Learn
Short explainers, how-tos, and buying guides for analytics. Learn the vocabulary here, then use our comparisons and tool profiles when you are ready to choose.
Guides
How to choose analytics for a SaaS startup
A practical way for a SaaS startup to choose analytics: marketing site, product app, and revenue — without installing three tools on day one.
Guides
Best Privacy-First Web Analytics Tools (2026)
Best privacy-first web analytics tools for 2026: cookieless hosted options, self-hosted ownership, and when Fathom, DataFast, Plausible, Umami, or Matomo fit.
Guides
GA4 alternatives for GDPR
A shortlist of Google Analytics 4 alternatives when EU privacy, consent banners, or data residency are the reason you are switching.
How-to
How to set up events and revenue tracking in DataFast
Practical DataFast setup for web analytics goals and payment-linked revenue attribution — including cookieless mode trade-offs for indie SaaS.
How-to
How to set up events in Plausible and Fathom
How custom events / goals work in Plausible and Fathom — when they are enough, how to keep naming simple, and when to graduate to GA4 or PostHog.
How-to
How to set up events in PostHog
Practical PostHog event setup — autocapture vs custom capture, identify, and when the heavier SDK is worth it on marketing pages vs the product app.
How-to
How to set up events in Google Analytics 4
A practical GA4 event setup primer — enhanced measurement, custom events, key events (conversions), and common pitfalls — without dumping full vendor docs.
Concepts
How analytics events are used in practice
Practical uses for analytics events — funnels, retention, revenue, debugging — and which tool categories support each job.
Primers
Web analytics vs product analytics
How marketing-site analytics differs from in-app product analytics — questions, data model, script weight, and which AnalyticsVS tools fit each job.
Primers
Cookieless Analytics: How It Works, Trade-offs & Best Tools (2026)
What cookieless web analytics changes — tracking method, consent banners, accuracy trade-offs — and the best cookieless tools on AnalyticsVS for 2026.
Performance
Analytics Script Performance Benchmarks (2026)
Recorded transfer size, decoded weight, and Slow 4G page-load overhead for Fathom, Plausible, Umami, DataFast, PostHog, and GA4 — measured on AnalyticsVS controlled fixtures, never estimated.
Primers
Pageviews vs Events: Which Should You Track?
When pageview analytics is enough, when you need custom events, and how that choice maps to privacy tools vs GA4 vs product analytics.
Concepts
Analytics Events: What They Are and Why They Matter
What an analytics event is, how it differs from a pageview, and why GA4 and PostHog treat named actions as the unit of product insight.