Free Mobile App Analytics Tools: A Comprehensive Review

With the growth and complexity of the mobile app landscape, we've come to appreciate the power and necessity of robust analytics tools. But in today’s time, your tech stack also has to be cost-effective.

Given this, we've decided to put together this comprehensive guide on free mobile app analytics tools.

Whether you're a developer, product manager, or UX designer, having the right analytics tool in your arsenal can make all the difference. It can provide you with invaluable insights, drive your decision-making process, and ultimately, lead to the creation of an app that resonates with your users.

In this guide, we'll explore how to choose the right tool and provide a review of some of the most popular options available.

Ready to dive in? Let's get started.

Choosing the Right Mobile App Analytics Tool: Key Considerations

Selecting the right mobile app analytics tool can significantly influence your app's trajectory and success. But with a myriad of options available, how do you know which one aligns best with your needs? Consider these critical factors:

1. The Nature of Your App: Different analytics tools cater to different types of apps. An e-commerce app may require an analytics tool that provides detailed funnel analysis and transaction tracking. In contrast, a gaming app might benefit more from a tool specializing in user segmentation and engagement metrics.
2. Key Metrics: Identify the most important metrics for your app. Different tools excel in various areas, so ensure your chosen tool can provide the metrics most pertinent to your app's performance and success.
3. Autocapture Capabilities: Some analytics tools offer autocapture features, automatically collecting data on all user actions without requiring manual event tracking setup. This can save significant time and ensure you're not missing valuable data.
4. Mobile-First Approach: Given that we're talking about mobile app analytics, it's crucial to select a tool designed with a mobile-first mentality. This ensures that the tool's features, capabilities, and interfaces are optimized for mobile app analytics.
5. Security & Privacy: In our data-sensitive world, choosing a tool that prioritizes security and privacy is paramount. Look for tools that comply with regulations like GDPR, and provide features that allow you to easily manage user data privacy.
6. Qualitative Analytics: While quantitative data is critical, pay attention to the value of qualitative data. Tools that offer features like session replay and heatmaps can provide deeper insights into user behavior and experience.
7. Ease of Integration: The simpler it is to integrate the tool with your app, the quicker you can start collecting and analyzing data. Consider your team's technical capabilities and the time you're willing to invest in setting up the tool.
8. Real-Time Data: Real-time data can provide immediate insights into user behavior and app performance. This allows you to respond swiftly to any emerging issues or opportunities.
9. Scalability: As your app grows, your analytics tool needs to keep pace. Ensure the tool can scale to accommodate your business's growth and evolving needs.
10. Cost: Your budget will invariably play a role in your decision. Some tools are completely free, some offer free tiers with limited features, while others charge based on data events or the number of users. Consider both your budget and the value each tool offers.

There's no one-size-fits-all solution when choosing a mobile app analytics tool. However, keeping these factors in mind will guide you toward a more informed and beneficial decision.

Up next, we'll delve into some of the most popular mobile app analytics tools on the market today, analyzing their strengths and capabilities.

Review of Key Free Mobile App Analytics Tools

The tools we'll explore next are handpicked based on their reputation, features, and the value they provide to developers, marketers, and product managers. They each have unique strengths and weaknesses, and understanding these will help you choose the right tool for your needs.

Review sites such as Trustradius or G2 are the source of the following insights.

UXCam

Founded in 2013, UXCam is a user behavior analytics tool designed to help you understand user behavior and improve your mobile app UX. It captures in-app interactions and provides qualitative and quantitative analytics to empower you to make data-informed decisions.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

1. Tagless Autocapture: This feature allows for the automation of data tracking, reducing the need for manual input and potentially minimizing error.

2. Product Analytics: UXCam's product analytics provides a suite of tools designed to track and improve product success metrics in mobile apps. Key features include dashboards, funnel analytics, user journey tracking and event analytics.

3. Experience (UX) Analytics: UXCam's experience analytics offers a set of qualitative analytics tools aimed at enhancing the user experience in mobile apps. The features include session replays to observe natural user behavior, heatmaps to visualize user habits and issue analytics to effectively resolve issues.

   
   

Weaknesses

1. Free plan limit: While UXCam is free to use, the free plan is limited to 3,000 sessions, which makes it mostly useful to analyze session replays.
2. Lack of marketing attribution capabilities: UXCam lacks marketing-specific analytics data like campaign analysis.
3. Doesn’t support Unity mobile apps: UXCam’s SDK doesn’t support 3D gaming apps.

Who it’s best suited for

Product managers and product teams in medium to large organizations. UXCam’s product and qualitative UX analytics make it especially useful for teams that need insights to inform product decisions.

Find out more about UXCam here.

Flurry

UPDATE: Flurry is being discontinued. Read this post to find a flurry alternative.

Flurry is a mobile analytics platform founded in 2005. Flurry Analytics is a free-to-use service and has been widely popular due to its early presence in the mobile analytics field. Flurry was acquired by Yahoo! In 2014.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

1. Unique Retention Analysis: Flurry offers a rolling retention analysis. This provides a new and effective way to review app retention, which is not based on the actual day after install but overall days of use.

2. Comprehensive Revenue Analysis: Flurry offers thorough revenue analysis options that allow users to dig into all the data they need. This can be particularly useful for businesses that need to track and optimize their revenue streams.

3. Easy Integration and Excellent Documentation: Incorporating Flurry Analytics into an iOS app is straightforward. You just need to register your app, download the SDK, and incorporate the header and library into your project. Additionally, Flurry's documentation is very well written, providing several examples of the use of different method calls in code, which can make the integration process even easier for developers.

   
   

Weaknesses

1. No option to choose a timezone: Flurry lacks the option to select a specific timezone, making it challenging for users to compare data across different systems in other time zones.
2. Inaccurate metrics and subpar Excel support: Some users have reported that certain metrics, such as link tracking, can be inaccurate. Additionally, Flurry's support for exporting data to Excel could be improved.
3. Lack of support: Given that Flurry is free, Yahoo! Doesn’t invest a lot in a solid support structure. The only way to reach support is via e-mail, which can be slow to respond at times.

Who it’s best suited for

Founders of early-stage start-ups. Flurry is a solid analytics tool, which you’ll be happy with as long as you don’t need flexibility or customization.

Find out more about Flurry here.

Firebase

Firebase is a mobile and web app development platform developed by Firebase Inc. in 2011, and was later acquired by Google in 2014. Firebase provides tools for tracking analytics, reporting and fixing app crashes, creating marketing and product experimentations, among other features.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

1. Comprehensive and Free Reporting: Firebase Analytics offers unlimited reporting of hundreds of events for free. It provides insight into app performance and allows monitoring of how users fulfill the events.

2. Event-Based Data Model: Firebase uses an event-based data model, focusing on user completion of events. It allows registration of up to 50 custom event parameters and monitors every user action from the moment they open the app until the end, including updates, notifications, actions, etc.

3. Integration and Compatibility: Firebase Analytics is compatible with all iOS, Android, and Unity setups. It also allows tracking and accommodating metrics with its 52 partners, including Google Ads, AdMob, Liftoff, and AdActive, enhancing its ability to improve user retention and engagement rates.

   
   

Weaknesses

1. No autocapture of user gestures: While Firebase autocaptures session and device properties, it does not capture gestures or frustration signals like e.g. UXCam does.
2. No session replay: Firebase lacks a built-in session replay feature, which leads to less contextual user insights.
3. No heatmaps: Additionally, Firebase doesn’t offer heatmaps, which is a quick way to visualize user behavior.

Who it’s best suited for

Developers and development teams in small to large organizations. Firebase offers a lot of features that are catered to developers - in addition to its analytics package you can also host data with Firebase.

Find out more about Firebase here.

Amplitude

Amplitude is a product analytics platform that helps companies understand user behavior, allowing them to make data-driven decisions. It was founded in 2012 by Spenser Skates and Curtis Liu, two MIT graduates. Amplitude provides insights into user engagement, retention, and revenue using behavioral reports, user segmentation, and funnel analysis.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

1. Behavioral Analytics: Amplitude goes beyond basic metrics like monthly active users or screen views to reveal how engagement with your product impacts your main KPIs. It provides the necessary features to test which user actions lead to growth and success, contributing to increased retention, lifetime value, conversion rates, and revenue.

2. Conversion Drivers: Amplitude's analysis tools help you understand your conversion paths better, particularly where drop-offs occur. Its "Conversion Drivers" feature works with the funnels that you set up, allowing you to see what your users or customers are doing between funnel steps.

3. Collaboration and Integration: Amplitude prioritizes collaboration with features like "Team Spaces" for individual departments, teams, and projects, "TV Mode" for broadcasting dashboards across the organization, and the ability to share data and insights easily (e.g., via Slack).

   
   

Weaknesses

1. Limited Depth in Dashboard Customization: While Amplitude offers a variety of dashboard tools, users have reported that the platform lacks depth in its customization capabilities. Additionally, some users have found it less intuitive compared to competitors, requiring more training effort to fully utilize.
2. Lack of Flexibility: Some users have expressed that Amplitude could be more flexible, both in its overall platform and in its ability to adapt to changing data structures.
3. Difficulty in Data Import and Export: Users have reported that it can be challenging to move data in and out of Amplitude, which can limit the tool's effectiveness for companies that need to work with data across multiple platforms.

Who it’s best suited for

Analysts at organizations of all sizes. Amplitude’s strong point is its quantitative analytics, which allows you to deep dive into all details.

Find out more about Amplitude here.

Conclusion

Each of these tools offers unique features and capabilities that can provide valuable insights into your app's performance and user behavior.

However, and I might be biased because I work for UXCam, when it comes to a comprehensive understanding of user behavior, UXCam stands out with its robust features and user-centric approach to analytics. By combining both quantitative and qualitative data, UXCam delivers a holistic view of the user experience, enabling you to optimize your app based on precise, user-centric data.