Google Analytics 4 vs Matomo

Verdict

These two are closer in what they report than in what they assume about your data. Google Analytics 4 is a free, hosted product that works best when the rest of your marketing already runs on Google: its links to Google Ads, Search Console and BigQuery are the reason most teams stay. Matomo covers the same ground — traffic, events, goals, funnels — but is open source, can be self-hosted, and treats the data as yours alone.

So the question is rarely features. It is whether where the data lives, and who else can use it, matters to your organisation. If it does not, GA4 costs nothing and every agency and analyst you hire will already know it. If it does — because of regulation, a privacy commitment, or a client contract — Matomo removes the argument entirely.

Both apply their own definitions to familiar metrics. GA4's engagement rate and its inverse bounce rate are not the classic bounce calculation, so expect numbers to move if you switch, and run the two side by side before you retire either.

Choose Google Analytics 4 if

• Paid media on Google is a large share of your spend and you want conversions flowing back to bidding.
• You want a free product with no infrastructure to run.
• You plan to export raw events to a warehouse and already use Google Cloud.
• Your team and agencies already know it.

Choose Matomo if

• You need the data on your own servers, or in a specific region, and need to prove it.
• You want to avoid consent-dependent modelling and report on collected data only.
• You want heatmaps, session recordings and a tag manager from the same vendor.
• You have someone to run it, or are happy to pay for the hosted version instead.

What it costs to switch

Historical data does not move between them. Plan for a period of dual tagging, a rebuilt set of goals and campaign conventions checked on both sides, and new dashboards. The tracking change is a day's work; rebuilding trust in the numbers takes a quarter.