You are here: Matomo (Piwik) gets new SDK for tracking desktop software applications
Matomo (Piwik) gets new SDK for tracking desktop software applications
SoftMeter, our application analytics library for Windows, MacOS and IOS, was built as a minimal Google Analytics SDK allowing desktop developers to monitor their Windows and MacOS software via Google Analytics, on the same platform that they use to monitor their website traffic.
SoftMeter now has Matomo as an additional data collection and reporting platform for desktop software usage analytics.
Matomo (former Piwik) is an opensource alternative to Google Analytics.
Why would you want to use Matomo instead of Google Analytics
- Matomo's key feature is "Ethical web analytics", referring to the fact that you own the collected data, which are not shared with other parties and are not used to build an expanded visitor profile that spans to other platforms.
- Matomo can be either self-hosted or rented as a SaaS hosted solution (starting at 19EUR / month). In both cases it is only you who can see the data.
- Custom branding: Have your company's branding throughout the simple to use interface with the White Label feature.
- Some businesses or individuals do not want or cannot use Google Analytics.
- Full access to raw data via SQL and full access to raw data via API.
- Advanced Privacy Controls: User privacy is ingrained into everything we do at Matomo so you can remain in complete control.
- GDPR Manager: To be GDPR compliant is one thing but to have a GDPR Manager ensures you are in full control when processing your user's personal data.
- Server Log Analytics: You can use server log analytics as an alternative method for tracking your website’s users if the Javascript tracking method isn’t feasible or if you need to comply with strict security policies.
(We will update this page with the progress of our work. Please revisit after a week)
Hit types and data fields
| Matomo/Piwik | Google Analytics | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hit types | |||
| Page view | No, but SoftMeter sends PageViews as Matomo Content Views | Yes | |
| Screenview | No, but SoftMeter sends ScreenViews as Matomo Content Views | Yes | |
| Exception | No, but SoftMeter sends Exceptions as Matomo Content Views | Yes | |
| Action name | Yes | No | |
| Content view | Yes | No | |
| Search | Yes | When specified, the request will not be tracked as a normal pageview but will instead be tracked as a Site Search request | |
| Campaign name, keyword | Yes | Yes | |
| Event | Yes | Yes | |
| Metadata provided by the application | |||
| AppName | No | Yes | |
| AppVersion | No | Yes | |
| First time seen | Yes | No | The first time a user was seen, e.g. the date when the user first installed your software application that you track with SoftMeter. |
| Automatically filled metadata | |||
| Browser | Yes, but only a closed list of hard-coded browsers. | Yes, any browser string can be tracked. | |
| Operating system | Yes | Yes, broken down in two independent variables, OS and OS version. | |
| Screen resolution | Yes | ||
| Preferred language | Yes | ||
| Location (Country, City) | Yes | Yes | |
| Datasource | Yes | ||
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