Loamly vs Matomo: Which Detects AI Traffic Better?

Matomo is excellent. I used it before building Loamly.

It's privacy-first, open source, GDPR-compliant, and trusted by over one million websites including NASA, the European Commission, and multiple government agencies. Matomo is the third most widely deployed analytics platform globally.

So why did I build something different?

Because when ChatGPT traffic started showing up in my "direct" bucket, Matomo couldn't tell me what was happening. Neither could GA4. Neither could Plausible.

This isn't a hit piece on Matomo. It's a comparison between two platforms with different priorities—and why your choice depends on what you're trying to measure.

The Fundamental Difference

Matomo: Comprehensive web analytics built for privacy and data ownership.

Loamly: AI visibility and traffic detection built for the generative search era.

Matomo excels at traditional analytics: pageviews, sessions, conversions, funnels, heatmaps, A/B testing. It's a mature platform with 20+ years of development.

Loamly focuses on one thing: detecting, measuring, and optimizing for AI-driven traffic—the traffic most analytics tools either miss entirely or misattribute.

How Matomo Handles AI Traffic

Matomo has added AI traffic detection features:

• AI Agent Overview report: High-level summary of AI vs human traffic
• AI Assistant channel type: Dedicated acquisition channel for AI referrals
• AI agent segmentation: Filter reports by AI source

This is legitimate AI detection. If you're a Matomo user, you can start measuring AI traffic today.

But here's what I found building Loamly: AI traffic detection is harder than referrer matching.

The Detection Problem

According to Digiday's analysis, the crawl-to-refer ratio for AI platforms is massive:

Platform	Crawl-to-Refer Ratio
Claude	500,000:1
ChatGPT	3,700:1
Perplexity	700:1

For every one user referred from Claude, Claude's crawler visits websites 500,000 times. That crawler activity doesn't pass referrer headers the same way browsers do.

Detecting "when ChatGPT sends a user to your site" requires more than checking referrer == chatgpt.com.

What Gets Missed

Most AI traffic detection catches the obvious cases—users clicking links directly from chat interfaces. But research shows:

1. Mobile app referrers are stripped: ChatGPT's iOS/Android apps often open links in ways that remove referrer information
2. Copy-paste behavior breaks attribution: When users copy URLs instead of clicking, no referrer passes
3. AI-assisted but browser-initiated visits: When someone uses AI to research, then types your URL directly

This is why SE Ranking found that the 0.15% AI traffic figure is "almost certainly understated"—real AI traffic could be 2-3x higher, hidden in your "direct" bucket.

Feature Comparison

Capability	Matomo	Loamly
Traditional Web Analytics	Full suite	Basic metrics
Heatmaps & Session Recording	Yes (premium)	No
A/B Testing	Yes (premium)	No
Conversion Funnels	Yes	Basic
AI Traffic Detection	Yes	Primary focus
AI Citation Tracking	No	Yes
GEO Score	No	Yes
AI Brand Mention Monitoring	No	Yes
Self-Hosted Option	Yes	Planned
Cloud Option	Yes	Yes
Open Source	Yes	Core is open source
Cookie-less Tracking	Yes	Yes
GDPR Compliant	Yes	Yes

The pattern is clear: Matomo is comprehensive analytics. Loamly is specialized AI visibility.

Matomo's Strengths

Be honest about what Matomo does better.

Mature, Battle-Tested Platform

Matomo processes analytics for over one million websites across 190+ countries. The European Commission, NASA, and major governments trust it with their data.

You're not beta-testing. The platform is stable, well-documented, and supported.

Complete Self-Hosting Control

Matomo's On-Premise option gives you absolute control:

• Your servers, your infrastructure
• Your backup procedures and retention policies
• Complete code visibility (it's open source)
• No data sampling, no limits

For organizations that can't send data to external servers, this is essential.

Comprehensive Feature Set

Want everything in one platform?

• Heatmaps and session recordings to watch user behavior
• Form analytics to optimize conversion
• A/B testing to validate changes
• Funnels to find drop-off points
• Custom dimensions without limits

Matomo's plugin marketplace has 75+ extensions for additional functionality.

Proven Privacy Compliance

Matomo received explicit endorsement from France's CNIL as exempt from tracking consent requirements under specific configurations—one of the few analytics platforms with this designation.

The platform can be configured for fully consent-free tracking through proper privacy-protective settings:

• IP anonymization
• No persistent cookies
• Daily session hash resets
• Minimal data collection by default

Loamly's Strengths

Now let me explain what I built differently.

AI-First Detection Architecture

Loamly was designed from the ground up to detect AI traffic accurately—not as an added feature, but as the core purpose.

This means:

• Multiple detection signals: Beyond referrer matching, we analyze user-agent patterns, behavioral fingerprints, and timing signatures
• AI crawler identification: Distinguishing ChatGPTBot, ClaudeBot, GPTBot, and other AI crawlers
• Attribution recovery: Identifying likely AI-originated sessions that traditional analytics miss

AI Citation Tracking

Traditional analytics tell you when someone visits your site.

Loamly tells you when AI mentions your brand—even if it doesn't send traffic yet.

This matters because according to Microsoft Clarity, AI traffic converts at 11x the rate of organic search. One ChatGPT recommendation can be worth more than page-one ranking.

GEO Scoring

Matomo doesn't have a GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) score because that's not what it was built for.

Loamly calculates how well your content is positioned for AI citation based on:

• Entity clarity and structured data
• Content structure and extractability
• Authority signals across AI platforms
• Current AI mention frequency

This isn't a vanity metric—it's actionable optimization guidance.

Built for the Emerging Traffic Source

AI traffic grew 700% in 2025 and is projected to grow another 100-233% in 2026.

By 2027, AI referrals could represent 3-5% of traffic for many industries—potentially exceeding social media as a traffic source.

Building for that future now gives you a head start.

Pricing Comparison

Matomo Pricing

On-Premise (Self-Hosted):

• Core platform: Free
• Premium plugins: $29-$229/year each
• Premium bundle: €200-€600/year
• Support plans: €1,590-€5,290/year depending on volume

Cloud:

• 50,000 hits/month: €22/month
• 500,000 hits/month: €39/month
• 2.5 million hits/month: €79/month
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Loamly Pricing

• Free Tier: Basic AI traffic detection, limited history
• Pro: Full AI detection, GEO scoring, citation tracking
• Enterprise: Custom deployment, API access, dedicated support

Both platforms offer discounts for non-profits and annual billing.

When to Choose Matomo

Choose Matomo if:

1. You need comprehensive traditional analytics: Heatmaps, session recordings, A/B testing, advanced funnels
2. Self-hosting is mandatory: Your compliance requirements prohibit external data processors
3. AI traffic is a secondary concern: You primarily care about traditional web analytics with AI as a nice-to-have
4. You're already in the Matomo ecosystem: Switching costs aren't worth marginal AI detection improvements
5. Budget for plugins is available: The full feature set requires premium add-ons

When to Choose Loamly

Choose Loamly if:

1. AI visibility is your priority: You specifically need to understand how AI is sending traffic and mentioning your brand
2. Your "direct" traffic is suspiciously high: You suspect AI traffic is being misattributed
3. You're optimizing for GEO: You want actionable guidance on improving AI citations
4. You need AI citation monitoring: Not just traffic, but brand mentions across AI platforms
5. You're building for the AI-first future: You want specialized tools for emerging traffic sources

Can You Use Both?

Yes, and many organizations will.

A reasonable setup:

• Matomo for comprehensive web analytics, conversion tracking, and behavior analysis
• Loamly for specialized AI traffic detection, citation monitoring, and GEO optimization

They solve different problems. Using both gives you complete visibility.

My Honest Assessment

Matomo is a better general analytics platform than Loamly. That's not a weakness—it's a design choice.

I didn't build Loamly to compete with Matomo's 20 years of feature development. I built it because I needed something Matomo didn't do: tell me what AI was doing with my content.

If you don't care about AI traffic specifically, use Matomo. It's excellent.

If AI visibility is strategically important—if you're watching your "direct" traffic grow and wondering how much is AI, if you want to know when ChatGPT mentions your competitors instead of you, if you're trying to optimize for the next era of search—that's what I built Loamly for.

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See the Difference

Both Matomo and Loamly offer free options. Try both on the same site and compare what they detect.

Start with a free Loamly AI traffic check to see how much AI traffic you might be missing—then decide which platform fits your priorities.