{"id":21094,"date":"2020-01-30T14:59:42","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T14:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/glosario-digital\/matomo"},"modified":"2026-09-14T10:40:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T10:40:25","slug":"matomo","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/matomo","title":{"rendered":"Matomo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/matomo-logo-actual-square.png\" alt=\"Matomo\" class=\"boxpad alignright\" style=\"margin-top:0\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><strong>Definition:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Matomo<\/strong> is an open-source web analytics platform that measures and analyses visits, traffic sources and interactions recorded on a website. It can be installed on your own infrastructure or used through Matomo Cloud, its paid hosting service.<\/p>\n<p>Formerly known as Piwik, Matomo provides reports on content, campaigns and goals. The choice of hosting determines who administers the platform and where the data is stored.<\/p>\n\n<h2>From Piwik to Matomo<\/h2>\n<p>Matomo originated from the Piwik project, created by Matthieu Aubry as an open-source alternative for website analytics.<\/p>\n<p>In January 2018, Piwik was renamed Matomo. The change aimed to refresh the brand and distinguish the project from other businesses using the previous name, while continuing as free software.<\/p>\n<p>InnoCraft is the company that provides commercial services associated with Matomo. The open-source project should be distinguished from the hosting, support and extensions available for purchase.<\/p>\n<h2>Self-hosting and Matomo Cloud<\/h2>\n<p>Matomo offers two main ways to use the platform, each with different responsibilities:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Matomo On-Premise:<\/strong> is installed on a server chosen by the organisation. It allows you to administer the software, database and access conditions, but requires maintaining the infrastructure, updates and backups.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Matomo Cloud:<\/strong> provides the hosted platform through a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/subscription\">subscription<\/a>. The provider manages the service infrastructure, while the retailer or organisation remains responsible for configuring its measurement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/matomo-org\/matomo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Matomo source code<\/a> is distributed under the GPL v3 or later licence. This allows it to be used, studied and modified in accordance with the licence terms.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Free software does not mean cost-free operation.<\/strong> A self-hosted installation requires server resources and maintenance; certain advanced features and services are sold separately or included in paid plans.<\/p>\n<h2>How Matomo collects data<\/h2>\n<p>Website measurement usually begins by adding JavaScript tracking code, either directly or through a compatible integration. This code sends information to the Matomo installation when it runs on the pages.<\/p>\n<p>The platform processes the data and organises it into reports. Some actions require additional configuration: recording a page view does not mean that purchases, completed forms or every user interaction are automatically measured.<\/p>\n<p>Matomo also provides an API and Matomo Tag Manager, its tag management system. These components are related but have different roles: the tag manager helps deploy tags, while the analytics platform receives and presents measurement data.<\/p>\n<h2>What reports Matomo provides<\/h2>\n<p>The reports allow you to examine different aspects of website usage. The main reports include the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Audience:<\/strong> visits, devices, browsers and approximate location.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Acquisition:<\/strong> traffic from search engines, referrals, campaigns and other identified sources.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Content:<\/strong> pages visited, entry and exit pages, and recorded journeys.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/event\">Events<\/a>:<\/strong> interactions defined in the implementation, such as clicks or media plays.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Goals and ecommerce:<\/strong> relevant actions, orders and revenue when tracking has been configured.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Site search:<\/strong> terms used in the website&#8217;s search engine, when this information is collected.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Other features, such as heatmaps, session recordings or form analytics, depend on the extensions and service purchased.<\/p>\n<p>The reports represent recorded activity, not necessarily all actual activity. Consent, blockers and implementation errors can limit the information available.<\/p>\n<h2>Privacy and control over data<\/h2>\n<p>Self-hosting allows you to choose where data is stored and who can access it. That control also brings responsibility for security, permissions and retention periods.<\/p>\n<p>Matomo includes options such as IP address anonymisation, deletion of old data and cookieless tracking. Their usefulness depends on how they are configured and what information is collected.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Installing Matomo does not, on its own, guarantee regulatory compliance.<\/strong> Cookieless tracking does not automatically remove information or consent obligations either. The purpose of measurement, the data processed and the applicable conditions must be reviewed.<\/p>\n<h2>Differences between Matomo and Google Analytics<\/h2>\n<p>Matomo and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/google-analytics\">Google Analytics<\/a> both allow you to analyse website usage, but differ in their architecture and administration options.<\/p>\n<p>Matomo offers open-source software and the option of self-hosting. Google Analytics is a service hosted by Google, with native integrations with products such as Google Ads and BigQuery.<\/p>\n<p>The choice depends on the control required over the infrastructure, integrations, budget and available technical resources. Neither tool replaces a well-defined implementation.<\/p>\n<p>Their figures do not necessarily match: metric definitions, user identification, filters and the handling of consent can produce differences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Matomo is: open-source web analytics, self-hosting and Cloud, reports, privacy and differences from Google Analytics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":79365,"template":"","encyclopedia-tag":[408],"class_list":["post-21094","encyclopedia","type-encyclopedia","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","encyclopedia-tag-web-analytics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/21094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/encyclopedia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"encyclopedia-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia-tag?post=21094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}