TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    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

    Smartlook

    Score8.2 out of 10
    Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
    Smartlook is an analytics solution tool for websites, iOS/Android apps, and various app frameworks, that answers the "whys" behind users' actions. It helps users understand precisely how customers interact with website and app — watch recordings, create heatmaps, use automatic tracked events, and build conversion funnels. Data is seen on one central dashboard, which enables sharing and collaborating with colleagues. This is to support clear, data-driven decision-making for product managers,…

    $55

    per month 5000 sessions

    Pricing
    Google AnalyticsSmartlook
    Editions & Modules
    Google Analytics 360
    150,000
    per year
    Google Analytics
    Free
    Pro
    $55
    per month 5000 sessions
    Free
    Free forever
    per month 3000 sessions
    Enterprise
    Custom pricing
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google AnalyticsSmartlook
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional Details—All Smartlook packages support both web and mobile app platforms.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google AnalyticsSmartlook
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    No answer on this topic
    Smartlook
    Chose Smartlook
    We use both intensively in our agency. Google Analytics is our first go-to analytics suite, but we often combine it with Smartlook to prove or disprove our hypotheses. Both our web design and marketing projects benefit greatly from this synergy. Google Analytics offers better …
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartlook
    Google Analytics doesn't have a recording and heatmap feature. Those make Smartlook really stand out.
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartlook
    Smartlook is a complement of these tools. Google Analytics and Facebook are recording only numbers. Smartlook is recording the screen. Google Analytics tells you, how many people end up on that page. Smartlook tells you, where are people looking, what they write on that page …
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartlook
    For me, Smartlook gathers everything a product designer or even a product manager needs. We have everything gathered in a single platform, and it's very powerful we can analyze everything we need. It's the only product where recordings are as well done. The UX/UI of the …
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartlook
    Smartlook has records and heatmaps, which GA does not. Smartlook is easier to use.
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartlook
    They are not available anymore
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartlook
    I tried out both Hotjar and Smartlook free trials, but I ended up using Smartlook for reasons I cannot recall now. It might have been a limitation I ran into with the free plan or just that Smartlook had a better user interface. I am very happy with Smartlook so long as it is …
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartlook
    Smartlook has a great pricing platform and the free version gives many more features than Hotjar.
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartlook
    Smartlook hame much more information and metrics.
    Incentivized
    Chose Smartlook
    I don't remember other programmes anymore, sorry.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    96%
    Would buy again
    100 Answers
    98%
    Would buy again
    113 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    99 Answers
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    101 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    103 Answers
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    114 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    76 Answers
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    94 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    86 Answers
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    104 Answers
    Features
    Google AnalyticsSmartlook
    Web Analytics
    Comparison of Web Analytics features of Google Analytics and Smartlook
    Feature
    Google Analytics
    8.2
    2 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Smartlook
    -
    Ratings
    Lead Conversion Tracking7.52 Ratings00 Ratings
    Bounce Rate Measurement8.52 Ratings00 Ratings
    Device and Browser Reporting8.52 Ratings00 Ratings
    Pageview Tracking8.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Event Tracking7.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting in real-time10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Referral Source Tracking8.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizable Dashboards8.52 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google AnalyticsSmartlook
    Small Businesses
    StatCounter
    Score9 out of 10
    Hotjar
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Siteimprove
    Score10 out of 10
    Hotjar
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Chartbeat
    Score6.9 out of 10
    Crazy Egg
    Score8.1 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google AnalyticsSmartlook
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.3
    (185 ratings)
    9.0
    (141 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.0
    (51 ratings)
    8.9
    (4 ratings)
    Usability
    7.5
    (10 ratings)
    10.0
    (75 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.0
    (42 ratings)
    10.0
    (107 ratings)
    Online Training
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (7 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    6.0
    (2 ratings)
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google AnalyticsSmartlook
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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
    Smartlook
    Smartlook is best for screen recordings. Especially when you are running MVPs. However, its pricing is very high. If your daily visitors are too much then either you will have to lose many of your recordings or you will have to pay too much money.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    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
    Smartlook
    • Funnels are both easy to configure yet comprehensive enough to detect complicated customer journeys.
    • Real-time recording provides exceptional insights to our design & engineering teams.
    • Session recording is surprisingly lightweight and seems to cause no substantial performance degradation for our customers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    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
    Smartlook
    • I feel nickel and dimed with the events and funnels.
    • We came from sessions being 30 mins of inactivity and now it's 5-10 mins. Session count has gone up significantly which we weren't prepared for.
    • Recording playback isn't as clean and maneuverable like FullStory.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    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
    Smartlook
    As my ratings show, I have been absolutely delighted with Smartlook in terms of usability, cost, support, and its benefit to our organization. I have given it such high ratings because I think it has really benefitted our organization and I think it could do the same for other companies too.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    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
    Smartlook
    Every page, the tool setup pages and dashboards are built very well, the site structure is perfectly designed and intuitive to use. All functions are well documented and the help sections are really everywhere, you don't have to search for answers, as they are just popped up or max. a click away for your service.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    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
    Smartlook
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    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
    Smartlook
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    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
    Smartlook
    Sofia P. is being our point of contact with the issues we faced. I was unsure about how to explain to her what was going on with the recording numbers (the recording has stopped before we were expecting to), but she readily understood and came with a solution for us in the same day. The problem was blocking our developer to test the integration, so it was great to have support so fast that he could continue his work.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    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
    Smartlook
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    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
    Smartlook
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    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
    Smartlook
    It has been a year between the time when I last used Hotjar and first started using Smartlook. I would say both tools are more or less equal when it comes to features, the only 2 differences I can think of are - price and customer support. Smartlook is cheaper and has superior customer services. You have the feeling when interacting with them that they genuinely care.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    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
    Smartlook
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    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
    Smartlook
    • Smartlook is used by different individuals from different organizations to have insights into different parts of products. It is used as the sole developer of our website as well as marketing campaigns.
    • Smartlook has an amazing feature which is tracking the activities of return users.
    • It gives reliable and efficient services.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Smartlook Screenshots

    Screenshot of HeatmapsScreenshot of RecordingsScreenshot of DashboardsScreenshot of EventsScreenshot of FunnelsScreenshot of Analytics for websites & mobile apps