If you’ve decided to move away from Google Analytics 4, you’ve already made the right call. The harder question is what to move to.
Two names come up repeatedly in the WordPress privacy-analytics space: Active Analytics and Matomo. Both are GDPR-compliant. Both use first-party data. And both position themselves as the ethical alternative to surveillance-based analytics.
But they are built for fundamentally different site owners, with different budgets, different technical tolerances, and different definitions of what “analytics” means in practice.
This guide gives you an honest, side-by-side comparison so you can make the right choice for your WordPress site — not the most popular one.
What Is Active Analytics?
Active Analytics is a lightweight WordPress plugin that tracks pageviews, users, referrers, devices, and real-time activity using cookieless, first-party data stored directly in your WordPress database. Everything lives inside your existing WordPress dashboard. There is no separate interface, no separate server, and no external service of any kind.
It is built specifically for WordPress. It installs in seconds, requires no configuration to start collecting data, and is designed to answer the questions most site owners actually ask: who is visiting, which pages are popular, and where traffic is coming from.
Pricing: from €29/year (Regular) or €116 lifetime.
What Is Matomo?
Matomo (formerly Piwik) is a full-featured open-source analytics platform. It can be self-hosted on your own server or used as a cloud-hosted SaaS. It offers a feature set that rivals Google Analytics: heatmaps, session recordings, A/B testing, funnel analysis, goal tracking, e-commerce analytics, and more.
Matomo Cloud starts at around €19/month for under 50,000 monthly page views. Self-hosting is free for the core platform, but paid add-ons (heatmaps, funnels, form analytics, etc.) are priced separately and costs add up quickly.
Head-to-Head Comparison
| Active Analytics | Matomo | |
|---|---|---|
| Where data lives | Your WordPress database | Your server (self-hosted) or Matomo Cloud |
| Setup time | Under 2 minutes — install and go | 30 minutes to several hours (self-hosted) |
| Cookieless by default | Yes | Requires configuration |
| Cookie banner needed | No (for standard use) | Depends on configuration |
| GDPR / CCPA / PECR | Compliant by default | Compliant with correct setup |
| Dashboard location | Inside WordPress admin | Separate Matomo interface |
| Real-time tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Event tracking | Yes (via wpaa() function) | Yes (extensive) |
| Heatmaps | No | Yes (paid add-on) |
| A/B testing | No | Yes (paid add-on) |
| E-commerce tracking | Basic (WooCommerce compatible) | Advanced |
| User roles / multi-user | WordPress roles | Matomo user management |
| Server load | Very low (queries WordPress DB) | Moderate to high (dedicated Matomo server) |
| Pricing (entry) | €29/year | ~€19/month (cloud) or free self-hosted |
| Technical skill needed | None | Low to moderate (self-hosted: moderate to high) |
Where Active Analytics Wins
1. It lives inside WordPress
Every piece of data is in your WordPress dashboard. You don’t switch tabs, log into a separate system, or manage another set of credentials. For site owners who check their WordPress admin dozens of times a day, having analytics in the same place is a genuine time-saving advantage.
Matomo requires maintaining a separate interface — and if you self-host, a separate server environment, database, and update cycle. That overhead is real.
2. Genuinely cookieless by default
Active Analytics uses first-party, cookieless tracking out of the box. You do not need to configure anything to make it privacy-compliant. The data it collects — anonymised IP, URL, device type, referrer — does not require consent under GDPR for standard analytics purposes, which means most sites can run it without a cookie banner at all.
Matomo’s cookieless mode exists but requires deliberate configuration. The default installation uses cookies, which means a banner is still required if you don’t take the extra steps.
3. Zero performance impact on your front-end
Active Analytics uses asynchronous, non-blocking JavaScript tracking. The script does not delay page rendering and does not make external requests. There is no third-party domain for ad-blockers to target.
Matomo’s tracking script — particularly in cloud configurations — adds an external request per page load, which can affect page speed scores.
4. Price
For a small-to-medium WordPress site, Active Analytics costs €29/year. Matomo Cloud costs roughly €228/year at entry level (€19/month). Self-hosted Matomo is free for the core, but premium features are priced individually and can easily reach €200–500/year if you want heatmaps, funnels, or session recordings.
Where Matomo Wins
1. Feature depth
If you need session recordings, heatmaps, funnel visualisation, A/B testing, or advanced e-commerce analytics, Matomo has them. Active Analytics does not offer these features and does not try to. It answers a smaller set of questions, very well.
2. Long-term data portability
Matomo is a fully independent platform. Your data is entirely portable and not tied to your WordPress installation. If you migrate CMS, rebuild your site, or move hosts, your Matomo data moves with you cleanly.
Active Analytics stores data in your WordPress database. A site migration needs to include the relevant database tables to preserve analytics history.
3. Enterprise and agency use cases
If you manage multiple client sites with shared reporting, need granular role permissions, or require compliance reporting with audit trails, Matomo’s user management and reporting infrastructure is more appropriate.
Which Should You Choose?
Choose Active Analytics if:
- You run a WordPress blog, content site, small business site, or WooCommerce store
- You want analytics set up in under two minutes with no ongoing maintenance
- You need GDPR compliance without a cookie banner
- You want to avoid paying for tools you’ll use 10% of
- Simplicity and privacy are the priority
Choose Matomo if:
- You need heatmaps, session recordings, or A/B testing
- You manage multiple sites with shared client reporting
- You want advanced e-commerce funnel tracking
- You have a developer who can manage a self-hosted installation
- You are migrating from GA4 and need feature parity
The Honest Summary
Matomo is the better tool for teams who need analytics depth and are willing to invest the setup time, technical effort, and budget to get it.
Active Analytics is the better tool for the vast majority of WordPress site owners who want accurate, private, GDPR-compliant data about their visitors — without complexity, cost, or a second tab to manage.
Most WordPress sites don’t need funnels, heatmaps, or session recordings. They need to know which pages are being read, where visitors are coming from, and whether traffic is growing. Active Analytics answers those questions cleanly, privately, and without leaving WordPress.
Ready to try Active Analytics? Start with the full plugin overview →
