Google Analytics 360 (discontinued) vs. Parse.ly

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Google Analytics 360 (discontinued)
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Google Analytics 360 (formerly Google Analytics Premium) was an enterprise-level analytics solution that was sunset in July of 2024.
$150,000
Up to 1 Billion hits/month
Parse.ly
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
Parse.ly is a content optimization platform for online publishers. It provides in-depth analytics and helps maximize the performance of the digital content. It features a dashboard geared for editorial and business staff and an API that can be used by a product team to create personalized or contextual experiences on a website.N/A
Pricing
Google Analytics 360 (discontinued)Parse.ly
Editions & Modules
Google Analytics Premium
$150,000
Up to 1 Billion hits/month
Google Analytics
Free
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google Analytics 360 (discontinued)Parse.ly
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeRequired
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google Analytics 360 (discontinued)Parse.ly
TrustRadius Insights
Google Analytics 360 (discontinued)Parse.ly
Highlights

TrustRadius
Research Team Insight
Published

Google Analytics and Parse.ly are both web analytics tools designed to help users track user activity on their site and optimize their content delivery.  Google Analytics is built to help users optimize their sites for Google search, and is most popular with mid-sized and large businesses, as there is a free version that may be preferred for smaller businesses.  Parse.ly ius most popular with mid-sized businesses and helps organizations gauge content performance with specific market segments.

Features

Though Google Analytics and Parse.ly both help users to optimize their sites, they also have some unique features that set them apart from each other.

Google Analytics is an ideal tool for optimizing sites for google.  Businesses using Google Analytics can identify search crawl errors, gauge mobile performance issues, and be advised on how to improve search performance on Google.  Additionally, Google Analytics includes A/B testing features so businesses can test out different versions of their site to see what performs best.

Parse.ly includes features for tracking the success of various web campaigns.  Businesses using Parse.ly can see how content is performing based on factors such as author, topic, or campaign.  These features make Parse.ly ideal for businesses that want to gauge engagement on sales and content campaigns.  

Limitations

Google Analytics and Parse.ly can both be used to analyze the performance of a site, but they also have some limitations that are important to consider.

Google Analytics provides excellent features for improving search performance and testing multiple versions of pages and posts.  Despite these benefits, Google Analytics is less robust compared to Parse.ly when it comes to improving audience engagement on published content.  Businesses may prefer Parse.ly if they are less concerned about search engine optimization vs performance of specific pieces of content in a campaign.

Parse.ly is a powerful choice for increasing engagement on web content campaigns, but Google Analytics is the ideal tool for improving a website’s presence on Google.  Businesses looking to fight for high volume search terms or just generally get more clicks on their site will get the most value out of Google Analytics.

Pricing

Google Analytics is a free program, but businesses in need of custom metrics, or support for additional analytics features may want to upgrade to Google Analytics Premium.  Licensing for Google Analytics Premium costs $150,000 per year.

Parse.ly offers three pricing packages.  The Starter package costs $500 per month and includes web analytics for a single website. The Growth package costs $1,500 per month and provides support for additional users and access to priority customer support.  Lastly, the Enterprise package includes support for multiple websites.  Businesses can reach out to vendors for enterprise pricing information.

Features
Google Analytics 360 (discontinued)Parse.ly
Web Analytics
Comparison of Web Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Google Analytics 360 (discontinued)
6.9
Ratings
15% below category average
Parse.ly
7.6
Ratings
5% below category average
Lead Conversion Tracking7.00 Ratings6.20 Ratings
Device and Browser Reporting1.00 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Pageview Tracking7.00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Event Tracking8.00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Reporting in real-time10.00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Referral Source Tracking10.00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Customizable Dashboards5.00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Bounce Rate Measurement00 Ratings6.80 Ratings
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Google Analytics 360 (discontinued)Parse.ly
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Score 9.0 out of 10
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Score 9.0 out of 10
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Siteimprove
Siteimprove
Score 10.0 out of 10
Siteimprove
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Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Optimal
Optimal
Score 9.0 out of 10
Optimal
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Score 9.0 out of 10
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User Ratings
Google Analytics 360 (discontinued)Parse.ly
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(0 ratings)
7.8
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
7.7
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
7.8
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
7.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google Analytics 360 (discontinued)Parse.ly
Likelihood to Recommend
I think this is a great platform as long as there is a dedicated team which is going to spend reviewing the data and also taking out insights from it, making it beneficial. It was well suited for me when working with a client that had a very large amount of traffic, with a large range of complex products on offer. This tool allowed us to be able to do more with the data and segmenting it more which ultimately drove our relationship forward, but also the results that we saw
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For people working in online media, or digital content creators, the platform could help them understand their audience and allow them to interact with them in a user-friendly way. Since the digital media industry is booming, Parse.ly can allow the user and the content creators to meet each other's demands and reduce redundancies and bombard the users with unnecessary content.
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Pros
  • It is an excellent cloud analytics platform that is easy to install and configure and easy to deploy and use, allowing us to measure web traffic and other tools.
  • It is an entirely online tool; it does not take up hard disk space like other desktop tools.
  • Since this tool is draggable, Google is constantly adding more features.
  • Even beginners who do not have a custom dashboard can get information. If there is a problem somewhere on the site that needs to be investigated, Google Analytics 360 will notify you.
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  • Real-time metrics are great and help us decide what content to follow up on.
  • Audience segmenting is key, helps us determine where we're strong and where we're not.
  • Historical metrics are also helpful in helping us see what readers come back to overtime, which drives decisions about what content to devote more resources to producing.
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Cons
  • As far as I can tell, this is the ultimate large scale analytics platform. It does so much and can be a very powerful tool. Maybe it's overwhelming for newbies, but that's kinda what the pro Google consultations are for.
  • Although I've never been personally responsible for paying the GA 360 bills, I know it's very pricey ($150K/year last I checked). If your business is managing a lot of high-traffic sites, and maybe you resell other Google services, then it's probably worth it for the dashboard and integration. So... it's expensive, and by definition, not for everyone.
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  • Traffic source. I would like to be able to find the exact social media page a view comes from. Now I can only tell which platform.
  • I would like to be able to compare traffic more than one year ago. Now I'm limited to one year.
  • Some more customization of reports (or maybe more training).
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Likelihood to Renew
I believe that once Google Analytics Premium releases some additional eCommerce capabilities, it will be the best tool on the market for multi-site customers. Google does an amazing job of fully vetting out new features and functionality before releasing them publicly, so I have found very few issues with the functionality and usability of the tool. Some of the other big players in the industry are too quick to release new features, and they are often riddled with bugs and defects. I know that when I set something up with Google Analytics Premium, I'm getting a reliable, strong product that will deliver what it promises.
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Cost is always a factor when considering any renewal, so we will always see how that compares to other offerings, but we have been pleased with the functionality from Parse.ly. Importantly, it has engaged news teams, and writers can easily assess their own performance--it is not just a management tool. This wider take-up makes it more likely that we would renew.
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Usability
Google Analytics Premium has a very easy to use and intuitive User Interface. It's easy to find anything you are looking for and apply different segments to reports on the fly. This is very important especially if you are doing report comparisons. It's also an aesthetically pleasing design, making the general experience pleasant.
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The Parse.ly platform is very user-friendly and easy to use. User management is simple, and reporting setup only takes a few minutes. They provide very helpful documentation for implementing the scripts on your site and have great customer support to help with custom development such as implementing their content recommendation engine.
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Support Rating
  • Everyday support is primarily through chat and email with the centralized, general team. Its as you would envision with an anonymous individual attempting to figure from "page one." Often responses are later in the day or next day.
  • At first signing, one account person is assigned along with an initial individual to assist in onboarding. There's an interview of the goals with GA360, but the provided deliverable document is limited in the review of one site. Also, after delivery of the onboarding document, you are left with an account individual who is looking for expanded vertical integration with other Google products.
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Seems to be more bugs than I encounter in Google Analytics, but Parse.ly is always very quick to answer my questions or fix something. It seems like most of my issues are due to communications around my requests being outside of the package we pay for with this tool (i.e., only two years of data).
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Online Training
There is a ton of information online about Google Analytics, but Google Analytics Premium users will have dedicated support and training from Google or an Authorized Reseller.
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
If you already have the basic version of GA installed, "getting" GA Premium happens immediately through a virtual flipping of the switch - no need to re-implement. You'll want to expand your use of custom dimensions and metrics (you get 10x the amount with Premium). Ideally, you'll be using a tag management solution to talk with GA Premium, in concert with implementing a dataLayer (to note, Google's Tag Manager platform is covered under the same GA Premium SLA, and it's free). There are some welcomed "configurations" with GA Premium, such as integrating with DoubleClick products, activating data driven attribution models, and building roll-up executive reports - but all of these are easy point and click solutions. In comparison with any other enterprise analytics solution, implementing GA and GA Premium is traditionally easier and more flexible. And if you have any trouble or need an extra set of hands for implementation, GA Certified Partners like LunaMetrics can help
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Since our data is on Bigquery it is very easy for us to connect our database to this platform which is very challenging for us to connect the data integration part to other platforms so this is the primary reason for us to choose this platform. The second reason to choose this is that this platform will solve our problems of multiple departments of product, marketing, business, and analytics rather than choosing separate platforms for different departments
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Parse.ly excels in providing detailed insights into how users are interacting with specific pieces of content, allowing us to make data-driven decisions about content strategy and optimization. Its real-time reporting also provides us with immediate feedback on the effectiveness of content changes, which is particularly important for content-heavy sites that need to iterate quickly.
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Return on Investment
  • It helps me understand which social media platforms are most successful for me - which I should focus on and which I might want to focus less on.
  • I can also see which blog posts people are reading - so I know which topics resonate most. I can write more of those, hopefully gaining more visitors.
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  • Sometimes in meetings our editorial director will point out stories that didn't perform well. To us, that means readers don't really care about the topic, so we'll pivot away from writing about that in the future. That might not be "business objectives" though.
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ScreenShots

Parse.ly Screenshots

Screenshot of Overview in full-screen mode: Many Parse.ly pages, like the Overview, are TV-ready. Keep your entire team up-to-date with live, full-screen dashboards on TVs in your office.Screenshot of Overview screen: See a snapshot of what your audience is paying attention to today so you can make fast decisions about what content to produce or distribute. Customize it to show only what your team cares about by filtering it to a particular author, section, or tag. You can pick what stats and listings are displayed.Screenshot of Real-time posts page: See what’s gathering steam so you can capitalize on attention to every post, campaign, or section.
Real-time data includes the last 24 hours and updates every five seconds. It can be seen, filtered, and sorted on most screens.Screenshot of Historical posts page: Explore historical trends by post, author, section, topic, referrer, or campaign. Compare today’s performance to last week, month, or year.Screenshot of Campaign tracking: Easily tie in your off-site promotion to engagement with your on-site content using UTM parameters.Screenshot of Multi-channel tracking: Track all your content in one place, no matter where it lives.
Compare how your content performances on various distributed channels including your website, AMP, Facebook Instant Articles, and Apple News.