Looking beyond Google Analytics? Piano makes the 2026 shortlist
If you're looking for a robust, enterprise-level analytics tool with strong privacy and compliance [...], Piano should definitely be on your shortlist," – Jason Packer, Google Analytics Alternatives, 2nd edition.
Hot off the press, I got my hands on the second edition of Jason Packer’s book Google Analytics Alternatives – A Guide to Navigating the World of Options Beyond Google. Jason is the owner and principal consultant at Quantable Analytics, with 20+ years of experience in web analytics, working as a developer, Unix admin, systems architect, and web analyst.
The first edition was published in November 2022 and was timed perfectly for the impending sunset of Google Analytics 3 that year. The second edition is equally well timed, giving the industry more than two years of living with Google Analytics 4 (now simply called Google Analytics).
The book explores 15 analytics tools on the market, selected based on market share. As with the first edition, the tools are grouped into three categories:
Comprehensive Web Analytics
Simplified Web Analytics
Product Analytics
Rather than offering a simple feature comparison, the book focuses on key aspects of analytics such as tracking methodology, support, tracker speed, AI capabilities, and more – providing a closer look at each tool in turn.
How Jason evaluated each tool
Jason has personally tried every one of these tools – implementing tags, evaluating reporting capabilities, and going beyond the surface. For the tools where he lacked deep production experience, he invited experts with first-hand knowledge to review the relevant chapters for accuracy, including Fosca Fimiani, Bogdan Nazaruk, and Mehdi Oujida.
Piano Analytics in the 2026 edition
Piano Analytics appears in the second edition under Comprehensive Web Analytics – recognized as a full-featured, enterprise-level solution with extensive functionality and a powerful reporting interface.
“I was pleased to include Piano in the 2nd edition of my book,” says Jason. “The 1st edition was light on options for organizations looking for privacy-aware tooling with the kind of flexibility that Piano offers. With hundreds of analytics tools out there it's tempting to just stick with GA as the default choice, but I hope that my book shines light on tools that address issues which can feel intractable within GA.”
It's a practical, well-researched guide for businesses considering a change.
Ready to explore your options?
