I run a blog. It has Google Analytics. I could probably host my own analytics solution, but that's not easy. I'll get to it eventually, but content benefits my users more.
I need analytics because this blog pays the bills. I need to see what works and what doesn't. When building partnerships, I'm usually expected to share some numbers with them. It also lets me spot issues with the website.
Thank you, I understand convenience for author / inconvenience for reader.
I do not use Google Analytics but it looks like it is possible to disable Cookies [1], anonymize IPs, disable data sharing with google [2]. Effectively making it almost third party server logs analytics (no consent required). Would remaining functionality be sufficient for you?
Yes, that would be far more than I need. That's the problem, actually. I could track a fraction of that and be really happy.
I tried Plausible today, but their event handling is completely insufficient for my needs. It's basically a key-based counter. The keys have to be created in advance, and can't be categorised. This means I couldn't track outbound clicks without first creating a new event for every known URL on my website. It just doesn't work.
It's a shame, because I loved every other aspect of Plausible.
I need analytics because this blog pays the bills. I need to see what works and what doesn't. When building partnerships, I'm usually expected to share some numbers with them. It also lets me spot issues with the website.