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• Stream ffmpeg transcoding result to S3

  7 juin 2019, par mabead

  I want to transcode a large file using FFMPEG and store the result directly on AWS S3. This will be done inside of an AWS Lambda that has limited tmp space so I can’t store the transcoding result locally and then upload it to S3 in a second step. I won’t have enough tmp space. I therefore want to store the FFMPEG output directly on S3.

  I therefore created a S3 pre-signed url that allows ’PUT’ :

  var outputPath = s3Client.GetPreSignedURL(new Amazon.S3.Model.GetPreSignedUrlRequest
  
  {
  
      BucketName = "my-bucket",
  
      Expires = DateTime.UtcNow.AddMinutes(5),
  
      Key = "output.mp3",
  
      Verb = HttpVerb.PUT,
  
  });

  I then called ffmpeg with the resulting pre-signed url :

  ffmpeg -i C:\input.wav -y -vn -ar 44100 -ac 2 -ab 192k -f mp3 https://my-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/output.mp3?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJDSGJWM63VQEXHIQ&Expires=1550427237&Signature=%2BE8Wc%2F%2FQYrvGxzc%2FgXnsvauKnac%3D

  FFMPEG returns an exit code of 1 with the following output :

  ffmpeg version N-93120-ga84af760b8 Copyright (c) 2000-2019 the FFmpeg developers
  
    built with gcc 8.2.1 (GCC) 20190212
  
    configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-sdl2 --enable-fontconfig --enable-gnutls --enable-iconv --enable-libass --enable-libdav1d --enable-libbluray --enable-libfreetype --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libzimg --enable-lzma --enable-zlib --enable-gmp --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libmysofa --enable-libspeex --enable-libxvid --enable-libaom --enable-libmfx --enable-amf --enable-ffnvcodec --enable-cuvid --enable-d3d11va --enable-nvenc --enable-nvdec --enable-dxva2 --enable-avisynth --enable-libopenmpt
  
    libavutil      56. 26.100 / 56. 26.100
  
    libavcodec     58. 47.100 / 58. 47.100
  
    libavformat    58. 26.101 / 58. 26.101
  
    libavdevice    58.  6.101 / 58.  6.101
  
    libavfilter     7. 48.100 /  7. 48.100
  
    libswscale      5.  4.100 /  5.  4.100
  
    libswresample   3.  4.100 /  3.  4.100
  
    libpostproc    55.  4.100 / 55.  4.100
  
  Guessed Channel Layout for Input Stream #0.0 : stereo
  
  Input #0, wav, from 'C:\input.wav':
  
    Duration: 00:04:16.72, bitrate: 3072 kb/s
  
      Stream #0:0: Audio: pcm_s32le ([1][0][0][0] / 0x0001), 48000 Hz, stereo, s32, 3072 kb/s
  
  Stream mapping:
  
    Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (pcm_s32le (native) -> mp3 (libmp3lame))
  
  Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
  
  Output #0, mp3, to 'https://my-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/output.mp3?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJDSGJWM63VQEXHIQ&Expires=1550427237&Signature=%2BE8Wc%2F%2FQYrvGxzc%2FgXnsvauKnac%3D':
  
    Metadata:
  
      TSSE            : Lavf58.26.101
  
      Stream #0:0: Audio: mp3 (libmp3lame), 44100 Hz, stereo, s32p, 192 kb/s
  
      Metadata:
  
        encoder         : Lavc58.47.100 libmp3lame
  
  size=     577kB time=00:00:24.58 bitrate= 192.2kbits/s speed=49.1x    
  
  size=    1109kB time=00:00:47.28 bitrate= 192.1kbits/s speed=47.2x    
  
  [tls @ 000001d73d786b00] Error in the push function.
  
  av_interleaved_write_frame(): I/O error
  
  Error writing trailer of https://my-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/output.mp3?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJDSGJWM63VQEXHIQ&Expires=1550427237&Signature=%2BE8Wc%2F%2FQYrvGxzc%2FgXnsvauKnac%3D: I/O error
  
  size=    1143kB time=00:00:48.77 bitrate= 192.0kbits/s speed=  47x    
  
  video:0kB audio:1144kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: unknown
  
  [tls @ 000001d73d786b00] The specified session has been invalidated for some reason.
  
  [tls @ 000001d73d786b00] Error in the pull function.
  
  [https @ 000001d73d784fc0] URL read error:  -5
  
  Conversion failed!

  As you can see, I have a URL read error. This is a little surprising to me since I want to output to this url and not read it.

  Anybody know how I can store directly my FFMPEG output directly to S3 without having to store it locally first ?

  Edit 1
  I then tried to use the -method PUT parameter and use http instead of https to remove TLS from the equation. Here’s the output that I got when running ffmpeg with the -v trace option.

  ffmpeg version N-93120-ga84af760b8 Copyright (c) 2000-2019 the FFmpeg developers
  
    built with gcc 8.2.1 (GCC) 20190212
  
    configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-sdl2 --enable-fontconfig --enable-gnutls --enable-iconv --enable-libass --enable-libdav1d --enable-libbluray --enable-libfreetype --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libzimg --enable-lzma --enable-zlib --enable-gmp --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libmysofa --enable-libspeex --enable-libxvid --enable-libaom --enable-libmfx --enable-amf --enable-ffnvcodec --enable-cuvid --enable-d3d11va --enable-nvenc --enable-nvdec --enable-dxva2 --enable-avisynth --enable-libopenmpt
  
    libavutil      56. 26.100 / 56. 26.100
  
    libavcodec     58. 47.100 / 58. 47.100
  
    libavformat    58. 26.101 / 58. 26.101
  
    libavdevice    58.  6.101 / 58.  6.101
  
    libavfilter     7. 48.100 /  7. 48.100
  
    libswscale      5.  4.100 /  5.  4.100
  
    libswresample   3.  4.100 /  3.  4.100
  
    libpostproc    55.  4.100 / 55.  4.100
  
  Splitting the commandline.
  
  Reading option '-i' ... matched as input url with argument 'C:\input.wav'.
  
  Reading option '-y' ... matched as option 'y' (overwrite output files) with argument '1'.
  
  Reading option '-vn' ... matched as option 'vn' (disable video) with argument '1'.
  
  Reading option '-ar' ... matched as option 'ar' (set audio sampling rate (in Hz)) with argument '44100'.
  
  Reading option '-ac' ... matched as option 'ac' (set number of audio channels) with argument '2'.
  
  Reading option '-ab' ... matched as option 'ab' (audio bitrate (please use -b:a)) with argument '192k'.
  
  Reading option '-f' ... matched as option 'f' (force format) with argument 'mp3'.
  
  Reading option '-method' ... matched as AVOption 'method' with argument 'PUT'.
  
  Reading option '-v' ... matched as option 'v' (set logging level) with argument 'trace'.
  
  Reading option 'https://my-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/output.mp3?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJDSGJWM63VQEXHIQ&Expires=1550695990&Signature=dy3RVqDlX%2BlJ0INlDkl0Lm1Rqb4%3D' ... matched as output url.
  
  Finished splitting the commandline.
  
  Parsing a group of options: global .
  
  Applying option y (overwrite output files) with argument 1.
  
  Applying option v (set logging level) with argument trace.
  
  Successfully parsed a group of options.
  
  Parsing a group of options: input url C:\input.wav.
  
  Successfully parsed a group of options.
  
  Opening an input file: C:\input.wav.
  
  [NULL @ 000001fb37abb180] Opening 'C:\input.wav' for reading
  
  [file @ 000001fb37abc180] Setting default whitelist 'file,crypto'
  
  Probing wav score:99 size:2048
  
  [wav @ 000001fb37abb180] Format wav probed with size=2048 and score=99
  
  [wav @ 000001fb37abb180] Before avformat_find_stream_info() pos: 54 bytes read:65590 seeks:1 nb_streams:1
  
  [wav @ 000001fb37abb180] parser not found for codec pcm_s32le, packets or times may be invalid.
  
      Last message repeated 1 times
  
  [wav @ 000001fb37abb180] All info found
  
  [wav @ 000001fb37abb180] stream 0: start_time: -192153584101141.156 duration: 256.716
  
  [wav @ 000001fb37abb180] format: start_time: -9223372036854.775 duration: 256.716 bitrate=3072 kb/s
  
  [wav @ 000001fb37abb180] After avformat_find_stream_info() pos: 204854 bytes read:294966 seeks:1 frames:50
  
  Guessed Channel Layout for Input Stream #0.0 : stereo
  
  Input #0, wav, from 'C:\input.wav':
  
    Duration: 00:04:16.72, bitrate: 3072 kb/s
  
      Stream #0:0, 50, 1/48000: Audio: pcm_s32le ([1][0][0][0] / 0x0001), 48000 Hz, stereo, s32, 3072 kb/s
  
  Successfully opened the file.
  
  Parsing a group of options: output url https://my-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/output.mp3?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJDSGJWM63VQEXHIQ&Expires=1550695990&Signature=dy3RVqDlX%2BlJ0INlDkl0Lm1Rqb4%3D.
  
  Applying option vn (disable video) with argument 1.
  
  Applying option ar (set audio sampling rate (in Hz)) with argument 44100.
  
  Applying option ac (set number of audio channels) with argument 2.
  
  Applying option ab (audio bitrate (please use -b:a)) with argument 192k.
  
  Applying option f (force format) with argument mp3.
  
  Successfully parsed a group of options.
  
  Opening an output file: https://my-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/output.mp3?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJDSGJWM63VQEXHIQ&Expires=1550695990&Signature=dy3RVqDlX%2BlJ0INlDkl0Lm1Rqb4%3D.
  
  [http @ 000001fb37b15140] Setting default whitelist 'http,https,tls,rtp,tcp,udp,crypto,httpproxy'
  
  [tcp @ 000001fb37b16c80] Original list of addresses:
  
  [tcp @ 000001fb37b16c80] Address 52.216.8.203 port 80
  
  [tcp @ 000001fb37b16c80] Interleaved list of addresses:
  
  [tcp @ 000001fb37b16c80] Address 52.216.8.203 port 80
  
  [tcp @ 000001fb37b16c80] Starting connection attempt to 52.216.8.203 port 80
  
  [tcp @ 000001fb37b16c80] Successfully connected to 52.216.8.203 port 80
  
  [http @ 000001fb37b15140] request: PUT /output.mp3?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJDSGJWM63VQEXHIQ&Expires=1550695990&Signature=dy3RVqDlX%2BlJ0INlDkl0Lm1Rqb4%3D HTTP/1.1
  
  Transfer-Encoding: chunked
  
  User-Agent: Lavf/58.26.101
  
  Accept: */*
  
  Connection: close
  
  Host: landr-distribution-reportsdev-mb.s3.amazonaws.com
  
  Icy-MetaData: 1
  
  Successfully opened the file.
  
  Stream mapping:
  
    Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (pcm_s32le (native) -> mp3 (libmp3lame))
  
  Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
  
  cur_dts is invalid (this is harmless if it occurs once at the start per stream)
  
  detected 8 logical cores
  
  [graph_0_in_0_0 @ 000001fb37b21080] Setting 'time_base' to value '1/48000'
  
  [graph_0_in_0_0 @ 000001fb37b21080] Setting 'sample_rate' to value '48000'
  
  [graph_0_in_0_0 @ 000001fb37b21080] Setting 'sample_fmt' to value 's32'
  
  [graph_0_in_0_0 @ 000001fb37b21080] Setting 'channel_layout' to value '0x3'
  
  [graph_0_in_0_0 @ 000001fb37b21080] tb:1/48000 samplefmt:s32 samplerate:48000 chlayout:0x3
  
  [format_out_0_0 @ 000001fb37b22cc0] Setting 'sample_fmts' to value 's32p|fltp|s16p'
  
  [format_out_0_0 @ 000001fb37b22cc0] Setting 'sample_rates' to value '44100'
  
  [format_out_0_0 @ 000001fb37b22cc0] Setting 'channel_layouts' to value '0x3'
  
  [format_out_0_0 @ 000001fb37b22cc0] auto-inserting filter 'auto_resampler_0' between the filter 'Parsed_anull_0' and the filter 'format_out_0_0'
  
  [AVFilterGraph @ 000001fb37b0d940] query_formats: 4 queried, 6 merged, 3 already done, 0 delayed
  
  [auto_resampler_0 @ 000001fb37b251c0] picking s32p out of 3 ref:s32
  
  [auto_resampler_0 @ 000001fb37b251c0] [SWR @ 000001fb37b252c0] Using fltp internally between filters
  
  [auto_resampler_0 @ 000001fb37b251c0] ch:2 chl:stereo fmt:s32 r:48000Hz -> ch:2 chl:stereo fmt:s32p r:44100Hz
  
  Output #0, mp3, to 'https://my-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/output.mp3?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJDSGJWM63VQEXHIQ&Expires=1550695990&Signature=dy3RVqDlX%2BlJ0INlDkl0Lm1Rqb4%3D':
  
    Metadata:
  
      TSSE            : Lavf58.26.101
  
      Stream #0:0, 0, 1/44100: Audio: mp3 (libmp3lame), 44100 Hz, stereo, s32p, delay 1105, 192 kb/s
  
      Metadata:
  
        encoder         : Lavc58.47.100 libmp3lame
  
  cur_dts is invalid (this is harmless if it occurs once at the start per stream)
  
      Last message repeated 6 times
  
  size=     649kB time=00:00:27.66 bitrate= 192.2kbits/s speed=55.3x    
  
  size=    1207kB time=00:00:51.48 bitrate= 192.1kbits/s speed=51.5x    
  
  av_interleaved_write_frame(): Unknown error
  
  No more output streams to write to, finishing.
  
  [libmp3lame @ 000001fb37b147c0] Trying to remove 47 more samples than there are in the queue
  
  Error writing trailer of https://my-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/output.mp3?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJDSGJWM63VQEXHIQ&Expires=1550695990&Signature=dy3RVqDlX%2BlJ0INlDkl0Lm1Rqb4%3D: Error number -10054 occurred
  
  size=    1251kB time=00:00:53.39 bitrate= 192.0kbits/s speed=51.5x    
  
  video:0kB audio:1252kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: unknown
  
  Input file #0 (C:\input.wav):
  
    Input stream #0:0 (audio): 5014 packets read (20537344 bytes); 5014 frames decoded (2567168 samples); 
  
    Total: 5014 packets (20537344 bytes) demuxed
  
  Output file #0 (https://my-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/output.mp3?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJDSGJWM63VQEXHIQ&Expires=1550695990&Signature=dy3RVqDlX%2BlJ0INlDkl0Lm1Rqb4%3D):
  
    Output stream #0:0 (audio): 2047 frames encoded (2358144 samples); 2045 packets muxed (1282089 bytes); 
  
    Total: 2045 packets (1282089 bytes) muxed
  
  5014 frames successfully decoded, 0 decoding errors
  
  [AVIOContext @ 000001fb37b1f440] Statistics: 0 seeks, 2046 writeouts
  
  [http @ 000001fb37b15140] URL read error:  -10054
  
  [AVIOContext @ 000001fb37ac4400] Statistics: 20611126 bytes read, 1 seeks
  
  Conversion failed!

  So it looks like it is able to connect to my S3 pre-signed url but I still have the Error writing trailer error coupled with a URL read error.

• Is Google Analytics Accurate ? 6 Important Caveats

  8 novembre 2022, par Erin

  It’s no secret that accurate website analytics is crucial for growing your online business — and Google Analytics is often the go-to source for insights. 

  But is Google Analytics data accurate ? Can you fully trust the provided numbers ? Here’s a detailed explainer.

  How Accurate is Google Analytics ? A Data-Backed Answer 

  When properly configured, Google Analytics (Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4) is moderately accurate for global traffic collection. That said : Google Analytics doesn’t accurately report European traffic. 

  According to GDPR provisions, sites using GA products must display a cookie consent banner. This consent is required to collect third-party cookies — a tracking mechanism for identifying users across web properties.

  Google Analytics (GA) cannot process data about the user’s visit if they rejected cookies. In such cases, your analytics reports will be incomplete.

  Cookie rejection refers to visitors declining or blocking cookies from ever being collected by a specific website (or within their browser). It immediately affects the accuracy of all metrics in Google Analytics.

  Google Analytics is not accurate in locations where cookie consent to tracking is legally required. Most consumers don’t like disruptive cookie banners or harbour concerns about their privacy — and chose to reject tracking. 

  This leaves businesses with incomplete data, which, in turn, results in : 

  • Lower traffic counts as you’re not collecting 100% of the visitor data. 
  • Loss of website optimisation capabilities. You can’t make data-backed decisions due to inconsistent reporting

  For the above reasons, many companies now consider cookieless website tracking apps that don’t require consent screen displays. 

  Why is Google Analytics Not Accurate ? 6 Causes and Solutions 

  A high rejection rate of cookie banners is the main reason for inaccurate Google Analytics reporting. In addition, your account settings can also hinder Google Analytics’ accuracy.

  If your analytics data looks wonky, check for these six Google Analytics accuracy problems. 

  You Need to Secure Consent to Cookies Collection 

  To be GDPR-compliant, you must display a cookie consent screen to all European users. Likewise, other jurisdictions and industries require similar measures for user data collection. 

  This is a nuisance for many businesses since cookie rejection undermines their remarketing capabilities. Hence, some try to maximise cookie acceptance rates with dark patterns. For example : hide the option to decline tracking or make the texts too small. 

  

  Sadly, not everyone’s treating users with respect. A joint study by German and American researchers found that only 11% of US websites (from a sample of 5,000+) use GDPR-compliant cookie banners.

  As a result, many users aren’t aware of the background data collection to which they have (or have not) given consent. Another analysis of 200,000 cookies discovered that 70% of third-party marketing cookies transfer user data outside of the EU — a practice in breach of GDPR.

  Naturally, data regulators and activities are after this issue. In April 2022, Google was pressured to introduce a ‘reject all’ cookies button to all of its products (a €150 million compliance fine likely helped with that). Whereas, noyb has lodged over 220 complaints against individual websites with deceptive cookie consent banners.

  The takeaway ? Messing up with the cookie consent mechanism can get you in legal trouble. Don’t use sneaky banners as there are better ways to collect website traffic statistics. 

  Solution : Try Matomo GDPR-Friendly Analytics 

  Fill in the gaps in your traffic analytics with Matomo – a fully GDPR-compliant product that doesn’t rely on third-party cookies for tracking web visitors. Because of how it is designed, the French data protection authority (CNIL) confirmed that Matomo can be used to collect data without tracking consent.

  With Matomo, you can track website users without asking for cookie consent. And when you do, we supply you with a compact, compliant, non-disruptive cookie banner design. 

  Your Google Tag Isn’t Embedded Correctly 

  Google Tag (gtag.js) is a web tracking script that sends data to your Google Analytics, Google Ads and Google Marketing Platform.

  A corrupted gtag.js installation can create two accuracy issues : 

  • Duplicate page tracking 
  • Missing script installation 

  Is there a way to tell if you’re affected ?

  Yes. You may have duplicate scripts installed if you have a very low bounce rate on most website pages (below 15% – 20%). The above can happen if you’re using a WordPress GA plugin and additionally embed gtag.js straight in your website code. 

  A tell-tale sign of a missing script on some pages is low/no traffic stats. Google alerts you about this with a banner : 

  

  Solution : Use Available Troubleshooting Tools 

  Use Google Analytics Debugger extension to analyse pages with low bounce rates. Use the search bar to locate duplicate code-tracking elements. 

  Alternatively, you can use Google Tag Assistant for diagnosing snippet install and troubleshooting issues on individual pages. 

  If the above didn’t work, re-install your analytics script. 

  Machine Learning and Blended Data Are Applied

  Google Analytics 4 (GA4) relies a lot on machine learning and algorithmic predictions.

  By applying Google’s advanced machine learning models, the new Analytics can automatically alert you to significant trends in your data. [...] For example, it calculates churn probability so you can more efficiently invest in retaining customers.

  Vidhya Srinivasan, VP of Measurement, Analytics and Buying Platforms at Google

  On the surface, the above sounds exciting. In practice, Google’s application of predictive algorithms means you’re not seeing actual data. 

  To offer a variation of cookieless tracking, Google algorithms close the gaps in reporting by creating models (i.e., data-backed predictions) instead of reporting on actual user behaviours. Therefore, your GA4 numbers may not be accurate.

  For bigger web properties (think websites with 1+ million users), Google also relies on data sampling — a practice of extrapolating data analytics, based on a data subset, rather than the entire dataset. Once again, this can lead to inconsistencies in reporting with some numbers (e.g., average conversion rates) being inflated or downplayed. 

  Solution : Try an Alternative Website Analytics App 

  Unlike GA4, Matomo reports consist of 100% unsampled data. All the aggregated reporting you see is based on real user data (not guesstimation). 

  Moreover, you can migrate from Universal Analytics (UA) to Matomo without losing access to your historical records. GA4 doesn’t yet have any backward compatibility.

  Spam and Bot Traffic Isn’t Filtered Out 

  Surprise ! 42% of all Internet traffic is generated by bots, of which 27.7% are bad ones.

  Good bots (aka crawlers) do essential web “housekeeping” tasks like indexing web pages. Bad bots distribute malware, spam contact forms, hack user accounts and do other nasty stuff. 

  A lot of such spam bots are designed specifically for web analytics apps. The goal ? Flood your dashboard with bogus data in hopes of getting some return action from your side. 

  Types of Google Analytics Spam :

  • Referral spam. Spambots hijack the referrer, displayed in your GA referral traffic report to indicate a page visit from some random website (which didn’t actually occur). 
  • Event spam. Bots generate fake events with free language entries enticing you to visit their website. 
  • Ghost traffic spam. Malicious parties can also inject fake pageviews, containing URLs that they want you to click. 

  Obviously, such spammy entities distort the real website analytics numbers. 

  Solution : Set Up Bot/Spam Filters 

  Google Analytics 4 has automatic filtering of bot traffic enabled for all tracked Web and App properties. 

  But if you’re using Universal Analytics, you’ll have to manually configure spam filtering. First, create a new view and then set up a custom filter. Program it to exclude :

  • Filter Field : Request URI
  • Filter Pattern : Bot traffic URL

  Once you’ve configured everything, validate the results using Verify this filter feature. Then repeat the process for other fishy URLs, hostnames and IP addresses. 

  You Don’t Filter Internal Traffic 

  Your team(s) spend a lot of time on your website — and their sporadic behaviours can impair your traffic counts and other website metrics.

  To keep your data “employee-free”, exclude traffic from : 

  • Your corporate IPs addresses 
  • Known personal IPs of employees (for remote workers) 

  If you also have a separate stage version of your website, you should also filter out all traffic coming from it. Your developers, contractors and marketing people spend a lot of time fiddling with your website. This can cause a big discrepancy in average time on page and engagement rates. 

  Solution : Set Internal Traffic Filters 

  Google provides instructions for excluding internal traffic from your reports using IPv4/IPv6 address filters. 

  

  Session Timeouts After 30 Minutes 

  After 30 minutes of inactivity, Google Analytics tracking sessions start over. Inactivity means no recorded interaction hits during this time. 

  Session timeouts can be a problem for some websites as users often pin a tab to check it back later. Because of this, you can count the same user twice or more — and this leads to skewed reporting. 

  Solution : Programme Custom Timeout Sessions

  You can codify custom cookie timeout sessions with the following code snippets : 

  • _setSessionCookieTimeout. Set a custom new session cookie timeout in milliseconds.
  • _setVisitorCookieTimeout. Sets a custom Google Analytics visitor cookie expiration time frame in milliseconds.

  Final Thoughts 

  Thanks to its scale and longevity, Google Analytics has some strong sides, but its data accuracy isn’t 100% perfect.

  The inability to capture analytics data from users who don’t consent to cookie tracking and data sampling applied to bigger web properties may be a deal-breaker for your business. 

  If that’s the case, try Matomo — a GDPR-compliant, accurate web analytics solution. Start your 21-day free trial now. No credit card required.

  21 day free trial. No credit card required.

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  Your Analytics subdomain will be .matomo.cloud (change)

  Choose your analytics subdomain
  

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  I hereby accept the terms and conditions and the data processing agreement (DPA)

  
  Your information will be used to create an account on our cloud service. For more information please consult our privacy policy.
  
  

  » Start improving your websites now

  

• Matomo vs WP-Statistics – which web analytics plugin suits you best ?

  2 avril 2020, par Joselyn Khor — Analytics Tips, Plugins

  Due to the endless choices, you may be wondering which web analytics plugin (GA, Slimstat or WP-Statistics) to choose from on the WordPress directory. If the choice is between WP-Statistics and Matomo for WordPress, we’ve got you covered. Have a look at which could be the best option for you. Our team tested the WP-Statistics plugin to see how it compares. It’s hard not to be biased, but we’ll try our best to give you a fair assessment.

  The main considerations in this article : 

  • General overview
  • General comparison
  • Similarities
  • Differences
  • Three notable feature category comparisons
  • Which tool suits you better ?

  General overview

  What’s Matomo Analytics for WordPress ?

  Matomo for WordPress is a free, privacy-friendly web analytics plugin that lets you understand website visitors and how they behave on your site. With comprehensive insights, you get the opportunity to increase conversions, and the know-how to improve your website. 

  It lets you undertake essential analysis by tracking information, such as, where visitors are coming from, what your most popular pages are, and how visitors are using your site.

  In addition to the fundamentals, the tool also allows for advanced tracking and analysis with features that give you a full understanding of behavioural patterns and website performance. This enables you to optimise your WordPress website to increase sales or engagement.

  It offers a complete analytics package with the bonuses of 100% data ownership, no data sampling, and GDPR compliance. 

  What’s WP-Statistics ?

  WP-Statistics is currently the most used self-hosted WordPress statistics plugin. It provides reports that let you analyse who your visitors are, where they’re coming from, and to an extent what they’re doing on your website.

  Like Matomo for WordPress, it gives you an understanding of your audience which helps you make decisions on how to improve your website for more conversions. 

  As it’s self-hosted on your own WordPress servers it can be seen as a privacy-friendly choice with a few tweaks (more on this below).

  Like Matomo for WordPress, it gives you an understanding of your audience which helps you make decisions on how to improve your website for more conversions. 

  General comparison

  Let’s compare the installation process and the dashboards that get installed in your WordPress.

  Installation

  Both Matomo and WP-Statistics are installed directly in your WordPress so you’ll be able to see your analytics reports right in your WordPress dashboard. You can install them both straight from the WordPress Directory.

  The installation process for both plugins is beginner-friendly. You simply need to find them on the WordPress directory, click on ‘Install Now’, and tracking should start immediately in your WordPress dashboard.

  Dashboard

  For the main Matomo platform you’ll see :

  • Visitors – Overview, Visits Log, Real-time, Real-time Map, Locations, Devices, Software, Times, User IDs, Custom Variables, User Type
  • Behaviour – Pages, Entry Pages, Exit Pages, Page titles, Site Search, Outlinks, Downloads, Events, Contents, Engagement, Transitions, Users Flow, Top Paths, Page Author, Page Location, Page Type, Crawling errors
  • Acquisition – Overview, All Channels, Search Engine & Keywords, Websites, Social Networks, Campaigns, Campaign URL Builder, Crawling overview
  • Ecommerce – Overview, Ecommerce Log, Products, Sales, Multi Attribution
  • Goals – Overview, Multi Attribution, Choose Goals, Manage Goals
  • These may be worded differently from WP-Statistics, but they show you all the information you need to know about your traffic, pages, etc.

  Previous

  Next

  In the dashboard for WP-Statistics you’ll see :

  • Overview, Hits, Online, Referrers, Search Words, Search Engines, Pages, Visitors, Categories, Tags, Authors, Browsers, Top Visitors Today
  • These are the only things you can see in the dashboard. So you can’t click into them for a drop down section to get deeper insights. 
  •  

  

  Key similarities between Matomo and WP-Statistics

  • Free to use
  • Self-hosted – All data collected is stored only within your own servers, no third parties have rights over your data, and logs or report data will never be sent to other servers. 
  • Beginner-friendly – Both offer simple reporting for people who are very much beginners and only want basic insights. With Matomo the advantage is also that you can get more details should you ever want/need to.

  Key differences between Matomo and WP-Statistics

  The main differences fall in these categories : features, privacy, documentation/support, security, active development, extensibility, price and ads.

  Features : 

  WP-Statistics – On a fundamental level, WP-Statistics is focused on simplicity and the basics. There are fewer reports than Matomo and they function on a level that suits beginners who are interested in seeing only the numbers of visitors on the website, and how often each page is viewed. 

  Matomo – provides an interface with similar simplicity. However, there is also a more feature-rich and more comprehensive user interface available. In addition to the basics, Matomo offers features like Goals, Ecommerce, in the free version which show a deeper level of insight. WP Statistics does not let you track essentials like Goals or Ecommerce.

  Privacy : 

  WP-Statistics – One of the concerns we wish to raise here is for data privacy. There doesn’t appear to be an opt-out option in WP-Statistics, which could be problematic for some privacy laws such as GDPR. There’s also no documentation on this.

  We were a bit concerned to see that WP-Statistics didn’t have IP anonymization enabled by default. Considering the IP address is personal data, it means you are not compliant with privacy laws such as the GDPR when you use this plugin unless you tweak the settings. They mentioned : “In previous versions, there was an option called Hash IP. When Hash IP was activated, the IP addresses wouldn’t be stored in the database, but instead, a unique hash would be used. In this new version, an option has been added to store IPs anonymously. This option is active by default.” However, when we installed this and tested it on multiple WordPress installations, this option was not active by default. 

  Matomo – has more measures in place to ensure privacy is respected, such as, opt-outs. Due to the stringent privacy features in place, Matomo is well equipped to ensure GDPR compliance. Matomo has an abundance of user guides and FAQs you can follow to configure your platform to fully comply with GDPR. There’s even an 12-step compliant checklist. The most compelling proof is that the leading voice on GDPR – The European Commission uses Matomo Analytics. 

  Documentation/Support : 

  WP-Statistics – has little documentation, FAQs, and no support.

  Matomo – has thousands of FAQs and user guides, as well as a dedicated support team and forum you can turn to for help. Should you ever run into any issue, this might be something important to consider.

  The contrast in support between WP-Statistics and Matomo for WordPress :

  

  

  Security :

  Matomo takes protecting your data very seriously. We have a security bounty programme giving security researchers money should they find any security issues. Matomo also performs a security review for every new release. We couldn’t find anything similar in WP-Statistics.

  Active development : 

  WP Statistics – doesn’t seem to have active development. The last change in this plugin was over three months ago (source : https://github.com/wp-statistics/wp-statistics/commits/master) and in general, only 10 people really contributed to it (source : https://github.com/wp-statistics/wp-statistics/graphs/contributors, the graphs shows little contributor activity.) 

  Matomo – has been built by hundreds of contributors (source : https://github.com/matomo-org/matomo/graphs/contributors), and is actively maintained by multiple developers including developers who work on this full time. This means you can rest assured that Matomo will be there for you in the future, it will receive regular improvements.

  Extensibility :

  WP-Statistics – have a section on their website offering customisation but for a price. 

  Matomo – should you want any changes and have some developer knowledge or some developers at hand, you can completely customise and extend Matomo for free. There are also one hundred additional plugins available for Matomo for free. 
  

  Price :

  The main WordPress plugins ‘WP Statistics‘ and ‘Matomo Analytics – Ethical Stats. Powerful Insights.‘ are both free.

  WP Statistics and Matomo also sell paid add-ons. However, WP-Statistics’ paid add-ons are ones already integrated in Matomo for free. These basic features are provided as the development team believe they’re necessities to a fully functional analytics platform. 

  Ads :

  WP Statistics shows you ads, whereas Matomo doesn’t.

  Three most notable feature category comparisons

  Both Matomo and WP-Statistics have basic tracking categories in the WP dashboard. In addition, Matomo has feature categories that can be expanded e.g. when clicked, Visitors drops down to reveal 11 more features. 

  We’ll compare three feature categories : Visitors, Behaviour, and Acquisitions.

  1. Visitors (WP-Statistics) vs Visitors (Matomo)

  Let’s dive into how each analytics platform provides insight into the visitors feature category.

  WP-Statistics

  

  WP-Statistics – We can see WP-Statistics gives you bare bones tracking capabilities so you don’t get a really detailed picture of your visitors. It allows you to monitor users currently online in real-time, which is useful to look at the most recent activity on your site. WP-Statistics doesn’t offer a dropdown section to see more about your visitor’s behavioural patterns. There is no Visitors category in WP-Statistics, just individual features in the dashboard but we can group three options together to compare with Matomo’s Visitors category, these are : Online, Browsers, Top Visitors Today.

  Matomo

  

  

  Comparison

  Matomo – In comparison, Matomo has a Visitors category with a dropdown list that lets you drill deeper into what your visitors are doing. It lets you evaluate every action an individual user has taken on your website which is compiled into a full historical profile. Matomo gives an in-depth view. E.g. you can look at individual visit logs, locations, and devices.

  This lets you see what the life-time journey of an active user looks like, or perhaps you want to see what a profile looks like for a user who comes back time-and-time again without ever purchasing ; there is no better way to gain insights to these journeys and this is why the Visitor Profiles feature is so widely used by Matomo users.

  2. Pages tracking (WP-Statistics) vs Behaviour (Matomo)

  For this comparison, WP-Statistics has a few features that can be combined to compare with Matomo’s Behaviour category. 

  WP-Statistics

  

  The Pages section in WP-Statistics gives a basic look at your most popular pages so you know which pages get more visits and those which aren’t performing. This helps with content improvement. You can also see other features in this Behaviour category like Browsers and Hits – these also provide basic stats to help you get a general sense of visitor behaviour. 

  Matomo

  

  Comparison :

  Matomo on the other hand has stats that go into greater detail. The features under the Behaviour section of the tool let you draw actionable conclusions e.g. seeing that a page has a higher exit rate than it’s supposed to, so you optimise that page to prevent people leaving and help them progress through your website. 

  Not only can you see popular pages, you can look at : which page people viewed first when they visited your website ; which page they left from ; what people search for on your site ; and see how people are flowing through pages. Most importantly you can see how each of these reports perform over time so you can improve engagement and conversions on your website.

  3. Referrers (WP-Statistics) vs Acquisition (Matomo)

  For this comparison, WP-Statistics has a few features that can be combined to compare with Matomo’s Acquisition category. 

  WP-Statistics

  

  WP-Statistics gives you Referrers, Search Words, and Search Engines. Which give a basic understanding of the channels that work best for you. This is helpful to know where to focus more of your attention.

  Matomo

  

  Comparison :

  With Matomo you see multiple layers of stats to understand how your acquisition channels are performing. So you can see tables of data that drill into visits, downloads, bounce rate, and newsletter sign ups. For example seeing that Facebook is the channel bringing in the most visitors to your site. This gives you a better sense of which acquisition strategy is working for your site. 

  Who suits WP-Statistics

  This is a great starter pack for people who want a lightweight, functional statistics plugin that gives you a basic overview of website hits and visitors. It’s very easy to use, so it’s great for beginners and those who want simple tracking. If you have basic goals for your website or blog’s success then WP-Statistics is enough for you to get numbers on visitors, page views, and hits, but won’t be suitable for a larger-scale business or organisation. 

  It’s suited for hobby websites, blogs, and freelancers who want simple, effective stats tracking, who don’t need detailed insights on site performance or tracking. 

  Who suits Matomo

  Matomo can be used for the same basic reporting, but has the capability for you to go deeper into more advanced reporting in a different UI if you need it. It’s an option that can work for a wider range of users – from beginners to analysts. There are features to suit all skill levels. This complete suite of features makes it a more comprehensive tool, as you can get more out of it. Ideal not only for bloggers and beginners, but also powerful enough to suit businesses, privacy-respecting organisations, and those who would benefit from conversion optimisation features. 

  You can draw insights from all stages of the customer journey – you’ll track behavioural patterns as soon as visitors enter your site, to their progression through your site, and ultimately to conversion and exit. It’s also an ethical choice because you get 100% data ownership. 

  If you’d like to look deeper into your data then Matomo would also be suitable for you. Matomo’s UI is lean, very easy to learn and shouldn’t overwhelm users in the way another tool like Google Analytics might do. If you think Matomo suits you best, you can install it for free now.

  Advantages of using Matomo

  Truly privacy-respecting

  There’s no messing about when it comes to privacy. As a lot of users are based in Europe, Matomo adheres to the strictest privacy laws and can be counted on as a privacy-respecting tool that’s used by many government entities. Needing to comply with major privacy laws (GDPR) in Europe means Matomo can proudly ensure users are making the ethical choice.

  GDPR compliance

  You mitigate the risks of getting caught out and fined for breaching GDPR regulations. There’s a complete list of documentation, guides, information, and tools to make sure you’re on the right side of GDPR. 

  All-rounder

  Matomo gives you a clearer picture of your visitors which helps you make better decisions for your website overall. The support and documentation is thorough which means you get more out of your Matomo experience.

  Conclusion

  Both tools will do you justice in terms of fundamental reporting, but Matomo Analytics will outshine if you want a greater understanding of your website and want to carry out deeper levels of analysis.

  You can draw useful insights with WP-Statistics so it has to be said that they are doing something right with an entry-level offering. The simplicity is great, but you won’t really get more than a basic idea of how your site is performing.

  On the flipside, this simplicity could also be a double-edged sword for WP-Statistics in that it’s too simplistic to draw actionable insights. If you’re wanting to know anything that could increase sales, conversions or subscribers – then you wouldn’t really get the reports to do so. 

  WP-Statistics also falls short when it comes to updates and support. So a major difference can be seen in support, active development, ads, security, documentation, which many people may think about until they’re in trouble and find they need these resources. Matomo offers support, continuous product development, and extensive documentation. There are also no ads, making it more enjoyable to use.

  One thing we’d like to raise awareness about is WP-Statistics’ claims of being privacy-respecting without much documentation to back up those claims. There is a lack of privacy features which could put some website owners at risk of non-compliance. Just be sure to check that you’ve carried out the steps to comply with the privacy laws in your country.

  Matomo makes it clear that privacy is essential as is compliance to privacy laws like GDPR. The strength also lies in the peace of mind you get from a tool that’s used by global privacy leaders such as the European Commission.