Analyzing your data is an essential part of finding out what aspects of your digital strategies are lacking, especially when it comes to user engagement. Mixpanel vs Google Analytics—these are the two most popular data analytics tools out there. So, when searching for the right tool, there’s a high chance you’ll stumble upon these two. Of course, there are the likes of Adobe Analytics, but this one’s reserved for large enterprises with pretty complex data and deeper pockets. For now, let’s just focus on what the average business on the web would need and afford.
Mixpanel and Google Analytics (GA) are different in their own ways and are best for (almost) completely separate uses. So, as we race to compare them, we won’t have a clear winner. Rather, we’ll be highlighting what each tool is good for and what best suits your needs.
Google Analytics vs Mixpanel: What’s the Major Difference
Before we dive deeper into our comparison, let’s first understand what each tool is meant to achieve. Google Analytics 4 (the current version since 2020) is best for determining how users found their way to your website. That is, it’s excellent at pinpointing the source of your website traffic.
Mixpanel is useful for understanding the behavior (or actions) of users and how they interact with the different elements on your site or product. At Eaglytics Co., we tested the features and analyzed the perks and drawbacks of both tools and then arrived at the best use cases for each.
What Does Google Analytics 4 Excels At?
If you run an e-commerce or SaaS business, GA4 is an essential tool to have in your data analytics arsenal. Since it’s majorly a pageview-based tool, it’s pretty easy to get started with and use it on a day-to-day basis.
Before jumping into the perks of GA4, it’s important to note that the standard Universal Analytics is no longer in the market since it was discontinued on July 1, 2023. GA4 brings lots of improvements, especially related to tracking IDs, interfaces, event tracking, engagement metrics, and advanced analysis reports. Throughout this post, we’ll use Google Analytics (GA) to mean GA4 since most people are already used to the former.
1. Free Standard Version
Unless you run a large enterprise with complex data analytics requirements, the standard Google Analytics version, which is free, should do most of the things you need in an analytics tool. If your requirements are complex, in that case, you’ll need to go for Google Analytics 4 360, the enterprise-level version with annual fees of up to $150,000.
The GA4 360 can also be a good option if you believe that your company might scale endlessly. But generally, most businesses will rarely need the enterprise features. And if you can scale your requirements that much, then that six-figure subscription fee won’t matter as much.
2. Multi-channel funnels
GA4 has done a fantastic job with its multi-channel funnels, which basically reveal to you any other channels or paths taken by the user before converting. But is this feature even that important? Yes, it is, if you run several campaigns at the same time. With this, you can tell what was the longest path a user took before making a conversion.
3. Integrating with e-Commerce
If you have an e-commerce site, then GA4 can be a real game-changer for you. Comparing GA4’s e-commerce integration with that of Mixpanel, the former isn’t event-based. But still, it gives you plenty of value, especially when it comes to e-commerce conversion rates, transactions, and revenue. You can access this feature by going to your GA4 account, then ConversionsàEcommerceàOverview.
4. Marketing Attribution
No other tool does a better job of telling you where your traffic is coming from than Google Analytics. You can get a traffic overview from your GA4 account and have it divided into categories ranging from the highest to the lowest source. The marketing attribution feature gives you precise results when it comes to determining:
- The channels that drive the highest traffic
- The period of an average session, as well as the bounce rate for every single channel.
- The traffic sources with the best conversion.
In GA4, every stat matters because it’s how you distinguish the working channels from those dragging behind and where you can instill more effort. To give you a practical view of the metrics and stats that matter the most, customize your Google Analytics dashboard to your needs. The dashboard will also give you a deeper view of your traffic in real time, an in-depth dissection of your audience, and a user behavior overview.
5. Easy to Get Started
Setting up your Google Analytics 4 for the first time doesn’t require you to have technical expertise since Google has simplified it. Even when you need to integrate a third-party tool, you have plenty of support material on the web to help you do it in a minute. But if you find it challenging, a developer can do it for you within minutes.
Google Analytics Shortcomings
As great as it is, Google Analytics is without drawbacks and that’s what makes it not ideal for every use case. Here are a few disadvantages of GA4 to help you understand why it’s not the most complete solution for all businesses, whether it’s an e-commerce or SaaS.
Non-comprehensive Product Analytics
GA4 is a web analytics tool so it’s not the best to run product analytics. But that doesn’t mean if you have a web-based product, such as a subscription service, you can’t use GA for product analytics. You can, but it won’t give you the best outcomes as you would get from Mixpanel.
Inadequate Event Tracking
When this Mixpanel vs Google Analytics comparison gets to the benefits of Mixpanel, you’ll realize that GA offers event-based tracking, but not what users deserve. With GA4, you only get to track action, label, category, and value. If you have the expertise, you can create a maximum of 20 custom dimensions to suit more advanced setups. Comparing this to Mixpanel, it allows you to monitor about 2,000 event properties. While it’s true you might not require all these, you will for sure need something higher than four.
What Are the Perks of Using Mixpanel?
Mixpanel is what most businesses interested in tracking users’ actions to a granular level rely on. It’s the king of event tracking and product analytics. It goes deeper to track your users’ specific moves like purchases, clicks, and swipes to give you actionable insights. Perfect for SaaS products and mobile apps, Mixpanel helps you understand your audience’s behavior in real time.
Now let’s dive into the features of Mixpanel and how they’re useful.
1. User Behavior Tracking
One of the biggest perks of Mixpanel is being able to track user behavior on both websites and products. It allows you access to user action data in a single place without gaps. As such, it makes it easier to analyze the interactions of every user group or segment with your website or product. Mixpanel also goes beyond to recommend the remedies you can apply to improve customer retention and product engagement.
2. Funnel Analysis
Mixpanel offers highly customizable funnel analysis. You can build funnels within seconds, track user journeys in real time, and even apply filters retroactively to see user behavior across different touchpoints. It’s great for identifying bottlenecks and optimizing specific user flows, such as tracking how many app users complete their first purchase right after signing up.
Mixpanel also lets you have user actions in the last 90 days, regardless of whether your funnel is active or not. In comparison, GA works best if you start tracking right away.
3. Retention Analysis
Retention analysis helps you measure the success rate of retaining your customers over a specific period. It’s a useful method for product owners to examine user metrics over a given time across different sessions to find the reasons and how customers churn.
You can track how often users return to your website or app over a given time, like monthly or weekly. This is particularly invaluable for subscription service providers where user retention directly impacts revenue generated. Through Mixpanel’s visual retention reports, it’s easier to identify patterns and issues, such as why users aren’t sticking around long enough after onboarding.
4. A/B Testing
After collecting data for some time, you can run tests and make changes as you deem necessary. Now, unlike GA, Mixpanel comes with its own built-in A/B testing capabilities. The tool allows you to create a new experiment (or pick one from an existing list), define your variant groups, and even set date ranges.
This A/B testing feature lets you experiment with different variations of features, user experiences, and products. Then based on how users behave, you can make informed decisions. Some of the features that make this possible include:
- Event tracking integration: This functionality allows you to integrate events into experiments to track user behaviors and interactions within every variation.
- Creating experiments: The experiment creation features let you create multiple versions of your messaging, interface, and features to gauge users’ response to each variation.
- Iterative testing: Mixpanel allows you to implement changes after running a test, progressively enhance product variations, and drive continuous improvements.
However, you’ll only be able to access A/B testing if you’re on Mixpanel’s enterprise plan, with monthly plans starting as high as $1,667.
5. User Identification
If you want to track the trends in user behavior in the long run, it’s important to use the name and email to identify your users. Mixpanel makes this possible to a granular level. That is, you’ll be able to see exactly the actions of a specific user on your site or product. That includes their conversions and any other interactions.
In addition to this, Mixpanel allows you to track properties such as language, browser, and geographic location, which are important in your marketing.
What Are the Disadvantages of Mixpanel?
From the Google Analytics vs Mixpanel comparison we’ve done so far, you can tell that Mixpanel offers features that are focused more on granular user behavior tracking. Some of these features are in GA4, some are missing. Here are the shortcomings of Mixpanel, which are a plus on GA.
Expensive Pricing Plans
If your SaaS startup is in its early stages, you can manage your analytics needs with Mixpanel’s free plan, which you can use to monitor up to 20 million monthly events. But as soon as you start scaling, you’ll be required to join their premium plans which are quite expensive.
If you run a large organization, the enterprise plan supporting up to 1 trillion events can best suit your needs. But you’ll have to contact support to get a personalized quote. It comes with all the features of the free and growth plans, plus shared data views, advanced access controls, automated provisioning, dedicated customer support, and more.
Difficult to Use
Many users report experiencing difficulty getting started with the tool as well as using its features on a day-to-day basis. GA4, on the other hand, is quite easy to set up, get started, and even use its functionalities. So, if you’re not an expert in analytics tools, you’ll likely need a few hours every day to learn about Mixpanel.
Conclusion: Which Tool Should You Choose?
Mixpanel vs Google Analytics—which tool deserves your attention? This far, you’ve figured that both tools are powerful in their own ways. Your choice between them depends on your endgame. If you want an all-rounder analytics tool that tracks your web traffic and conversions without breaking the bank, go with Google Analytics.
But if you’re chasing deep, action-packed insights into user behavior, Mixpanel steals the show with its precision in tracking and analyzing product interactions. It’s less about which one’s better and more about which fits your goals. Are you after broad trends or diving into the nitty gritty? Go for a tool that aligns with your needs and budget. If you can use them both, why not? However, GA can get you moving forward if you don’t need to dig deep into user behavior on your products. All you need is a powerful dashboard.
Get in touch with Eaglytics Co. and let us help you customize your Google Analytics dashboard to suit your business objectives. We can help gain actionable insights into your user behavior and ultimately refine your strategies to grow your revenue.
