I'll tell you why, because I often wonder why projects that claim to replace Google Analytics regularly make the top of HN front page.
Google Analytics isn't about logging in when someone is on your website.
It's about how it connects that data point to Google's huge dataset about everyone. Google Analytics tells you what kind of people are visiting your site (aka, segments): age, location, etc.
Also, more often than not, these tools aren't as capable as GA to design and watch conversion tunnels and behaviours.
And then there's the whole binding with Google Ads.
Replacing GA with only an Apache or php/node URL logger is missing the whole point of GA.
Google Analytics isn't about logging in when someone is on your website.
It's about how it connects that data point to Google's huge dataset about everyone. Google Analytics tells you what kind of people are visiting your site (aka, segments): age, location, etc.
Also, more often than not, these tools aren't as capable as GA to design and watch conversion tunnels and behaviours.
And then there's the whole binding with Google Ads.
Replacing GA with only an Apache or php/node URL logger is missing the whole point of GA.