Good news bloggers! There’s a fantastic, easy-to-use analytics platform that’s a great alternative to the mess that’s GA4. In this Fathom Analytics review, I’ll share some of the top reasons why I’m pleased to see this option for bloggers and small business owners.
Anybody who’s tracking their analytics to grow their blog or for business purposes (sponsored posts and brand collaborations), will be happy to know relief is here.
Like many other bloggers and even pro SEO people out there, I haven’t been impressed with Google Analytics’ “upgrade” to Google Analytics 4. Sure, I’ve begrudingly gotten used to some of the features, but it’s still a pain to sift through info for a few minutes.
The analytics dashboard is a dog’s breakfast… not easy to set up for the information you need.
In comes Fathom Analytics to the rescue.
Now, it’s not free, because these are developers who are working hard to create something that we all need.
BUT… It’s one of the easiest and most affordable ways for serious bloggers who want to know how they’re doing.
You’ll understand in a moment why I’m pretty much saying … “Here, take my money!”
DISCLOSURE: This post contains affiliate links, meaning if you click on a product or service, and decide to purchase it, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. All recommended products and services are based on my positive experience with them. For more information, please read my Disclaimer.
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What Is Fathom Analytics?
Touting itself as the “Google Analytics without compromise”, Fathom Analytics is a software platform that focuses on making its software easy to use, as well as on digital privacy.
In my opinion, it’s a very good alternative to Google Analytics 4. It’s why I wanted to review Fathom Analytics for my fellow bloggers.
Let’s dive into the features and why I’m over the moon…
- I can see ALL of my key analytics in one spot on the well-designed website analytics dashboard: the current number of people on my site, visitors, pageviews, average time spent on the site, bounce rate and event completions.
- It’s easy to see the top page views and referrers at a glance
- If I want, I can drill down for each page to see its specific breakdown with all of the above
- It’s compliant with GDPR, CCPA, ePrivacy, PECR and more
- Has a super simple setup for analytics (a mere few minutes compared to the convoluted setup for GA4)
- You can import your Google Analytics Universal historical data to save it from deletion
- You can add up to 50 sites
- It’s a super-fast, light script, meaning it’s good for your SEO
- It does not collect or store personal data (see how it does all of this without cookies and its anonymous pageview tracking)
- If you switch from GA4 to Fathom Analytics, you can remove the pesky cookies notice (see previous point)
- It’s easy to add to your site: either via their plugin and a specific code that you’re assigned or by adding the code in the header.
These are just some of the key features.
For bloggers, it speeds things up, making it easier and more convenient to find all the pertinent information we need… without the overwhelm.
Top 3 Things I Like: My Fathom Analytics Review
Want to see what it looks like?
I did a mini preview with a peek at my dashboard.
I’ve included the top reasons why I think this is a fantastic alternative to Google Analytics 4.
Fathom Analytics For Bloggers: Ways To Use It
I need to share a brief note as to how bloggers can use Fathom Analytics, because it does make life easier:
- Get a quick snapshot of your daily, weekly or monthly progress – no need to click on so many different things to get a report on your pageviews
- When it comes to pitching brands, you can grab a screenshot to show proof that you’re getting the kind of traffic and the kind of country demographics they’re seeking.
- Once a sponsored campaign ends, you can report to your brand partner the results (pageviews, visitors, time spent) with a screenshot of the traffic to that review post. I’ve used it for all of my brand collaborations, and my brand partners loved seeing the stats in an easy-to-read format.
- Check to see which blog posts need a boost by doing a monthly review
- Compare your data over specific periods and see which posts are doing better or worse (with specific stats). This is a useful feature if you want to see which posts need a traffic boost or update.
- Drill down to see which platforms are referring your best-performing blog content. Find out where your traffic is coming from, down to the city.
All of these reasons are why I recommend Fathom Analytics for bloggers.
What Fathom Analytics Currently Lacks
Although Fathom Analytics is a great option compared to Google Analytics 4, as with any new platform, there are a few issues.
While I’m overall extremely pleased with it, there are a couple of things that are missing.
And there’s one thing that I think can be accepted because there are so many good things about Fathom Analytics.
And these are things most bloggers would appreciate.
1. Integration With Google Search Console
It’s not integrated with Google Search Console yet.
The keyword here is “yet”. The team notes that it’s working on this for the future.
We all know that GSC is so important for SEO purposes and understanding keywords on your site.
This is supposedly in the works, so we’ll just have to be a bit patient.
2. An Easy-to-Access App
As of yet, there is no app. I used to love Google’s GA app because it offered me quick screenshots and access to my analytics.
There’s a workaround for Fathom Analytics. With your iPhone, once you have it opened in Safari, you just need to “Add to Homescreen”.
It creates a bookmark that opens the page in your web browser.
3. Favourable Pricing For Completely New Bloggers
OK… so I know you’re going to be growing your site because you’re following me along, and I’m sharing with you my blog traffic-boosting secrets.
But, for beginners, the idea of USD $15/month (for an entry plan of up to 100K pageviews a month, with up to 50 sites) might be a bit too much. Especially when Google Analytics Universal was free.
Luckily, if you switch to an annual plan with Fathom Analytics you get 2 months free.
If a fancy Starbucks coffee is about $6-7, I’m sure you can afford USD $11.66/month.
Remember, you’re paying for the team at Fathom Analytics to keep building an awesome, easy-to-use platform that’s constantly adding features that will make YOUR LIFE EASIER… without GA4.
Not to mention, they aren’t selling your data to third parties. So it only makes sense to pay for a software service like this that’s keeping things as clean as possible data-wise.
NOTE: The team at Fathom Analytics have kept the price point fairly stable over the past few years, which is GREAT. Thank you, guys!
PRO TIP: Want to know how to recoup your investment in Fathom Analytics? Pitch brands for sponsored posts – the analytics you’re getting are important to brands.
They want to see results that not only include sales. This is why they want a link to the product in the post. They also want to boost their visibility. So pageviews and page visitors will be extremely important to them as a metric for success.
| READ MORE: Top Things To Invest In Your Blog To Explode Your Growth And Monetization
Alternatives To Fathom Analytics
There are a number of alternatives to Fathom Analytics.
However, they all have two factors that are keeping me from recommending them: price and complexity of setup/features.
I know that you’re looking at your budget and there’s only so much you can do to invest in your blog – between blog hosting, plugins, schedulers and other blog tools.
So, price is important.
And ease of use. You don’t want to fiddle around with trying to set things up.
Unfortunately, there aren’t really many free options that are simple to use or that are robust enough.
Matomo On-Premise is free, but you need to self-host it, which costs money. A hidden cost!
Umami is also free, for up to 100K pageviews, but for only one website. Data gets retained for only 6 months, so you can’t compare year-over-year stats. So if you have more than one blog, you’re limited.
Piwik Pro is free for 30 days and then you have to pay.
This is why Fathom Analytics is still the best option for bloggers who have more than one blog, under 100K pageviews and want a clean, easy-to-read analytics dashboard.
Is Fathom Analytics Worth It?
I’ve made Fathom Analytics an essential part of my blog’s key toolkit.
Unfortunately, the upgrade to GA4 has made analyzing your stats as a blogger more difficult.
Fathom Analytics for bloggers is like night and day when compared to GA4, especially if you’re looking for time-saving tools.
Is it worth the investment?
You know you’re using that site daily for your design needs. You’re going to be using this analytics platform daily too! Consider how much value you’ll be getting out of it.
Try Fathom Analytics for free for 7 days, and you’ll see why I’m a fan of Fathom Analytics for bloggers!
QUESTION: What else would you like to know in this Fathom Analytics review?
Like this post? Share it with others on Pinterest. Thanks!
Thanks for the sharing this new platform to analyze a blog sound great, I didn’t know it before.
Wow that’s so cool! would this be accepted by ad agencies? Most of them seem to only request for Google analytics.
Also, can you please write a post on how to setup Google analytics properly to track all the traffic from Pinterest for beginner blogs?
I’ve searched everywhere on the internet and can’t seem to find much info. The Google analytics on my site only seem to be tracking a fraction of my outbound clicks. To be more precise, at the moment I have about 453 outbound clicks from Pinterest but Google analytics only shows 129 users and 197 sessions which is drastically different.
The only thing I can find online is that it may be that Google doesn’t track the traffic from the Pinterest app and only does from the site.
I know that there’s usually descripancy between Google Analytic and Pinterest Analytic but this just seem too drastic.
If you can write a post about it, that would really grand as I’m sure there might be others struggling with this.
Ad agencies prefer Google Analytics. This would work best for when you’re doing sponsored review posts and collaborations. The dashboard is so attractive for analytics reporting. The Google Analytics and Pinterest analytics issue has been around for years. Its hard to determine because for some reason some Pinterest traffic is lumped under Direct traffic.
Thank you so so much for the reply and clarifying the analytics Ad agencies prefer.
I was able to fix the problem with the descripancy between google and pinterest.
I had a cookie banner activated that was causing this problem. Glad I was able to fix it.
Thanks for this review Margaret.
I’m considering a bunch of alternatives right now. Plausible, Fathom, Simple Analytics, etc.
Seems like Plausible and Fathom are the most popular.
Yes! Great options.
This is amazing! Would you recommend keeping GA4 on our site as we transition?
Yes – for now, keep it, as it gives you access to Google Search Console stats. However, when FA integrates with Google Search Console, there will be very little reason to keep the GA tags on your site (this will speed things up too!).
Ah thanks so much for this review! I am not so good at analyzing my blogging data and definitely freaked out when needed to switch to GA4… This might be a great alternative!
I’m so glad that there is an alternative out there I’ve been struggling with the transition so definitely will be looking into this option further thank you for showing me another option!
I have not switched to GA4 yet (need to do this asap lol) but I really love the sound of this one! Definitely going to keep my eyes on it and wait for the search console integration!
Once that happens, it’s bye bye GA!
I barely understand Google analytics and I don’t know why it never occurred to me there are alternatives! Thanks for opening my eyes to this…guess I need to do some research now.
You and me both – I was OK with Google Analytics but found it to be a pain in many ways.