Sustainable Substitutes for Google Analytics

A web analytics service contributing to Google's data monopoly.

Reasons to avoid Google Analytics

Google Analytics is non-compliant with European privacy laws. Data is collected and stored by a major Big Tech company that has shown support for the Trump regime and its fascist policies.

Go with a GDPR compliant alternative.

Ethical and Sustainable Google Analytics Alternatives

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  • Feasibility: How easily can the average user switch to this substitute? Higher feasibility results in a higher ranking.
  • Editor's Rating: How sustainable is the substitute? The more sustainability attributes it fulfils, the higher it is ranked.

The 7 main issues with Google Analytics

Big Tech - Big Tech companies do not nourish people and planet. This is especially true in times of political tension.

Google Analytics is developed and owned by Google, one of the largest tech companies, contributing to market monopolisation and exploitative data practices. Source: EFF: Google Search Monopoly and Privacy Concerns (2025)

Privacy Concerns - User data is likely to be stored and used against users' best interest.

Google Analytics has been repeatedly ruled non-compliant with GDPR by European data protection authorities (e.g., Austria, France, Norway, Denmark, Germany). The core issue is that data collected by Google Analytics is transferred to US servers, where it is subject to US surveillance laws (e.g., FISA 702, CLOUD Act), which override GDPR protections. Even with anonymisation or consent mechanisms, the EU-US Data Privacy Framework is considered insufficient to protect EU user data from US government access.Source:TechCrunch: Stop using Google Analytics, warns Sweden’s privacy watchdog, as it issues over $1M in fines (2023)

Lack of Transparency - Opacity in operations, data handling, or supply chains, making it difficult for users to understand practices.

Google’s data collection, processing, and algorithmic practices—including those in Google Analytics—are notoriously opaque. Users and regulators often lack clarity on how data is collected, shared, or used, especially in the context of cross-platform tracking and ad targeting. Google’s own transparency reports and disclosures are frequently criticised as incomplete or overly complex.Source:EPIC: Transparency & Accountability: Examining Google and its Data Collection, Use and Filtering Practices (2018)

Data Monopolies - Control of vast amounts of user data, creating risks for privacy and potential misuse.

Google Analytics collects and centralises vast amounts of user behavior data across millions of websites, creating a data monopoly that fuels Google’s advertising and AI systems. This concentration of data gives Google de facto control over user insights, ad targeting, and digital market dynamics, raising concerns about unfair competition and user manipulationSource:Privacy International: Which comes first, the Google search monopoly or the data? (2025)

Tax Avoidance - Aggressive strategies are being deployed to avoid paying taxes.

Google is known for aggressively avoiding paying taxes, so much that taxing it got its own term: "Google tax". Source: Wikipedia: Google Tax

Support of Authoritarian Regimes - Companies actively supporting, financing and legitimising regimes and unethical policies.

Google has kissed Trump's ring by donating $1 million to his inauguration. Google is adapting its products to satisfy the administration.Time: How Google Appears to Be Adapting Its Products to the Trump Presidency (2025)

No Carbon Neutrality Goals - No goals for carbon neutrality is a bad sign as it shows lack of commitment to holding crucial thresholds for global climate warming.

Google recently erased its Carbon Neutrality Goals in favour of massively increasing its use of Gemini in its various products. Source: Toms Hardware: Google quietly removes net-zero carbon goal from website amid rapid power-hungry AI data center buildout (2025)

Suggestions and Feedback

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