Independent Analytics vs Bundled Hosting Analytics

Many hosting platforms include analytics as part of their offering. It is convenient — zero setup, integrated into the same dashboard where you manage deployments. But there is a trade-off that most developers do not think about until they need to switch hosts.

What bundled analytics includes

Hosting-platform analytics typically provides:

Pageview counts
Basic visitor metrics
Top pages
Geographic data
Referrers

The interface is often clean and minimal — optimised for the same audience as the hosting platform itself. For simple sites with light traffic needs, bundled analytics is often good enough.

The lock-in problem

Here is what nobody mentions when you sign up for bundled analytics: your data lives with your host.

When you switch hosting providers — because prices change, because a new platform is faster, because your team prefers a different deployment workflow — your analytics history disappears. You start fresh with zero data.

If you have two years of traffic history and you switch hosts, that history is not portable. You cannot export it, import it somewhere else, or compare it against future data.

Independent analytics tools store your data with the analytics provider, not the hosting provider. Your data follows your account, not your deployment target. Switch from Vercel to Fly.io to your own server? Your analytics history stays intact.

What you lose when you switch hosts

With bundled analytics:

All historical traffic data disappears
Goal completion history is gone
Referrer history is gone
You lose the ability to compare pre- and post-migration traffic

With independent analytics:

All historical data is retained
Same dashboard, same data, regardless of where the app runs

Independent analytics: what you gain

Beyond portability, independent analytics typically offers:

Cross-platform data — If you run the same codebase on multiple hosting platforms (for example, a staging environment on one host and production on another), independent analytics can track all instances under one account.

Richer feature set — Hosting analytics is often a secondary product for the hosting company. Independent analytics tools build their entire product around the analytics use case.

Privacy control — Independent tools give you more control over data retention, export, and privacy settings. Bundled analytics policies are tied to the hosting provider's policies.

Multiple sites — If you manage more than one site, an independent tool lets you compare traffic across all of them in one dashboard, regardless of where each is hosted.

Feature comparison (generic)

Feature	Bundled hosting analytics	Independent analytics
Data portability	Tied to host	Follows your account
Multi-host support	Usually one platform	Any framework, any host
Privacy posture	Varies by platform	Depends on tool (Antlytics: cookieless)
Goal tracking	Limited	Full path-based goals
Export	Usually limited	CSV + API (Antlytics)
Multi-site	Usually one project	Unlimited (Antlytics Starter)
Pricing	Bundled or free tier	Separate subscription

Cost comparison (honest)

Bundled analytics from hosting platforms is often free or included in a plan you are already paying for. Independent analytics is an additional subscription (Antlytics Starter: A$10/month).

The cost question is: is the portability, feature set, and data ownership worth A$10/month?

For a developer with one site, no complex needs, and no plans to change hosting: bundled may be adequate.

For a developer managing multiple sites, switching hosts occasionally, or needing reliable historical data: independent analytics is worth the cost.

When bundled analytics is actually fine

Honest answer: for many small sites, bundled analytics is sufficient.

If you:

Have one site
Are not planning to switch hosts
Only need basic pageview counts and top pages
Do not need goal tracking or UTM campaigns

...then bundled analytics may meet your needs without the extra subscription.

The moment you need to export data, switch hosts, or manage multiple sites, the case for independent analytics becomes clear.

FAQ

Does Antlytics work alongside bundled hosting analytics? Yes. You can run both simultaneously. Independent analytics complements rather than replaces bundled metrics.

Can I migrate historical data from bundled analytics to Antlytics? Not currently. Antlytics starts tracking from the day you install it.

Does Antlytics work on any hosting platform? Yes. Antlytics is a script tag and an SDK — it works wherever you can run JavaScript or serve HTML. Vercel, Netlify, Fly.io, Cloudflare Pages, self-hosted — no difference.

What if I use Vercel for some projects and a different host for others? One Antlytics account can track sites on any host. Each site gets its own tracking ID and dashboard view.