Choosing the right analytics tool to track and analyze your Confluence usage can significantly impact your team’s productivity and insights. In this comprehensive comparison, we’ll look at two popular options: Viewtracker – Analytics for Confluence app and Confluence built-in Analytics. Both options have unique features and benefits, and it can be challenging to determine which one best fits your needs. In this article, we’ll compare the two analytics tools to help you make an informed decision.
❓Why even bother comparing the built-in analytics features to a 3rd-party app like Viewtracker, you might ask yourself? While the built-in features from Confluence Analytics may be sufficient for some companies, heavy Confluence users and administrators with specific analytics requirements have contacted bitvoodoo for more granular reports and additional features. Since 2010, bitvoodoo has developed many Viewtracker analytics features that differentiate the app from competitors and Confluence’s built-in analytics.
The following article will highlight the differences and similarities between the two Confluence analytics tools, displaying the features in tables structured by topic.
Both Viewtracker and Confluence Analytics track a wide range of metrics and generate reports to gain visibility into Confluence usage patterns. However, they have key differences that will be explained in depth later in this article. Here’s a quick summary:
⚠️ Confusion alert: There is also a product called Atlassian Analytics, an analytics suite presented by Atlassian in 2022. This tool gathers insights from multiple Atlassian tools, mainly Jira and Bitbucket, and will also include Confluence insights in the future. However, the Atlassian Analytics suite is only available for Cloud Enterprise customers, and this post will not cover it further.
| Confluence Plan | bitvoodoo’s Viewtracker | Confluence Analytics | Atlassian Analytics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Confluence Server (until EOL) | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Confluence Data Center | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Confluence Cloud Standard | ✅ (free for 1-10 users) | ❌ | ❌ |
| Confluence Cloud Premium | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Confluence Cloud Enterprise | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Here’s an overview of Viewtracker vs. Confluence Analytics features to give you the key information you need. Keep scrolling down for a detailed breakdown of each analytics tool, divided by topic and hosting.
Legend for all tables
| Summary of main differences in Confluence tracking options: |
|---|
| Both tools offer robust tracking of page, blog post, and attachment views. They also support tracking of content creations, edits, deletions, and Confluence searches. |
| Viewtracker offers more comprehensive tracking capabilities. It uniquely offers tracking of likes on content and comments, visit sources, and even special Confluence elements like Space Directory, Calendars, and Team Pages. Additionally, it supports tracking 3rd-party apps and content viewed through Jira Service Management help desks. |
| Viewtracker offers more comprehensive tracking capabilities. It uniquely tracks likes on content and comments, visit sources, and even special Confluence elements like Space Directory, Calendars, and Team Pages. Additionally, it supports tracking third-party apps and content viewed through Jira Service Management help desks. |
| Viewtracker for Data Center supports tracking Confluence content viewed through the mobile app. |
| Summary of the main differences in data privacy settings: |
|---|
| Viewtracker strongly focuses on data privacy and offers various data privacy levels. For example, it can remove all user-specific information and only display the number of views, which is especially important for GDPR compliance. The built-in Confluence analytics feature does not cover this. However, both solutions allow admins to control which users can view the analytics of the Confluence site or individual spaces. |
| Viewtracker allows admins to exclude specific user groups and spaces from tracking, which helps gather only relevant data and complies with stricter data regulations. The built-in analytics has no comparable feature. |
| Viewtracker for Data Center also logs changes in the data privacy or other tracking settings, allowing administrators to monitor when each change was carried out and by whom. |
| Summary of the main differences in reports and KPIs: |
|---|
| User activity: This feature provides information on the number of pages created, edits, and comments posted by each user. Both tools provide these metrics. |
| Understanding how users interact with Confluence is crucial for admins. Viewtracker provides a comprehensive list of pages with which a specific user interacts, including views, creations, edits, and comments. |
| Viewtracker offers a robust set of standard reports and KPIs, including a summary of the most important metrics in the reports. Confluence Analytics covers essential reporting features but lacks some advanced metrics. |
| Viewtracker Data Center uniquely offers a line, bar or area chart with engaged users, likes on content, and likes on comments, providing a more nuanced view of user engagement. |
| Viewtracker allows admins to take direct actions on content displayed in reports: accessing the page history, seeing attachment details, and deleting unused content, among others. Confluence Analytics offers no such shortcuts. |
| Viewtracker’s System Report delivers KPIs like user count, space count, page/blog post count, attachment count, and attachment storage size. There is no comparable report on Confluence Analytics. |
| Lastly, Viewtracker possess an instance report which aims to help Confluence Adminstrators to detect the activity and engagement of their instance across time, as well as to discover when is their instance the most busy. Confluence Analytics does not have a similar report. |
| Summary of the main differences in filters: |
|---|
Viewtracker offers a wide range of filtering options, making it more versatile for detailed analytics. For example, users can filter for spaces/content/attachments with or without views, with or without edits, newly created, their status, their type, etc. They can also filter for a visitor’s source to give more insights into how users access Confluence content.
|
| Viewtracker also has a filter for a user’s login state, allowing you to differentiate between anonymous and Confluence users with login access. |
| Confluence Analytics offers basic filtering by content type (page, blog, attachment) and space type (general vs. personal space) but lacks more advanced options. |
| Viewtracker for Data Center stands out for its ability to filter using CQL queries, offering users more customization. |
Confluence administrators are usually interested in keeping an overview of key performance indicators (KPIs) such as user count, space count, page/blog post count, attachment count, and attachment storage size. Viewtracker delivers these KPIs both globally and on a space level. Confluence Analytics offers no such overviews.
In addition to the KPIs, Viewtracker also allows administrators to discover active vs. inactive users, content, spaces, and top spaces based on growth metrics. It also provides a heatmap based on active and “quiet” periods in Confluence.
| Summary of main differences in export and import: | |
|---|---|
| Export data Sharing relevant Confluence insights with stakeholders and exporting data into other company-specific tools is crucial. For this, both Viewtracker and Confluence Analytics offer an export option. Confluence Analytics has an Excel export, which might not be suitable for customers who do not use Microsoft software. Viewtracker offers a CSV export suitable for any 3rd-party software. Both solutions have an API to transfer analytics data to other software directly. | Import data When migrating Confluence Server or Data Center to Cloud, existing view data from Viewtracker is automatically imported to the Cloud with the Cloud Migration Assistant. When migrating from one on-premise instance to another instance, Viewtracker offers a manual export/import of the view data. Confluence Analytics does not have the option to migrate existing data. Moreover, Viewtracker administrators can import collected views from Confluence Analytics into the Viewtracker reports, ensuring continuity and preventing any loss of view data. |
| Summary of the main differences in attachment tracking: |
|---|
| While both solutions track attachment views and downloads, Viewtracker also tracks who created, edited, or deleted an attachment, when these actions happened, and which attachments have been seen and which have not. |
| Viewtracker reports on page, space, and global attachment interactions, while Confluence Analytics only lists attachment views per page. |
| Viewtracker allows administrators to disable tracking of specific file types, such as images. |
| Viewtracker gives administrators insights into attachment storage and growth. |
| Summary of the main differences in search analytics: |
|---|
| Both solutions track user search queries, enabling you to understand what users are searching for and identify potential problems. |
| The reports list the search terms, how often they were searched for, and how many users used the query. This allows you to identify the most popular searches. |
| Confluence Analytics also indicates the click-through rate of the search term and the most clicked content and spaces. |
| In contrast, Viewtracker displays the number of results for each search term, allowing you to find searches that uncover no Confluence content. This can point you to potential content gaps. |
It is often helpful to display analytics data on a Confluence page. With the Viewtracker Data Center and Cloud macro: Analytics Report Macro, you can select various metrics for a space or page and display them as charts, tiles or text/lists. The macro also allows you to make selected analytics data accessible for users who don’t have access to Viewtracker.
Viewtracker Cloud has one analytics macro: The Popular Content Macro, which displays the top content viewed within a space. This macro is available for both Cloud and Data Center. Read more about it in our documentation or our blog post.
The built-in Confluence Analytics has no report macros.
| Feature | bitvoodoo’s Viewtracker | Confluence Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Analytics Report: Chart – Displays selected metrics (e.g., likes, views, comments) as Line, Bar, or Area Charts. | ✅ | ❌ |
| Analytics Report: Tiles –Displays selected metrics in the shape of tiles. | ✅ | ❌ |
| Analytics Report: Text – Displays selected metrics in text fields. | ✅ | ❌ |
| Viewtracker macro Used to track and display metrics. It is now replaced by the macros above. | Deprecated | ❌ |
| Viewtracker Report macro Used to display a specific page’s view count and viewer list. It is now replaced by the macros above. | Deprecated | ❌ |
| Popular Content macro Used to display the top content of a space. | Deprecated | ❌ |
Confluence Analytics provides data that helps teams work more effectively within the platform. It enables tracking of page views, user activity, and engagement, offering insights into which content resonates most. Identifying active users and key contributors provides visibility into team efforts and collaboration patterns. The tool supports data-driven decision-making by helping refine content strategies and uncover trends. Additionally, its reporting capabilities allow teams to generate detailed reports to monitor content performance and user behavior over time, improving the overall use of Confluence spaces.
Both Confluence’s built-in analytics and Viewtracker – Analytics for Confluence are powerful analytics solutions. Far beyond simply tracking Confluence page views, the tools help Confluence administrators gather and analyze usage data and statistics about their Confluence instance. They track Confluence user activity for individual users or entire organizations, providing valuable insights into user behavior and content engagement.
Which solution best fits each organization is a matter of Confluence plan and personal preference. While larger organizations who are already using Confluence Data Center, Cloud Premium or Enterprise might stick with the built-in analytics options, smaller companies might also want to dig deep into their Confluence usage data and consider Viewtracker. Companies of any size with specific analytics requirements who are not satisfied with the built-in analytics options might also be drawn to Viewtracker with its more granular features and controls.
Regardless of your company size and Confluence deployment, Viewtracker is an affordable Confluence data analysis app that benefits everyone. Start analyzing your Confluence data today!
To learn about each Viewtracker feature in more detail, access the Viewtracker Data Center or the Viewtracker Cloud documentation.
