Google-analytics-vs-webtrends-analytics

Google Analytics and Webtrends Analytics are both tools aimed at analyzing web traffic, but they serve different purposes.  

Google is the market leader in web analytics and the fact that Google Analytics is free to use makes it especially appealing to small businesses. Webtrends Analytics is aimed at larger companies looking to get insights into their SharePoint site web traffic. It has purpose-built tools to analyze SharePoint site performance. 

Features

Google Analytics and Webtrends Analytics both offer attractive features to customers, but some stand out for each based on their use-case. 

Google Analytics’ major advantage over its competition is that it offers an easy to use and versatile free version. Though Google Analytics Premium is available for organizations that need advanced web analytics capabilities.  It is also able to integrate with a huge variety of third-party software. Google offers online training and certifications to help users master Google Analytics. Because of its large install base, users are able to find answers to questions quickly among the user community. 

Webtrends Analytics is an excellent tool for businesses looking to measure their Microsoft Sharepoint usage and performance. Users can collect insights such as newsfeed post frequency and data from likes, shares, and replies. User data can also be collected based on how users interact with lists and list components. Webtrends customers on TrustRadius report being pleased with the support offered by Webtrends Analytics. 

Limitations

Let’s explore a few of the downsides for Google Analytics and Webtrends Analytics. 

In the free version of Google Analytics, users are only able to see sampled data from Google. This means users will not be able to see all the data Google Analytics collects about their website, but they can still see enough to make decisions and forecast outcomes. Google Analytics also limits data exports to only 5,000 rows. If users need to export more data it may have to be broken into pieces to achieve the desired results. There is also no phone or web-based support offered by Google, so users will have to be resourceful and figure out problems on their own or with the help of the community. 

As previously mentioned, Webtrends Analytics is mostly used for analyzing SharePoint sites. This makes it not ideal for users that have a broader use case, such as needing to track website traffic and usage on non-SharePoint websites and intranets. This software also costs money in comparison to the free version of Google Analytics. There is also no mobile app for users to take advantage of with Webtrends. 

Pricing

Google Analytics is free, but users will have to contend with sampled data and limited exports. A paid version of the software is available, but will likely only appeal to large, enterprise-scale companies due to its cost of $150,000 per year. This allows access to all of Google’s site data and even more powerful analytics capabilities. Businesses will have to contact a Google representative to purchase the higher tier of this software. 

Webtrends Analytics offers a free trial option upon request. Users looking to purchase the software will also need to contact the vendor to obtain specific pricing details.