In today’s competitive market, software developers need to continuously improve their products to succeed. The key to successful product development lies in understanding user behavior and preferences. This is where product analytics tools come into play. These tools provide valuable insights into how customers interact with software, helping developers prioritize features and improve the overall user experience.

In this article, we will explore the top free product analytics tools available in 2023. We will discuss their key features, use cases, and provide screenshots to give you a glimpse of their user interfaces. Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, these tools can help you make data-driven decisions and optimize your product strategy.

Comparison Criteria

When evaluating the best free product analytics tools, we consider several important factors:

1. User Interface (UI): We look for tools with intuitive and user-friendly interfaces that surface the most important information for developers to prioritize their actions.
2. Usability: We prioritize tools that are easy to use and provide a positive customer experience.
3. Integrations: We consider tools that seamlessly integrate with popular software used by developers on a day-to-day basis.

Furthermore, we assess the following features when evaluating free product analytics tools:

1. Detailed user segmentation: The ability to analyze user groups and gather granular behavior data.
2. Automatic data capturing: Tools that effortlessly gather information to aid the evaluation process.
3. Detailed session segmentation: The ability to drill down into individual sessions for in-depth analysis.
4. Custom segments and reports: Tools that allow users to tailor reporting to their specific needs.
5. Key KPI dashboards: Overviews of key performance indicators in an easy-to-understand format.
6. Ability to add and analyze events: Tools that offer customization options for events analysis.
7. Data funnels: The ability to track a group of users as they navigate through the application.
8. Date-based data filtering: Options for breaking down data based on session timestamps.
9. Dashboard customization: Tools that provide flexibility for tailoring overviews to specific requirements.
10. User journey drill-down: The capability to analyze individual user journeys and identify problems or frustrations.

Now, let’s dive into our list of the best free product analytics tools for 2023:

1. Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 is the go-to web analytics tool for a reason. It’s not only free but also backed by the trusted Google brand. With Google Analytics, you can gain real-time insights into activity on both websites and mobile apps. This flexible and easy-to-use tool utilizes state-of-the-art conversion attribution and A/B testing tools to help you build better user experiences.

Key features of Google Analytics 4 include data analysis, visualization, monitoring, and reporting. The tool integrates with a wide variety of applications, including WordPress, Shopify, ZenDesk, and HootSuite. Google Analytics is free for most users and offers a wealth of valuable data to optimize your product strategy.

2. Mixpanel: Event Analytics for Mobile, Web & More

Mixpanel is a self-serve product analytics tool that helps businesses engage, convert, and retain more users. With Mixpanel, you can query and visualize data in seconds, gaining insights into how your product is used and identifying power users. The tool also allows you to build retroactive funnels and analyze conversion rates on the fly. Mixpanel integrates with data platforms such as Snowflake, BigQuery, and Redshift.

The free plan of Mixpanel supports up to 100,000 monthly tracked users, making it a great option for businesses of all sizes. With its interactive reporting capabilities, Mixpanel empowers you to make data-driven decisions and optimize your product’s performance.

3. Amplitude | Product Analytics & Event Tracking Platform

Amplitude is a popular product analytics suite that focuses on tracking website visitors using collaborative analytics. The software offers custom behavior reports and notifications to provide a better understanding of how visitors interact with your website. Amplitude also provides actionable insights to accelerate product development.

Key features of Amplitude include analysis of the customer product experience, a growth engine for product iteration, and SQL access for custom queries. By offering a 360-degree view of the customer journey, Amplitude allows you to set product strategies, improve customer engagement, and optimize conversions. The tool integrates with business applications such as Google Play, iTunes, Adjust, and Iterable. Amplitude’s free plan supports up to 10 million actions per month.

4. Hotjar | Website Heatmaps & Behavior Analytics Tools

Hotjar is a cloud-based platform that helps businesses track and analyze visitors’ click, scrolling, or tap actions. With its heatmaps, Hotjar provides a clear visual picture of how people interact with your website. Analysts can view users’ sessions anonymously and identify usability or navigation issues that may need improvement. Hotjar also allows users to add tags to recordings, replay sessions, add notes, and share recordings with colleagues.

Additionally, Hotjar enables you to set up custom user behavior triggers and create surveys to gather valuable feedback. Visitors can leave visual feedback, providing insights into sentiment across different pages. Hotjar integrates with popular third-party applications such as Slack, HubSpot, WooCommerce, Wix, and Joomla. Their free plan allows for up to 35 daily sessions and 1050 recordings per month.

5. SimilarWeb | Website Traffic – Check and Analyze Any Website

SimilarWeb is a cloud-based website traffic analysis platform that helps businesses optimize their budget, discover new keywords, and identify referral opportunities. With its data export, performance metrics, custom dashboards, and conversion analysis features, SimilarWeb provides valuable insights into website traffic and user behavior.

Retailers can monitor buying and browsing patterns, track category performance, and develop retail search strategies. Marketing teams benefit from the ability to view demographics, analyze customer behavior, and discover new opportunities. SimilarWeb integrates with platforms such as Salesforce through an API. While they offer a free plan for a single user, their paid plans start at $167/month.

6. Pendo | Product Experience and Digital Adoption Solutions

Pendo is a product analytics tool designed for product-led organizations. It helps businesses improve user onboarding, customer retention, and product roadmap planning. With Pendo, you can track product usage across both web and mobile applications. The tool allows you to distribute surveys and polls to generate quantitative and qualitative insights into customer sentiment.

Pendo’s product roadmap module enables you to visualize product strategy and create plans based on features, timeline, and segments. You can also capture, manage, and prioritize feature requests from customers. The data collected by Pendo can be used to improve products, facilitate customer success, and generate additional revenue. Pendo integrates with popular business platforms such as Jira, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Salesforce, and Tableau. Their free plan supports websites or apps with up to 1000 monthly active users.

7. Heap | Better Insights. Faster.

Heap is a digital insights platform that aims to provide a complete and trustworthy dataset for businesses. It uses automation to capture every data point in the user journey, allowing you to identify hidden friction in the user experience and reduce churn. With Heap, you can eliminate problems and bottlenecks to build better digital experiences.

Heap provides visibility into the complete user journey with real-time data. It can be implemented with a single snippet of code and integrates with major business and ecommerce tools such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Amazon S3, and Shopify. Heap offers a free plan for up to 10,000 sessions per month, making it a cost-effective solution for businesses of all sizes.

Conclusion

In conclusion, these best free product analytics tools for 2023 offer valuable insights into customer behavior, helping you make data-driven decisions to optimize your product strategy. Whether you’re looking for advanced session replay capabilities, detailed user segmentation, or comprehensive web analytics, there’s a tool on this list to suit your needs. Evaluate the features, consider your business requirements, and choose the tool that aligns with your goals. With the right product analytics tool, you can drive customer satisfaction, increase user engagement, and achieve product success.