That’s not enough.”

And even if you didn’t think I was crazy, you’d want me to be crazy. After all, you’ve spent hours and hours (not to mention all those dollars), putting every piece of the puzzle in place.

How could all of this not be enough?

WHY YOU NEED AN ANALYTIC TOOL FOR YOUR SITE…

Today’s web is an ongoing process. And unless you’re analyzing all that incoming data (things like clicks, conversions, bounce rates, social media engagement, etc.), your state-of-the-art, cutting-edge online presence is destined for the garbage bin.

You need a tool that can take that data and give you a clear picture of where you are – and how to get where you want to be.

When you think of online analytic tools, your mind likely shoots to that classic (and free) mainstay: Google Analytics. And Google Analytics is great… It can just be a little complicated if you’re new to the whole analytics game (and don’t worry, we will cover it in our list).

But what if you’re not a data-nerd?

What if, like Sgt. Joe Friday, you want to be able to ask, “Just the facts, ma’am”?

What if you want to easily…

• Get a clear picture of your visitors – including leads and conversions?
• Discover your greatest sources of traffic?
• Gauge the success/failure of your online marketing efforts?
• Learn how people navigate your site so you can make it more user-friendly?
• Find out where you lose prospective customers?
• Optimize your site so it’ll climb the rankings like King Kong up the Empire State Building?

It’s all possible. But to do it, you’re going to need an analytic tool. Fortunately for you, I’m about to give you a rundown of the top 10 analytic tools for websites in 2020. So, let’s jump right into it…

#1 Oribi Analytics

Oribi prides itself on making online analytics as simple as possible.  Rather than blasting you with every piece of data imaginable, Oribi focuses on what really matters. By doing this, they provide a more streamlined and user-friendly experience than many other analytic tools. You can tell by the dashboard that this is a service that’s focused on helping the average Joe (or Jane) understand what’s going on with their website and how to make it more effective. One of the other things that makes Oribi stand out is the way it incorporates information from your social media channels to help you optimize every aspect of your online presence.

KEY FEATURES

• Dynamic and Automated Processes – Oribi makes it easy to track pages and define conversion goals without having to deal with messy code. They also will automatically update any events that you add to your site.
• Simple and Practical Reports – Oribi doesn’t just provide you with a list of facts about your site. It lets you know – visually – which pages are working and which aren’t. And it gives you advice on how to optimize things.
• Marketing Analyses – Oribi provides reports that will tell you exactly how well your marketing efforts are doing, broken down by channel.
• Analyzing Your Customer’s Journey – Oribi allows you to follow individual visitors to your site, across multiple sessions. You can also check out the journeys of particular segments of your audience.

PRICING

You can sign up for a 10-day trial to test drive Oribi. Once you decide to make the investment, it will cost you $350 per month (or $3,600 per year) for a standard license and $500 per month (or $4.800 per year) for an agency license.

PROS

• Incredibly intuitive and easy-to-use
• Events-based analytics
• Explains why things are happening
• Gives advice on how to fix problems
• Responsive customer support

CONS

• Pricey
• Lack of ROI tracking
• Only provides PDF reports; no CSV or XLS

#2 Clicky

Though it’s not the prettiest analytic tool of the bunch, if you’re looking for a no-nonsense, real-time analytic tool, Clicky will definitely do. In fact, in some ways, it will do better than many of its competitors. It provides a tight balance of ease-of-use with a hefty attention to detail. And though it’ll give you all the data you could possibly want (sometime in interesting ways, like their heat maps), it won’t overwhelm you.

KEY FEATURES

• Ease-of-Use – Clicky is simple. There’s nothing flashy or fancy about the interface or dashboard. But it gets the job done and helps you focus on what really matters – the data and what they mean.
• Heat Maps – Check out exactly how your visitors engage with your site through detailed heatmaps you can sort by page, visitor, or segment.
• Twitter Analytics – Clicky has a better Twitter integration than many of the other analytic tools on our list, giving you the ability to search Twitter for mentions of your site going back to Twitter’s earliest days.
• Details, Details, Details – Clicky doesn’t skimp on the data. They provide you with highly detailed reports on every aspect of your site.

PRICING

Clicky offers a free trial as well as a free, limited plan. If you want all the details, you can choose between a Pro Plan ($9.99 per month), Pro Plus Plan ($14.99 per month), and Pro Platinum Plan ($19.99 per month).

PROS

• Affordably priced
• Easy to use once set up
• Twitter & video analytics included
• Effective real-time tracking

CONS

• Cheaper plans lack key features
• It can be difficult to get everything set up
• Outdated design/interface

#3 Whois Visiting

WhoisVisiting is an analytic tool that’s designed to help B2B businesses get new leads, hold on to them longer, and convert them into customers. Since it’s more narrowly focused than many of the other analytic tools we’re looking at here, it’s better at what it does. It will help you discover more about the people visiting your site – so they become actual people rather than mere numbers. It also provides more tools to connect with them right from your site. As a result, it’s not going to be your best option if you don’t fit its target market. But if you do… few tools are better.

KEY FEATURES

• Learn More About Your Visitors – When anyone visits your site, WhoisVisiting will create a profile for them and give you details that you’d otherwise miss out on, including their company’s contact information. This makes following up with them much easier.
• Trigger Alerts – You can set up alerts so that WhoisVisiting will immediately let you know when certain people log on to your site.
• Analyze Your Visitors – WhoisVisiting will categorize your visitors as a ‘hot lead’, ‘ignored visitor’ and more so you know exactly who to pursue and who stumbled onto your site by accident.

PRICING

WhoisVisiting offers a free, 14-day trial so you can test it out. And if you decide to go forward with them, your price will depend on how many unique visitors you get per month, starting at $69 and moving up from there.

PROS

• Focused on B2B
• Simple price structure
• Simplifies lead generation

CONS

• Focused on B2B
• Doesn’t provide data on users with fixed IP addresses
• No goal, conversion, or site search tracking

#4 Google Analytics

Google Analytics is the ‘Old Faithful’ of the analytic tool world. It’s a cloud-based tool that will allow you to track your visitors’ every moves and interactions. It’s been the industry standard for years. Unfortunately, as time has gone on, it’s lagged behind many of the other analytic tools in features because it’s focused on spitting out hard data – and little else. However, Google has recently begun to integrate it with some of its other platforms, creating a more robust system – even if it isn’t the best.

 

KEY FEATURES

• It’s Google! – This is Google we’re talking about. So you can be confident that it’s not going to randomly go out on you. In addition, it’s going to continue to receive updates and support into the foreseeable future.
• It’s free! – Yes, Google Analytics is free. And that’s great when you compare it to many of the other services on this list… some of which can cost hundreds of dollars per month!
• Integrated with Google Ads – Google Ads is one of the best ways to pay for exposure. Everyone uses Google Ads. And Google Analytics makes integrating the two systems incredibly easy.
• Powerful – Because it’s Google, it has a ton of features… you just might get lost in a maze of menus to find them.

PRICING

Google Analytics comes in two flavors – free, which is what most people will use and which contains plenty of features to keep you busy for a long time… and premium, which costs $150,000 per year and will only interest you if you represent a multinational corporation.

PROS

• The industry standard
• Tons of data available to analyze
• Real-time, detailed tracking available

CONS

• Steep leaning curve
• Can eat up a computer’s RAM
• Support can be lacking

#5 Smartlook

Smartlook offers you a myriad of ways to analyze your site’s visitor data. In fact, that’s what it’s completely focused on – painting a picture of your visitors, how they interact with your site, where they go, and when they leave. All of this data will help you hone your site’s user experience, leading to more sales. And they don’t just offer analytics for your site, they also do app analytics which is something to keep in mind if your business engages customers on multiple platforms.

KEY FEATURES

• Visitor Playback – Smartlook records everything that every visitor does and provides you with a tool that lets you play it all back in detail. Advanced filtering is also available, letting you segment your visitors so you can see how every group interacts with your site.
• Detailed Heatmaps – Get a visual of how people interact with your site. You can even segment the heatmaps to see how different groups approach your site differently.
• Event & Funnel Analytics – You get the ability to perform detailed analyses of your events and funnels. Learn exactly what’s holding your site back and get the understanding to fix it.

PRICING

You can access a free version of Smarlook with several limitations (including the absence of ‘always-on recording’) or you can pay $31 per month for the Starter Plan or $79 per month for the Power Plan.

PROS

• Detailed analysis of your every user
• Customizable, easy-to-use dashboard
• Heatmaps, event & funnel analytics, and more!

CONS

• Issues have been known to occur with the always-on recording
• Not always mobile friendly
• Occasional bugs
• Privacy concerns since visitors are being recorded

#6 Fullstory

If you’re looking for a full-featured, easy-to-use analytic platform that goes beyond analytics, Fullstory may be your best bet. Every one of your visitors’ moves is captured by Fullstory. Then, you’re able to see their experience in its entirety. Every keystroke. Every mouse click. Every page that causes half of them to bounce. It’s all intuitive and simple. Like several other platforms we’ve mentioned already, Fullstory goes beyond just giving you the full story (see what I did there?). It helps you understand what you need to chance, and how.

KEY FEATURES

• Know Every Move Your Visitors Make – Fullstory keeps a meticulous log of every visitor’s journey through your site. Then, they put all that data in easy to see and understand charts, etc. This information can go a long way toward helping you hone your site and make it easier to navigate.
• Easy-To-Use Dashboard – No matter what you’re trying to achieve with Fullstory, they make it easy. The dashboard (and platform as a whole) just makes sense and it’s pleasing to look at.
• Flag Frustrating Moments – As I’ve already said, Fullstory doesn’t just give you data. It goes far beyond. It analyzes your visitors moves so that key frustration and error points can be caught and fixed.
• Team Tools – Fullstory is built for teams. Teammates can add notes, share sessions, and more. This makes it easy to collaborate with others.

PRICING

Fullstory offers a free trial of its platform as well as a free plan that limits you to 1,000 sessions per month. If you decide to go with the Business or Enterprise plans, you’ll have to schedule a call with them because pricing varies depending on the size of your business.

PROS

• Video recording that lets you see what your customers see
• Simple and easy-to-use interface
• Lots of filters based on visitors’ actions

CONS

• Pricing is hidden until you call (and there are complaints out there about it being too high)
• Lacks funnel-building features
• Privacy concerns since visitors are being recorded

#7 Heap

Heap is an easy-to-install and easy-to-use analytic tool that specializes in helping you understand the individual visitors to your site. Like several other tools on this list, Heap captures every move of your visitors and uses that information to give you a detailed look at how your site is working – and isn’t. It includes a ton of sought-after features, like funnels, user search and interactions, custom event monitoring, and more. And since all data is captured in real-time, every report is up-to-date.

KEY FEATURES

• Customizable Interface – Heap’s dashboard is fully customizable and easy-to-use. Data is visualized in attractive charts and graphs, making it easy on the eyes.
• Follow Every Visitor – Heap allows you to examine the behavior of each visitor, even over multiple sessions. This can give you a window into the way your customers think and act.
• Increase Conversions Through Funnels – Heap’s funnel feature gives you the chance to see exactly where your bottlenecks are and what may be keeping leads from turning into customers. Measuring the effectiveness of A/B testing is also a snap with Heap.

PRICING

Heap offers a free plan for sites that see less than 5,000 sessions per month. You can move to the Growth plan or Enterprise plan if you need more sessions/projects. But prices for both plans can only be obtained by calling Heap.

PROS

• Intuitive interface that’s easy to navigate and use
• Includes lots of options regarding funnels, user tracking, and more
• A full set of features for conducting A/B tests

CONS

• Price can only be obtained by calling
• Can be challenging/lengthy to set up

#8 KissMetrics

KissMetrics is an online analytic tool that’s geared toward helping businesses optimize their marketing strategies and practices. It accomplishes this the same way that many of the other tools on this list get their work done: by closely tracking every user and analyzing all that date. This ends up giving you a better picture of your customers and it helps you understand what they expect and want – as well as how to meet their needs more efficiently.

KEY FEATURES

• Highly Integratable – KissMetrics integrates with almost any third party platform you can imagine, from Facebook and Instagram to Slack and WooCommerce. If your online presence is spread across multiple platforms (as many are), KissMetrics makes sure you don’t miss a beat.
• Intelligent Campaigns – With KissMetrics, you can increase sales and engagement through automated e-mail campaigns that run exactly when you need them to.
• Segment and Analyze Your Audience – KissMetrics has a robust set of features that it uses to analyze every move of your visitors and gives you the power to look at them according to any kind of segment imaginable.

PRICING

Unfortunately, KissMetrics doesn’t offer a free trial or free plan. It starts at $250 per month for the cheapest plan and goes up to $850 per month for the most expensive.

PROS

• Simple user interface
• Intuitive social media integrations
• Easy-to-read and easy-to-understand reports
• Geared toward B2C businesses

CONS

• No free trial or free plan available; pricey
• Initial setup can be confusing
• Service can be sub-par

#9 Woopra

Woopra bills itself as an analytic that’s designed for “product, marketing, sales and support teams.” As that tagline implies, it’s a tool that’s designed to be implemented and used broadly. It has over fifty one-click integrations (everything from Zendesk to Google Ads). Its interface is simple and elegantly designed but powerful enough to give even the most data-driven employee plenty to chew on. And it’s designed to optimize every aspect of your site’s user experience – from onboarding to check-out and beyond.

KEY FEATURES

• Robust Feature Set – Woopra is built to analyze every ounce of data that comes from your users, no matter how big or small, and no matter where it comes from. All of this data is then filtered through its system so you can know your customers better. And knowing them better will allow you to design your online presence around their needs.
• Customer Profiles – Customer profiles are created for every user that logs on to your site – whether they’ve been there a thousand times or only jumped on for a few seconds. You can then synchronize the data Woopra collects with your own customer data so that you’re able to serve them before they even realize they have a need.
• A Wide Net of Data Collection – Woopra casts a wide net in its data collection efforts. It will gather information from your CRM, mobile marketing automation, social, and support tools. Then, it will integrate that with everything collected in Woopra proper. This makes it a powerful tool for seeing the big picture of your online presence.

PRICING

Woopra’s core plan is free but limits the amount of integrations, actions, and reports you can access. It also only retains your data for 90 days. You can upgrade to the Pro Plan but it will cost you $999 per month. And if you want to move to the Enterprise Plan, you’ll have to contact Woopra and get a custom price.

PROS

• Simple interface that allows easy access to all your data
• The ability to tag, follow, and understand every visitor
• Easy to set-up and use
• Free plan is available

CONS

• Some users have found certain data to be inaccurate
• Pricey if you need more than the free plan offers

#10 Statcounter

Statcounter has two big goals: to help you increase your site’s traffic and generate sales leads. Every feature is built to help you accomplish those two goals. So, how do they do it? Statcounter has an intuitive dashboard that will give you an overview of your whole site in seconds – from traffic sources to popular pages to engagement stats and exit links. It also gives you the ability to sync your Google keyword data so you can learn more about the searches that are leading people to your site. And if that’s not all, like most of the other analytic tools mentioned here, you can get a full rundown of how your users navigate the site.

KEY FEATURES

• E-mail Reports – Setting up e-mail reports that summarize the data you need to see on a regular basis is easy. You can have it send a mobile report daily, weekly, or monthly.
• Mobile App – Statcounter’s mobile app gives you all the data you need about your site, regardless of where you find yourself. It’s available on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.
• Easily Track Paid Traffic – Monitoring your ad campaigns is simple with Statcounter and it even includes ‘click fraud’ detection so you don’t waste any of your marketing budget.
• Simple Dashboard – Statcounter’s dashboard gives you all the major information you need to asses your site’s current health at a glance.

PRICING

Statcounter offers a 30-day free trial as well as a limited free plan. If you want the full-featured tool, you’ll have to subscribe to one of their paid plans which start at $9 per month.

PROS

• Easy to install and use
• Reports are simple, clean, and straightforward to understand
• Has ‘click fraud’ detection to keep you from wasting valuable ad dollars
• Setup alerts so you’ll know when certain users log in to your site

CONS

• Lacks the more advanced features of other analytic tools
• No real-time visitor reports
• Lacks some of the more advanced visuals of rival tools

WRAPPING UP

By now it should be obvious that no matter what your site’s analytic needs are, there is a tool to meet them. Whether you’re a B2B company, a B2C company, an influencer with a growing blog, or something else entirely – you can find an analytic tool above that will accomplish what you need it to at a price that’s affordable.

And since many of these tools offer free trials (or even whole free plans), it would be a great idea to test several out. There’s no reason to fully commit until you’ve explored and seen which tool is going to provide you with the answers you need.

Finally, one more word of advice. It’s easy to see these platforms as a silver bullet. But they aren’t.

Succeeding in today’s online marketplace isn’t as simple as setting up your site and installing one of these tools. You need to actually make use of the data and reports they provide. After all, a tool is only as good as the person wielding it.

So, start wielding.

And if you’ve had experience with any of the tools I’ve mentioned here (or maybe some others that I didn’t mention), leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

If you liked this post check out our recent post on The Best SEO Tools for 2020