TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Chartbeat

    Score6.9 out of 10
    N/AChartbeat delivers real-time analytics, insights, and transformative tools for content teams around the world, to help improve audience engagement, inform editorial decisions, and increase loyalty.N/A

    Google Analytics

    Score7.9 out of 10
    N/AGoogle Analytics is perhaps the best-known web analytics product and, as a free product, it has massive adoption. Although it lacks some enterprise-level features compared to its competitors in the space, the launch of the paid Google Analytics Premium edition seems likely to close the gap.

    $0

    per month

    Pricing
    ChartbeatGoogle Analytics
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Google Analytics 360
    150,000
    per year
    Google Analytics
    Free
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    ChartbeatGoogle Analytics
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsChartbeat pricing is based on monthly site page views. Discounts are applied to multi-year contracts. The Basic Plan includes the Real-time Dashboard, Historical Dashboard, Heads Up Display, Reports, Big Board, iOS and Android app, and Real-time API endpoints. The Plus Plan includes all of the Basic Plan features, plus ONE of the following Premium features: Headline Testing, Advanced Queries, or Multi-Site View. The Premium Plan includes all of the Basic Plan features, plus ALL Premium features: Headline Testing, Advanced Queries, Multi-Site View, and enterprise-level support and custom trainings.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    ChartbeatGoogle Analytics
    Considered Both Products
    Chartbeat
    Chose Chartbeat
    Google Analytics 360 had problems, but after it was discontinued, Google Analytics became a shell of its former self. An added benefit of Chartbeat is that it's more "live" (looking at live concurrents rather than in the past however many minutes) and tells you how that number …
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    Google Analytics has gradually become much more difficult to use, and much slower in its realtime reporting. It was the changes that came in with Google Analytics 4 that gave us the final push to work with Chartbeat - a product some of us were already familiar with from …
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    Chartbeat stands out in terms of real-time tracking and information from which to manage homepages, I found this better than Smart Octo's equivalent. However, the ability to quickly explore past data does not go as deep as Google Analytics.
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    I really haven't used anything else quite like Chartbeat. Google Analytics might compare but it is very different.
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    Google Analytics is good but also very complicated.
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    In my opinion, Chartbeat should be paired with Google Analytics. Chartbeat is perfect for real-time results, an area GA lacks, and GA is best for long-term outlook.
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    Crowdtangle, Google Analytics
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    Google Analytics gives me a better overview of my site's performance, I think; however, when it comes to real-time insights, I always turn to Chartbeat.
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    Larger analytics suites like Google Analytics and Omniture simply do not provide the kind of real-time data that Chartbeat does. I have used Parse.ly which has some interesting real-time features as well; I would say Parse.ly is similar in terms of ease of use, though Chartbeat …
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    Chartbeat gives data in real time while Google has an analysis time. Furthermore, the tool is much easier and more intuitive to use.

    O Chartbeat dá o dado em temporeal enquanto o Google tem um tempo de análise. Além disso, a ferramenta é de manuseio muito mais fácil e intuitiva.
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    Much easier to use and understand than GA4. We tested Marfeel, but felt Chartbeat was so good there was no reason to change.

    I still feel like our audit is still based on GA4 so we do have to still pay attention to that.
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    Much more user friendly
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    Chartbeat's heads up display feature allows the newsroom to see key data right from our site.
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    I use both.
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    The interface of Chartbeat is cleaner and more user-friendly and focused.
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    Chartbeat is better than GA when it comes to ease of use and immediacy. The homepage layover that Chartbeat offers is unique from what I've seen and gives me an instant knowledge of what's working on my site and how to best arrange it.
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    Other products like Chartbeat that I've used are Parse.ly, GA, and Omniture. Parse.ly is the only tool, in my opinion, that offers more real-time data, but the interface is lacking and isn't as intuitive as Chartbeat.
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    None
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    Chartbeat is a lot easier to use.
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    Chartbeat is better for live metrics than either Adobe or Google, but Adobe Omniture especially is much better for tracking historic numbers.
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    Chartbeat is certainly better at visualizing content and segmenting the data all on one screen. We can filter by section, author, channel and more without leaving the main dashboard page. Combining properties together in roll up groups is another key feature. We're able to …
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    Chartbeat's realtime its superior to all tools we have. It really makes the difference. We are in calls with Chartbeat for raw data, this is a new product and it will be open a lot of interesting information with raw data in real-time.
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    More accuracy in real time metrics its a value for Chartbeat.
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    Chartbeat really remains the gold standard in the tracking, measurement and display of realtime engagement metrics. If your site has sufficient audience benefit from immediate changes in content programming, display and design, it's a great tool with a highly refined and …
    Incentivized
    Chose Chartbeat
    I think that one complements the other.
    Incentivized
    Google
    Chose Google Analytics
    Google Analytics has its advantages over its competitors. It is well suited to smaller companies.
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Analytics
    It's free, nothing beats that! It is easier to use than most other platforms I have used. You can create customized reports on the fly and they are high quality too. Despite the fact that there are so many other other analytics management platforms, Google Analytics remains a …
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Analytics
    I like Google Analytics better than Adobe Analytics because it has a much better user interface. It is easier to use and is easier to set up reports. While these two can be used hand-in-hand I would prefer only using Google Analytics because I find that it is easier to find the …
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Analytics
    If it was my choice I would have used IBM Digital Analytics (DA) for everything. DA has it quirks but it really gives some deep analysis on the data and with a bit of development work you can really get all the data you could possibly want. If every website and newsletter was …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    47 Answers
    96%
    Would buy again
    100 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    21 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    99 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    46 Answers
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    103 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    20 Answers
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    76 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    24 Answers
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    86 Answers
    Features
    ChartbeatGoogle Analytics
    Web Analytics
    Comparison of Web Analytics features of Chartbeat and Google Analytics
    Feature
    Chartbeat
    7.4
    13 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Google Analytics
    8.2
    2 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Lead Conversion Tracking6.15 Ratings7.52 Ratings
    Bounce Rate Measurement6.68 Ratings8.52 Ratings
    Device and Browser Reporting6.912 Ratings8.52 Ratings
    Pageview Tracking7.812 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Event Tracking7.17 Ratings7.02 Ratings
    Reporting in real-time9.112 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Referral Source Tracking8.012 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Customizable Dashboards7.710 Ratings8.52 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    ChartbeatGoogle Analytics
    Small Businesses
    StatCounter
    Score9 out of 10
    StatCounter
    Score9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Siteimprove
    Score10 out of 10
    Siteimprove
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Alexa Internet (discontinued)
    Score7.9 out of 10
    Chartbeat
    Score6.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    ChartbeatGoogle Analytics
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.6
    (67 ratings)
    8.3
    (185 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.9
    (9 ratings)
    9.0
    (51 ratings)
    Usability
    7.8
    (58 ratings)
    7.5
    (10 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.1
    (10 ratings)
    7.0
    (42 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (7 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.0
    (2 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    ChartbeatGoogle Analytics
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Chartbeat
    The main point of benefit is the realtime data. This is vital to our team as we are publishing a lot of content per day, so we have a busy homepage to manage and it's important to know which content is performing well. We also like to get an understanding as quickly as possible - which Chartbeat offers - of where traffic is coming from. Often we will see an example where a page is getting high traffic from Google, for example, and we know that might not need to be placed so prominently on the homepage because the traffic is arriving to us externally anyway. Without that depth of understanding what is performing best and why - updated immediately, unlike in Google Analytics now - our homepage would not be as well optimised for users coming to us direct
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    Google Analytics is particularly well suited for tracking and analyzing customer behavior on a grocery e-commerce platform. It provides a wealth of information about customer behavior, including what products are most popular, what pages are visited the most, and where customers are coming from. This information can help the platform optimize its website for better customer engagement and conversion rates. However, Google Analytics may not be the best tool for more advanced, granular analysis of customer behavior, such as tracking individual customer journeys or understanding customer motivations. In these cases, it may be more appropriate to use additional tools or solutions that provide deeper insights into customer behavior.
    Read full review
    Pros
    Chartbeat
    • Provides easy at-a-glance look at what people are reading right now
    • Heads-up Display allows you to make sure the homepage is showing the content people want to read
    • Headline testing tool provides fascinating insight into what makes people read a story and improves headline-writing ability
    Read full review
    Google
    • Multiple reports to see website use and behavior
    • Allows you to customize reports with days, weeks, months, and years
    • You can build out a dashboard to easily view stats from multiple websites in one place
    • You can share analytics reports via the dashboard, automatically emailed PDFs or in other formats
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Chartbeat
    • Source of traffic needs improvement. Search and social make sense, but "internal" and "links" is a grey area. It would be helpful to define those with an organization and provide an information icon so users can easily remember what each of those buckets is tracking.
    • More ways to customize the real-time board. For example, with video content, that's great that I can see a user has started a video, but what is the completion rate, was that only on O&O or can that track Facebook, too?
    • Would like to see demo (age) information included as a way to slice the data so I can see what's working with my older and younger demo.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    • Data sampling is somewhat inaccurate on the free tier - this is addressed in premium but is expensive.
    • Some of the UI is very similar in naming when presenting different data, some in-situ information might be useful.
    • Gotchas around filtering and data validation.
    • Implementation can be tricky, it can take a lot of time and expertise to get a full, accurate picture of your metrics.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Chartbeat
    I gave Chartbeat a 5 for a renewal rating, because, while it delivers clear and understandable content, Google Analytics also provides many of the same features for free. For a small to medium website, I believe it would be more cost effective to use Google Analytics. A website with a high amount of traffic, however, could merit spending the money on Chartbeat to maximize their potential.
    Read full review
    Google
    We will continue to use Google Analytics for several reasons. It is free, which is a huge selling point. It houses all of our ecommerce stores' data, and though it can't account for refunds or fraud orders, gives us and our clients directional, real time information on individual and group store performance.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Chartbeat
    I am able to "set it and forget it," keeping it up on my monitor for either constant checking or just keeping an eye on the numbers during the day. I'm also able to keep track of what times are perfect to post a story and which stories rack up the most traffic.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    Google Analytics provides a wealth of data, down to minute levels. That is it's greatest detriment: find the right information when you need it can be a cumbersome task. You are able to create shortcuts, however, so it can mitigate some of this problem. Google is continually refining Analytics, so I do not doubt there will be improvements
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Chartbeat
    No answers on this topic
    Google
    We all know Google is at top when it comes to availability. We have never faced any such instances where I can suggest otherwise. All you need is a Google account, a device and internet connection to use this super powerful tool for reporting and visualising your site data, traffic, events, etc. that too in real time.
    Read full review
    Performance
    Chartbeat
    No answers on this topic
    Google
    This has been a catalyst for improving our site's traffic handling capabilities. We were able to identify exit% from our sites through it and we used recommendations to handle and implement the same in our sites. We have been increasing the usage of Google Analytics in our sites and never had any performance related issues if we used Analytics
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Chartbeat
    I have had limited experience of support for Chartbeat but whenever I have needed help it has been there. Recently there was an issue of seeing different forms of data in real time - app and otherwise effectively, and the issue was being clearly dealt with and communicated back to us.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    The Google reps respond very quickly. However, sometimes they can overly call you to set up an apportionment. I'm very proficient and sometimes when I talk to reps, they give beginner tutorials and insights that are a waste of time. I wish Google would understand my level of expertise and assign me to a rep (long-term) that doesn't have to walk me through the basics.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Chartbeat
    No answers on this topic
    Google
    love the product and training they provide for businesses of all sizes. The following list of links will help you get started with Google Analytics from setup to understanding what data is being presented by Google Analytics.
    1. How to Use Google Analytics for Beginners – Mahalo’s how-to guide for beginners.
    2. A beginner’s guide to Google Analytics – A free eBook walking you through Google Analytics from setup to understanding what data is being presented.
    3. Getting to Know Your Google Analytics Dashboard – The title says it all! This is a brief post with one goal: to introduce you to the Google Analytics dashboard.
    4. Google Analytics for Beginners: How to Make the Most of Your Traffic Reports– This guide doesn’t cover setup, but it does a great job of helping you to better understand the data being presented.
    5. Google Analytics Video Tutorial 1: Setup – A video presentation that walks you through Google Analytics setup.
    6. Google Analytics Video Tutorial 2: Essential Stats – A video presentation that introduces you to some of the most important data being presented in Google Analytics.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Chartbeat
    No answers on this topic
    Google
    I think my biggest take away from the Google Analytics implementation was that there needs to be a clear understanding of what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve it before you start. Originally the analytics were added to track visitors, but as we became more savvy with the product, we began adding more and more functionality, and defining guidelines as we went along. While not detrimental to our success, this lack of an overarching goal resulted in some minor setbacks in implementation and the collection of some messy data that is unusable.
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Chartbeat
    Omnilytics is more robust, detailed, and catered for an intermediate media user, while I think Chartbeat is a more user-friendly and beginner-oriented piece of technology. That being said, there is an impressive amount of lift for Chartbeat, and it's evident that simplicity is the key to using a software daily (which is absolutely the point in the content world).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    I have not used Adobe Analytics as much, but I know they offer something called customer journey analytics, which we are evaluating now. I have used Semrush, and I find them much better than Google Analytics. I feel a fairly nontechnical person could learn Semrush in about a month. They also offer features like competitive analysis (on content, keywords, traffic, etc.), which is very useful. If you have to choose one among Semrush and Google Analytics, I would say go for Semrush.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Chartbeat
    No answers on this topic
    Google
    Google Analytics is currently handling the reporting and tracking of near about 80 sites in our project. And I am not talking about the sites from different projects. They may have way more accounts than that. Never ever felt a performance issue from Google's end while generating or customising reports or tracking custom events or creating custom dimensions
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Chartbeat
    • It has helped us save time in report generation and performance analysis.
    • By helping us evaluate our contributors, we're able to get our money's worth.
    • Seeing our numbers on the Big Board fosters healthy competition among brands, motivating us to distribute our stories better.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    • It has helped us gain understanding of what is going on on our website.
    • It has helped us determine areas that need fixing (i.e. pages with extremely high bounce rates may need to be redone).
    • It has helped us understand our biggest avenues for bringing traffic to the website and business in general.
    • It has helped guide our website redesign.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Chartbeat Screenshots

    Screenshot of Big Board: For newsrooms, the leaderboard-style visualization shows the top stories on the biggest screen.Screenshot of Real-time dashboard: Displays how an audience is connecting with content in the moment – across platforms, channels, and devices.Screenshot of Historical Dashboard: To assess content performance, KPIs, and valuable trends over the long term.Screenshot of Heads Up Display: Shows which homepage articles are the top performers, how stories are trending up or down in traffic, and how far visitors are scrolling down the page.Screenshot of Video Dashboard: Reveals how video content captures viewer attention.Screenshot of Conversion Dashboard: Tracks conversion metrics and insights.