Adobe Analytics vs. Google Analytics: Which One is Right for You?
This post is contributed by Burtch Works’ web and digital analytics recruiting team.Whether you’re currently looking to implement a new web analytics tool at your workplace or just interested in learning more about the options out there, I thought it might be helpful to give an overview comparison of Adobe Analytics and Google Analytics.Both platforms offer many of the same things – custom variables, classifications to address audience segments, eCommerce tools, cloud integration, etc. – but there are also some distinct differences which may make one of them a better match depending on the resources you have.
First, let’s evaluate each tool using few specific factors:
- Cost
- Barrier to entry
- Customer Support
- Dashboard reporting/visualization
- Added thoughts
Adobe Analytics:
- Cost: Adobe is pricey! Starts at $100K and goes up depending on usage.
- Barriers to entry: Implementation for Adobe is rough and requires a fair amount of help. It requires a trained professional and programming expertise.
- Customer Support: Adobe Analytics has lots of support available, 24/7.
- Visualization: The Adobe dashboards are not as intuitive as Google Dashboards and can be harder to customize, but sharing with others is much more seamless.
- Added Thoughts: Adobe is upgrading ALL THE TIME, giving customers access to the latest and greatest tools quickly.
Google Analytics
- Cost: Google Analytics is free for 10 million hits, there is an annual cost for 1 billion hits ($150K).
- Barriers to entry: Implementation for Google is pretty seamless. You just need a little Java Script knowledge. There is additional Google Analytics assistance if you want, but that is a custom option.
- Customer Support: Google Analytics doesn’t have a dedicated support team. However, there are various resources available online, Google-sanctioned and otherwise.
- Visualization: While it can be a bit more intuitive and easier to customize, visualization is harder to share. At the moment, you can share a template or a PDF, but not the interactive chart.
- Added Thoughts: Google works well with open source analysis (like R and Python) making advanced analytics look easy (or at least easier).
So which one should you use?
Use Adobe if: You have the bandwidth to allow for the ramp-up and training. Adobe gives you the customer support to make Analytics work for you without learning other software or visualization tools. Everything works within the Adobe Ecosystem so your Creative, Marketing, and Analytics teams can collaborate more efficiently. If you’re willing to make the monetary investment, Adobe can reward you handsomely.Use Google if: You have the time and resources available for troubleshooting and learning. The time investment can be high, but investing in additional freeware (R or Python) can take your analytics to the next level and really help you identify the key insights from your web or eCommerce Platform. If you’re on a budget and don’t mind rolling up your sleeves, Google Analytics can be the perfect tool for you.
Additional Resources
Obviously if I were to go into exhaustive detail about the differences and similarities between Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics, this post would be much longer! I’ve covered the highlights here, but if you’re looking for additional information and more comparisons, there are a plethora of articles where you can dig even deeper.This article contains some short videos covering each platform as well as a handy chart (that also includes differences between Google Analytics vs. Premium). If you’re looking for an extensive write-up of both tools and a more robust framework for how to choose between the two, this post has you covered.Curious to see whether we have any roles that fit your experience, or looking to hire web and/or digital analytics experts for your team? Feel free to connect with us.