Best Free Tools for Website Analytics in 2025

If you’re running a website in 2025 and you don’t keep track of your data, you’re in the dark.

I remember the day I started my first blog a long time ago. I used to post regularly, but I couldn’t figure out why some of my posts went viral and others didn’t. That’s when I found out how amazing website analytics are, and to be honest, it changed everything.

The digital world has changed a lot since then. We’re talking about search results that use AI, tracking user behavior beyond just “clicks,” and analytics that put privacy first. But here’s the good news: you don’t need to spend a lot of money on business tools to figure out what’s going on with your website.

In 2025, you can get advanced information about your website for free, like page views, session time, scroll tracking, and even heatmaps.

And if you ever get stuck setting them up, remember that my team at Preet Web Vision can help you improve the performance and analytics of your WordPress or business site. You can call us at +63-9633112000 or email us at hello@preetwebvision.com at any time.

What is website analytics, and why does it still matter in 2025?

Website analytics isn’t just about the numbers; it’s also about figuring out what your visitors do when they get to your site.

Every click, scroll, and page view tells a story. You can find out which blog posts people like the most, which product pages they leave, and even how quickly they leave your homepage.

With the rise of AI in 2025, analytics tools have gotten even smarter. They don’t just count visitors; they also look at patterns, guess what will happen next, and give you useful information.

Analytics can help you answer questions like these, whether you’re a blogger, a marketer, or a small business owner:

Where do my visitors come from?
Which pages do they spend the most time on?
How can I raise my conversion rate without making guesses?

Why you really need website analytics

Here’s the thing: a lot of website owners still make decisions based on “gut feeling.”

“I believe my audience enjoys tutorials.”
“I think my social media is bringing in traffic.”

But when you start keeping track of your site the right way, you stop guessing and start growing.

I’d like to tell you a short story.

A client came to me once upset because her blog traffic had stopped. We set up analytics and found out that most of her readers came from Pinterest, not Google like she thought. She changed her plan to focus more on Pinterest, and in three months, her traffic tripled.

That’s what website analytics can do for you: it can help you see things clearly and point you in the right direction.

The Best Free Website Analytics Tools for 2025

Okay, let’s go over the best free tools you can use this year. There are no hidden trials or freemium limits, just good performance and useful information.

1. GA4, or Google Analytics 4

If you’ve been online for a while, you’ve probably heard of Google Analytics. But by 2025, it has become something much more powerful: Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

It’s not just a redesign; GA4 is a whole new build. It’s made for a world where there are privacy laws, tracking across devices, and AI-driven insights.

Important Features:

Keeps track of users on both web and app platforms
AI insights built in to help you predict trends
Reporting in real time
Tracking based on events (no need for complicated code setups)
Working with Google Ads and Search Console

Why It Is Still the Best:

It works, is flexible, and is completely free. You can track everything from engagement to sales, even sales that happen offline.

But yes, it takes a lot of time to learn. If you’re new, it might feel like too much at first. But once you get used to it, it’s like having a data scientist just for your site.

Prices:

For free. (There is a paid version for businesses, but 99% of users don’t need it.)

Tip for Professionals:

You don’t need to know how to code to connect GA4 to WordPress. You can do it easily with plugins like Site Kit by Google.

2. Microsoft Clarity

Microsoft Clarity is a great tool if you want to see what your visitors are doing in real time.

This free tool gives you heatmaps, recordings of sessions, and information about how users interact with your site.

Main Features:

Click, scroll, and move heatmaps
Session recordings let you watch how users act like a replay.
Detecting rage clicks and dead clicks
Integration with Google Analytics for more information

Why I Like It:

I was blown away the first time I used Clarity. One of my visitors scrolled halfway down my homepage, hovered over a button, and then left without clicking. It made me see that the text on the button wasn’t clear enough. A small change made conversions better.

Clarity also doesn’t make your website slower, which is rare for tools like this.

Prices:

Free for life. No limits and no premium plans.

3. Matomo (On-Premise Version)

Matomo is one of the best open-source tools for analytics.

It gives you full control over your data, which is great if you’re worried about privacy or running sites that have to follow strict rules.

Important Features

Completely in line with GDPR
Optional: session recording and heatmaps
Keeping track of SEO keywords
Self-hosted version with unlimited data storage
Works with WordPress, Joomla, and other programs

What Makes It Different:

Matomo is like Google Analytics, but you have your own control panel.

You host it yourself, so no one else can see the data of your visitors. It’s perfect for government sites, schools, or any brand that cares about privacy.

Prices:

If you host it yourself, it’s free. (Cloud hosting version costs money.)

4. Plausible Analytics

Plausible has grown quickly in the last few years because it has a simple design and puts privacy first.

It is free to use and does not use cookies, so it’s great if you care about GDPR or just want a simple analytics dashboard.

Main Features:

No cookies, good for privacy
Dashboard that is clean and easy to use
Open-source (you can host it yourself for free)
Tracking traffic in real time
Tracking UTM campaigns

Why It’s Awesome:

Plausible’s interface is new and interesting. It doesn’t use too many charts and graphs; instead, it focuses on the most important things, like page views, sources, top pages, and visitor countries.

You can also embed it directly in your WordPress dashboard, which is another great thing about it.

Cost

For users who host their own sites, it’s free.

5. OWA stands for Open Web Analytics.

Open Web Analytics is another free, open source option that is even better than some paid analytics platforms.

It keeps track of everything. From page views to mouse movements, and lets you look at behavior without giving your data to other people.

Important Features

Tracking clicks, visitors, and page views
Maps of heat
Reports that can be changed
Works with WordPress and MediaWiki

Why You Should Give It a Shot:

OWA shows you everything about your visitors in a simple way. Plus, you can store data on your own computer, which is great for developers and agencies who want to control their data.

Prices:

Open source and free.

6. GoatCounter

GoatCounter is great if you want something light that doesn’t give you a lot of numbers. It is open source, respects your privacy, and is very fast.

Important Features

Easy-to-use dashboard
No cookies or scripts that track you
Quick and simple
If you don’t need JavaScript, it works.

What Makes It Unique

GoatCounter’s main goal is to make analytics easy for people to read.
It doesn’t show you “session events” or “tracking objects.” It just tells you how many people came, what pages they saw, and where they came from.

Cost:

Free to use on your own server.

7. Yandex Metrica

Yandex Metrica could be one of the best free analytics tools that people don’t talk about enough.

It has a lot of features that you would expect from a paid tool, such as session replays, goal tracking, and even form analysis.

Important Features:

Heatmaps
Analytics for forms (keep track of drop-offs)
Visualizing the user journey
Tracking goals and dividing things up

Why You Should Pay Attention:

It shows user journeys in great detail, and it’s completely free. The dashboard might look a little “old-school,” but the information you get is great.

Prices:

Always free.

8. Simple Analytics (Version for Community Access)

Simple Analytics is exactly what it sounds like: simple. If you’re sick of complicated dashboards and hard-to-understand metrics, this is the tool for you. It focuses on the most important things, like where your visitors come from, what they read, and which pages get the most traffic.

Simple Analytics keeps things simple, unlike other tools that are full of useless jargon. It doesn’t even keep track of personal information, like cookies, user IDs, or IP addresses.

Important Features:

Very simple interface
No cookies and follows GDPR rules
Tracking visitors in real time
Tracking the performance of UTM campaigns
Simple to add to dashboards or websites

Why It Should Be There:

Not every website needs in-depth behavioral analytics or big charts, though.

Simple Analytics is great for small blogs, landing pages, and new businesses that just want to know “what’s working.”

Cost:

They let open-source projects, teachers, and small nonprofits use their community space for free, with no hidden fees.

9. Fathom Lite (Free Version)

People who value their privacy loved Fathom Analytics. Fathom Lite is a free, open-source version that is becoming more popular in 2025. The paid version, on the other hand, costs money.

It was built to be quick and secret. You won’t get cookies or annoying tracking, and your data will stay on your server.

Main Characteristics

You can get a free, open-source version that you host yourself.
Fast and light
No tracking of personal information (privacy first)
Nice dashboard interface

Why It’s Great

Fathom Lite is pretty and easy to use. It loads quickly, and the dashboard design is sleek and modern.

If you run more than one site and want a central view without having to set up a lot of things, this is perfect.

Prices:

If you host it yourself, it’s free.

10. Splitbee (Free Tier for Developers)

More and more developers are using Splitbee, even though it’s not as well-known as Google Analytics or Matomo. It’s free, open source, and light, which makes it great for websites or projects that want to keep track of things without adding extra features.

Main Features:

Tracking events and automating them
Goals and actions that are unique to you
Open-source and focused on privacy
Easy-to-use interface for data visualization

Why You Should Give It a Shot:

The best thing about Splitbee is that it’s easy for developers to use. It’s easy to add to static sites, web apps, or landing pages. It’s a mix of analytics and marketing automation, but it’s not hard to understand.

Prices:

No cost and open source.

A table that shows the differences between free website analytics tools in 2025

Tool	Type	Key Strength	Hosting	Pricing	Privacy-Friendly
Google Analytics 4	Cloud	AI-driven reports	Google Cloud	Free	Moderate
Microsoft Clarity	Cloud	Heatmaps and session replays	Microsoft Cloud	Free	Moderate
Matomo (Self-Hosted)	On-Premise	You own the data and it is private	Self-Hosted	Free	✅ Yes
Plausible Analytics	Open Source	Minimalist, doesn’t use cookies	Self-Hosted	Free	✅ Yes
Open Web Analytics	Open Source	Full analytics features, self-managed	Self-Hosted	Free	✅ Yes
GoatCounter	Open Source	Lightweight, fast, easy to use	Self-Hosted	Free	✅ Yes
Yandex Metrica	Cloud	Tracks behavior and sets goals	Yandex Cloud	Partially Free	❌ No
Simple Analytics	Cloud	Few metrics, simple and user-friendly	Cloud	Free (Community)	✅ Yes
Fathom Lite	Open Source	Beautiful design, privacy-focused	Self-Hosted	Free	✅ Yes
Splitbee	Open Source	Track and automate events	Self-Hosted	Free	✅ Yes

How to Pick the Best Free Analytics Tool

What you really need will help you choose the right tool.

Google Analytics 4 is a good place for beginners to start.
For visual insights, pick Microsoft Clarity.
If you care about your privacy, use Matomo, Plausible, or Fathom Lite.
For tracking as little data as possible, try GoatCounter or Simple Analytics.
For developers, Splitbee is great because it works well with codebases.

Choose one or two tools that work for you, learn them inside and out, and then add more to your stack.

How Analytics Changed My Blog Strategy in the Real World

A few years ago, one of my old blogs wasn’t getting any new readers. I was posting a lot, but I didn’t know which posts were bringing people to my site so I put Microsoft Clarity and Google Analytics next to each other.

I saw something surprising within a month:

Most people who read my posts only spent 15 seconds on them, which is not enough time to read.

I found out that my content layout was messy and my font was too small by looking at Clarity’s session recordings.

I made some changes to the design, made the layout easier to use, and my average session length tripled.

That’s why analytics isn’t just about keeping track; it’s also about making things better.

How to Set Up a Free Analytics Tool (Like Microsoft Clarity) in Steps

Visit clarity.microsoft.com
Use your Microsoft or Google account to make a free account.
Put your website in and copy the code for tracking.
Put it before the tag, or use the Insert Headers and Footers plugin.
It may take a few hours for the data to show up.

Study the recordings and heatmaps after the data comes in. You’ll quickly see where users leave or hesitate, and that’s where your journey to optimization begins.

Things You Shouldn’t Do with Analytics

Not making plans. Data is just numbers if they aren’t converted.
Checking stats too many times. Check once a week, not every hour.
Not paying attention to bounce rates. They show engagement.
Using too many tools. It makes things unclear.
Not doing anything with what you learn. You can’t do anything with data unless you use it.

Tips for Getting Better Insights

Use UTM parameters to keep track of campaigns.
Create funnels in either GA4 or Matomo.
Use Clarity and GA4 to look at things in both pictures and numbers.
Watch how people use their phones on their own.
Instead of looking at trends every day, look at them once a month to get a better idea.

Privacy and Compliance Analytics in 2025

Analytics will be all about keeping people’s private information safe in 2025.

You can use tools like Plausible, Fathom Lite, and GoatCounter to stay within the law if your audience is from the EU or US states with privacy laws. You won’t have any problems because they don’t use cookies or personal information.

Your privacy policy should always say that you use analytics, and you should use tools that don’t use cookies whenever possible.

Final Thoughts: What Will Happen to Free Analytics in the Future (and Why Simple Is Best)

You don’t need a paid plan to learn about your visitors in 2025. Today, free tools are strong, quick, and respect your privacy.

Analytics should give you strength, not make you feel overwhelmed. Begin with just one or two of these tools and make it a habit to keep an eye on your site.

Let’s work together to build smarter!

I’d love to know which tool you chose if this guide helped you find the right one for your website!

Leave a comment below and tell us about your experience. What worked, what didn’t, and which tool surprised you the most?

And don’t forget that Preet Web Vision is always available to help you set up or improve your analytics.

You can reach us by:

Phone at +63-9633112000
Email at hello@preetwebvision.com.
Website: https://preetwebvision.com/

You can find our YouTube channels for step-by-step guides and live walkthroughs here:

Preet Tech Ideas (in English) and Preet WebXP (in Hindi) are two great places to find tips for bloggers, WordPress users, and digital marketers.

Let’s make 2025 the year you really get to know your audience and get smarter with data! 🚀