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If they are to succeed in the market, software developers need to ensure that their products are continuously improving. Every product needs a roadmap which defines which new features and functions will be added.

But how can developers know which features to prioritize? What if existing features have missed the mark and are frustrating users more than helping them? That’s where product analytics tools come in. These Saas products provide insights into how customers interact with software tools.

They highlight problem areas that may need attention and give invaluable user feedback regarding what users want and expect. Guided by this information, software developers can then ensure that their product stays on track and delivers maximum customer satisfaction. 

In this article, I’ll review the top free product analytics tools available today. I’ll show you what each one does best and help you make the right selection for your business. 

Comparison Criteria

For these free tools, pricing is not an issue. So what do I look for when I select the best free product analytics apps? Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria: 

  1. User Interface (UI): I look for an interface that surfaces the most important information to help developers prioritize their actions
  2. Usability: I’m seeking free product analytics tools that are intuitive and easy to use, offering a positive customer experience
  3. Integrations: I look for integrations with the software that developers regularly use on a day-to-day basis

Free Product Analytics Tools: Key Features

These are the features I look for when evaluating free product analytics tools:

  1. Detailed user segmentation: the ability to get granular when analyzing user groups for detailed behavior data
  2. Automatic data capturing: effortless gathering of information to aid the evaluation process
  3. Detailed session segmentation: options for drilling down into sessions to get the detail needed
  4. Custom segments and reports: the ability to tailor reporting in the way that makes most sense for the application
  5. Key KPI dashboards: overviews of key performance indicator data in a format that’s easy to make sense of
  6. Ability to add and analyze events: ways to customize events to suit the needs of a particular use case
  7. Data funnels: the ability to follow a group of users as they work through the app
  8. Date-based data filtering: options for breaking down the data according to the time of each session
  9. Dashboard customization: options for tailoring overviews to suit specific requirements
  10. User journey drill-down: a means of drilling down into individual user journeys to analyze problems and frustrations

Overviews Of The 10 Best Free Product Analytics Tools

Here’s a brief description of each free product management solution to showcase each tool’s best use case, some noteworthy features, and screenshots to give a snapshot of the user interface.

1

Google Analytics

Best for a universally-popular choice

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.5
5782 reviews

Free to use

Free to use

Google Analytics is the de facto web analytics tool for good reason. As well as being a free solution, this platform has the backing of the Google brand and a long history of continuous improvement.You can use this tool to gain real-time insights into activity on both websites and mobile apps.

Flexible and easy to use, it uses state-of-the-art conversion attribution and A/B testing tools to help people build better user experiences. Google Analytics helps organizations determine their top sources of traffic, measure the success of social media campaigns, and track goal completions.

Key features include data analysis, visualization, monitoring, and reporting. This tool integrates with a wide variety of applications, including WordPress, Shopify, ZenDesk, and HootSuite.

Google Analytics is free for most users.

2

Mixpanel

Best for interactive reporting

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.5
733 reviews

Free plan available

From $20/month

Mixpanel is a self-serve product analytics tool that helps you engage, convert and retain more users. Features include analytics reports that allow you to query and visualize data in seconds. Using this data, you can determine how the product is used, who your power users are, and who stays onsite the longest. You can also build retroactive funnels and analyze conversion rates on the fly. It’s easy to build funnels that show top user flows and segment people into cohorts.

Mixpanel also reads directly from any data lake, without the need to install SDKs or build customized data import processes.

Mixpanel integrates with data platforms such as Snowflake, BigQuery, and Redshift. The free Mixpanel plan supports up to 100,000 monthly tracked users. Paid plans cost from $20/month/account.

3

Amplitude

Best for analyzing customer journeys

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.5
2021 reviews

Free version

Pricing upon request

Amplitude is a popular product analytics suite that tracks website visitors using collaborative analytics. The software uses custom behavior reports and notifications to offer a better understanding of how visitors interact, as well as provide actionable insights to accelerate product development.

Key features include analysis of the customer product experience, a growth engine for product iteration, and SQL access for custom queries. Users get a 360-degree view of the customer’s journey.

Amplitude also offers the ability to set product strategies, improve customer engagement and optimize conversions. It can also be used to benchmark new features against old ones.

This tool integrates with business applications such as Google Play, iTunes, Adjust, and Iterable.

The Amplitude free plan supports up to 10 million actions per month.

4

Hotjar

Best for heatmaps of user activity

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.4
251 reviews

15-day free trial + free plan available

From $59/month

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

It’s also possible to set up custom user behavior triggers while creating surveys. Visitors can leave visual feedback so that sentiment across pages can be measured.

This tool integrates with popular third-party applications such as Slack, HubSpot, WooCommerce, Wix, and Joomla.

Hotjar’s free plan allows for up to 35 daily sessions and 1050 recordings per month.

5

SimilarWeb

Best for digital research

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.4
226 reviews

Free plan available

$167/month

SimilarWeb is a cloud-based website traffic analysis platform. Features include data export, performance metrics, custom dashboards, and conversion analysis.The software helps businesses optimize their budget, discover new keywords, and identify referral opportunities.

Retailers can monitor shoppers’ buying and browsing patterns, track category performance, and create retail search strategies.Marketing teams benefit from the ability to view demographics, analyze customer behavior and discover new opportunities.

This tool integrates with platforms such as Salesforce through an API.A free plan is available for a single user only.

6

Pendo

Best for product-led organizations

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.4
1335 reviews

14-day free trial + free plan available

Pricing upon request

Pendo is a product analytics tool that helps businesses improve user onboarding, customer retention, and product roadmap planning. It tracks product usage across both web and mobile applications. You can distribute surveys and polls to generate both quantitative and qualitative insights into customer sentiment.

Using the product roadmap module, you can also visualize product strategy and create plans based on features, timeline, and segment. You can also capture, manage and prioritize feature requests from customers. This data can then be used to improve products, facilitate customer success and generate additional revenue.

This tool integrates with popular business platforms such as Jira, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Salesforce, and Tableau.

Pendo is free for websites or apps with up to 1000 monthly active users.

7

Heap

Best for surfacing hidden opportunities

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.3
699 reviews

14-day free trial + free demo

Pricing upon request

Heap is a digital insights platform that brings together a complete trustworthy dataset. It uses automation to capture every data point in the user journey, integrating data science to surface hidden friction in the user experience and reduce churn.

Using Heap, you can eliminate problems and bottlenecks to build better digital experiences. You get visibility into the complete user journey with no gaps in the real-time data.

Heap can be implemented with a single snippet of code. This tool integrates with major business and ecommerce tools such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Amazon S3, and Shopify. Heap is free for up to 10,000 sessions a month.

8

Creabl

Best for tracking customer retention

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.5
1 review

Creabl offers a 30-day free trial upon sign-up.

When paid annually, Creabl’s Pro plan starts at $36 per month.

Creabl is a customer experience software that helps businesses track user behavior, understand their audience base, and improve product adoption. The software offers session recording, heatmaps, and user segmentation and cohort analysis to help users dig deeper into their data and uncover insights.

Tracking user data and behavior starts with website users. Teams can watch session recordings to understand how people navigate their site and purchase their product or service. The software also collects data on who these visitors are, providing teams with audience insights. Custom sales funnels can be built in the software, helping to move users through the sales funnel and further understand the customer journey.

Once leads have converted, the software can be used to track their progress through onboarding and feature utilization. The system's retention tracking module helps teams analyze what factors are making or breaking the customer experience. Finally, the software can be used to create a self-serve help center and other customer support content, such as email campaigns.

A 30-day free trial is available, and paid plans start from $36 per month when paid annually.

9

LogRocket

Best for advanced session replay

14-day free trial

$99/month

Using the session replay functions, product teams can rerun sessions to better understand network logs, Javascript errors, and performance data. Managers can then analyze this data to resolve support tickets and reported issues.

The software measures front-end performance by monitoring CPU usage, page load times, page rendering, and browser crashes. It also tracks changes in user flows, engagement, and conversions.

This tool integrates with tools such as React, Angular, Reduc, and Plain JS. LogRocket is free to use for up to 1000 sessions a month.

10

Open Web Analytics

Best for open-source data analytics

Free Use

Open Web Analytics is a free, open-source web analytics framework. Using this tool, you can monitor analytics via the dashboard or see heatmaps of where users click. You can also view the details of usage on any web page, examine pageviews or examine the clickstream of anonymized users sessions.

The software also allows you to track an unlimited number of custom site actions, as well as tracking which search terms are referring visitors and producing rankings. You can track clicks on all elements on web pages and analyze visitor frequency.

You can also customize the workflow and web analytics framework to suit your business needs.

This tool integrates with major web platforms such as WordPress. Open Web Analytics can be used free with no restrictions.

Need expert help selecting the right Product Management Software?

If you’re struggling to choose the right software, let us help you. Just share your needs in the form below and you’ll get free access to our dedicated software advisors who match and connect you with the best vendors for your needs.

The Best Free Product Analytics Tools Summary

Tool Trial Info Price
1
Google Analytics

Best for a universally-popular choice

Free to use

Free to use Website
2
Mixpanel

Best for interactive reporting

Free plan available

From $20/month Website
3
Amplitude

Best for analyzing customer journeys

Free version

Pricing upon request Website
4
Hotjar

Best for heatmaps of user activity

15-day free trial + free plan available

From $59/month Website
5
SimilarWeb

Best for digital research

Free plan available

$167/month Website
6
Pendo

Best for product-led organizations

14-day free trial + free plan available

Pricing upon request Website
7
Heap

Best for surfacing hidden opportunities

14-day free trial + free demo

Pricing upon request Website
8
Creabl

Best for tracking customer retention

Creabl offers a 30-day free trial upon sign-up.

When paid annually, Creabl’s Pro plan starts at $36 per month. Website
9
LogRocket

Best for advanced session replay

14-day free trial

$99/month Website
10
Open Web Analytics

Best for open-source data analytics

Free Use

Website

Other Options

Here are a few more that didn’t make the top list.

  1. Smartlook - Best for qualitative insight widgets
  2. Indicative - Connects directly to your data warehouse
  3. Totango - Runs customer journeys at scale
  4. Woopra - Best for syncing existing data
  5. Countly - Industrial grade analytics and marketing

Related Read: ALM Software For Managing Digital Product Life Cycles

What do you think about this list?

What do you make of my evaluations? Did I pick the best free software, or would you make different suggestions? Let us know in the comments below. Also, remember to sign up for our free newsletter to get the latest ideas from top professionals in this niche. 

You may also want to check out our guide to product analytics, or read about the 10 best product analytics tools. And, of course, be sure to add this blog to your regular reading list. We’ve always added informative articles that give you real insights into the product management world. 

Related Read: Notable Product Analytics Certification & If They’re Worth It

Also Worth Checking Out: Best Product Requirements Software

By Ben Aston

Ben Aston is an online media entrepreneur and founder of Black & White Zebra, an indie media company on a mission to help people and organizations succeed.

Ben applies his expertise in design and strategy to enable businesses to deliver innovative products and services that delight customers. Ben is passionate about understanding customer needs through design research, identifying opportunities based on those insights, and empowering designers and technologists to create solutions. He is driven to develop and uncover new opportunities for clients, establishing strong connections with their customers through product solutions that create lasting value.