2014-03-02

Piwik PRO Review – Easy to use analytics features for web professionals

Every website, no matter how small, needs analytics. By gaining insight into how many clicks per day a site is getting, what time of day those clicks are coming in, and how those visitors are finding a site, an administrator can deploy changes to improve success.

More than 1 million websites use Piwik for analytics. This Piwik PRO review will showcase this solution’s features to determine how it stacks up against the many other analytics tools available today.

About Piwik PRO

Piwik is an open-source analytics platform created to provide analytics support across a variety of platforms. It is used by more than 1 million websites worldwide, including personal sites and those run by governments and businesses.

The PRO version of Piwik introduces enterprise-level support to the software. Piwik PRO users have access to technical support and custom integrations not available in the free version.

Piwik PRO offers enterprise deployments, support plans, cloud hosting as well as a variety of services including developing custom integrations and features, white labeling, consulting and training.

Main Functionality of Piwik PRO

Whether a business chooses to have Piwik hosted on its own servers or in the cloud, the features are similar to those enjoyed with the free version. However, the PRO version offers enhanced security and customization that can help a business with features that are specific to its own needs.

Once a business places Piwik’s code on its site, an administrator can log into a dashboard that provides detailed information on site visits. Through a mobile app, administrators can even monitor reporting on the go. Businesses can track the progress of conversions and other marketing efforts by seeing where visitors are coming from and which areas of a site are getting the most clicks.

Benefits of Using Piwik PRO

One of the best features of Piwik PRO is its customizability. Not only can Piwik create customizations upon request, but users already have access to the Piwik dashboard’s personalization features. Users can add the reports that are most important to them to make them easy to find every time they log in. Real-time analytics are also available, letting administrators watch site activity as it happens.

Using Piwik’s History Explorer, administrators can access information on site visits over time to compare items that are increasing and dwindling in popularity. Is your new SEO campaign driving more visits to your company blog? Piwik’s historical data can provide insight that will drive future campaigns.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

The Piwik PRO dashboard provides an overview of the activity on a connected website, including visits over time, geographical location of visitors, and the keywords that brought a visitor there. Users can manage the dashboard or add widgets by clicking on the Widgets & Dashboard drop-down box at the top of the dashboard.



Real time visitors data

The Visitors tab provides detailed information on visitors over time.



The Visitor Log gives detailed information on each visitor, including browser used, region, referrer URL, and any plugins used.



The Referrers section gives detailed information on referring sites, along with how many were direct entries, compared to overall visits.

Referring sites

The Goals section provides insight into conversions and revenue, to help businesses determine their progress in reaching their goals.

Support Information

PRO customers have access to Piwik’s personalized consulting services, helping them develop the tools they need to run effective campaigns. The Service Level Agreement promises a four-hour response time to any reported issue.

Pricing Information

PRO plans start at $65 per month with a 30-day free trial. This least expensive plan includes up to 300,000 page views per month.

Piwik PRO Review – The Bottom Line

Piwik is already a popular application, but some businesses need a more customized solution. For those businesses, Piwik PRO might be a great way to introduce personalized features. However, for sites that don’t need a custom solution, the free version offers everything they’d get in the PRO version.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 3/5

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