Powerful free analytics platform – The Piwik PRO Core public launch

I'm elated to announce that Piwik PRO Core is now available for anyone to use.

Core is a free plan for Piwik PRO Analytics Suite. It’s more than a trial version, because it will be free forever. We've tested it thoroughly, internally and externally, and now we're sure: it's a great option for demanding analytics projects in business, government, healthcare and education.

If you want all the details, the best way to get them is to set up an account for yourself. One big change since the last phase: we've decided to increase the action limit to 500,000 per month.

The whole team couldn't be happier with how work on Core has gone. Thousands of users signed up and the feedback has been both positive and insightful. I wrote in an earlier post about finding the right balance between powerful analytics data collection and privacy. I'm convinced we're closer to that balance than ever with the current version of Piwik PRO Analytics Suite. If you haven't already, give it a try yourself and let us know what you think.

Why Piwik PRO Core?

Towards the end of last year, I wrote about the growing problems of low consumer confidence and low data quality. Specifically:

• In the EU, 41% of residents don't want to share personal data with private companies?
• In the US, 69% lack confidence that companies will use their personal information in ways they would be comfortable with.

We've all felt that hesitation when entering a website. Do I click "Accept all" and get on with it or do I dive into this dark UX that is actively discouraging me from making a choice to protect my privacy.

It's no wonder that trust is falling and data quality with it.

We started Piwik PRO so there would be a powerful analytics platform on the market that also gave its users the features and knowledge to collect data with privacy in mind. Up to this point, though, Piwik PRO Analytics Suite was only available to paying customers. The public launch of Core has changed that. We're thrilled to offer powerful and privacy-friendly analytics to everyone.

Our philosophy and business model remain the same, however. We sell paid plans for Piwik PRO Analytics Suite. We don't monetize the data collected with our platform in any way. Keeping that approach with Piwik PRO Core will let us expand a sustainable model for digital analytics:

• Win trust – Transparent and compliant data protection processes, along with the spread of solid regulations such as GDPR, will help regain trust.
• Win data – That trust from customers, users and citizens means those people will be more willing to share data about how they use online services.
• Win better experiences – More data leads to better service – better customer, user and citizen journeys that will make the internet a more productive place for everyone.

This approach is winning popularity among both businesses and regulators. Just to give two examples:

• CNIL’s consent exemption for Piwik PRO – What it means for you and the analytics data you collect – The French data regulator is encouraging both analytics platforms and data collectors to use a more sustainable approach.
• Piwik PRO Analytics Suite is Privacy Verified – Privacy Verified is an initiative of ICTRecht. The director of the program, Lisette Meij, also recently told us in an interview how GDPR compliance is a competitive advantage.

Join the privacy-friendly analytics community

We plan to keep adding features to Piwik PRO Analytics Suite, features that will be available to Core users of course. The opportunity is enormous: a growing community will give us feedback and also create a knowledge base for all users. It's already happening, in fact, on our Piwik PRO community forums. Also check out our healthy and growing help center for all kinds of useful articles and guides.

Our entire team is excited to see where Core takes us. This is the start of a new phase in our company and in the development of Piwik PRO Analytics Suite. Most of all, we can't wait to see all the ways you'll use it. See you on the community forums to talk about your approach to privacy-friendly analytics!