A meta harness for research queries # Give your agent more than one source. Query search engines, AI answer engines, and deep-research APIs from one interface, and keep every answer with its citations. ## Set up Librarium Follow the [agent setup instructions](https://librarium.si/install.md). ### Agent Install Librarium for me by following https://librarium.si/install.md [Full install guide →](https://librarium.si/docs/using-with-agents#mcp-server) ### CLI ```sh npm install -g librarium ``` [Full install guide →](https://librarium.si/docs#install) ### JavaScript ```sh npm install librarium ``` [Full install guide →](https://librarium.si/docs#install) ### Laravel ```sh composer require jkudish/laravel-ai-librarium php artisan vendor:publish --tag=librarium-config ``` [Full install guide →](https://librarium.si/docs/php#install) [See an example](https://librarium.si/#research-example) ## One question. Multiple providers. > What are the best alternatives to Google Analytics? Deep research Captured September 18, 2026 with `librarium research "What are the best alternatives to Google Analytics?" --deep`. Playback makes no provider calls; durations are historical. ### Exa — 2m 02s #### Best Google Analytics alternatives model provider-managed There is no single winner: the right replacement depends on whether you need simple website reporting, privacy/data control, product analytics, UX replay, or enterprise customer-journey analysis. | Best choice | Choose it when | Why it stands out | Main trade-off | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Plausible Analytics** | You want the best default for a content, marketing, SaaS landing, or small-to-medium business site | A deliberately simple, privacy-first web dashboard with goals, funnels, revenue tracking, journeys, scroll depth, custom properties, scheduled reports, and shareable dashboards. It is the strongest general replacement when GA4 feels overcomplicated. [Plausible features](https://plausible.io/features) | It is not designed for person-level behavioral analysis, ad-audience building, or a highly custom raw-event warehouse workflow. | **Sources (14 in the capture; up to 5 shown)** - [What you can do with Plausible](https://plausible.io/features) - [Cookieless web analytics](https://plausible.io/cookieless-web-analytics) - [List of Features in Matomo Analytics](https://matomo.org/features/) - [Self-Hosted Web Analytics On Your Servers](https://matomo.org/matomo-on-premise/) - [Product Analytics – Understand your product with PostHog](https://posthog.com/product-analytics) 9 more citations in the capture ### Perplexity Research (Agent API) — 1m 01s preset high · observed model openai/gpt-5.6-sol (provider-reported) **Best overall:** **Plausible** for most small and midsize websites—it is simple, cookieless, privacy-focused and starts at $9/month. **Matomo** is the closest full-featured GA4 replacement, while **PostHog** is the strongest choice for SaaS and product analytics. | Alternative | Best for | Why choose it | Pricing snapshot | Main limitation | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Plausible Analytics** | Most marketing sites, blogs and small businesses | Clean dashboard, goals and campaigns without cookies, persistent identifiers or cross-site tracking | From **$9/month** | Less granular user-level and product analysis than GA4 | **Sources (30 in the capture; up to 5 shown)** - [Plausible Analytics](https://plausible.io/) - [Pricing - Simple Analytics](https://www.simpleanalytics.com/pricing) - [Plausible Analytics Pricing 2026: Plans, Costs & Breakdown](https://checkthat.ai/brands/plausible-analytics/pricing) - [Compare Pricing Plans - Matomo Ethical Web Analytics](https://matomo.org/pricing/) - [Matomo Review 2026 | EuropeanStack](https://europeanstack.com/software/matomo) 25 more citations in the capture ### Gemini — 5m 07s #### The Post-GA4 Landscape: Evaluating the Best Alternatives to Google Analytics in 2026 model deep-research-preview-04-2026 #### The Strategic Shift in Digital Measurement Architecture The transition from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) represents a foundational restructuring of digital measurement, shifting the industry from a session-based architecture to an event-driven data model . While this modernization successfully unified cross-platform data collection across web and mobile applications, it introduced profound operational and compliance challenges that have forced organizations to reevaluate their reliance on the Google ecosystem . By 2026, web analytics has evolved from a narrow technical function into a board-level infrastructure decision intersecting with legal compliance, data sovereignty, and customer acquisition cost calculations . **Sources (53 in the capture; up to 5 shown)** 53 Google grounding redirect citations (URLs omitted) ### Parallel — 4m 31s #### Best Google Analytics Alternatives by Use Case processor pro #### Executive Summary - **Best overall privacy-first replacement: Matomo**: It combines conventional web analytics with campaigns, ecommerce, events, funnels, custom reports, heatmaps, recordings, and A/B testing, while offering cloud or self-hosting and a free on-premise Community edition. Choose it when you need GA-like breadth plus data ownership. - **Best for simple content and marketing sites: Plausible**: It is lightweight, cookie-free, focused on aggregate traffic insights, and says site data stays in the EU. Choose it when fast adoption and low operational complexity matter more than user-level analysis. **Sources (24 in the capture; up to 5 shown)** - [matomo.org](https://matomo.org/pricing) - [matomo.org](https://matomo.org/) - [matomo.org](https://matomo.org/product-features) - [plausible.io](https://plausible.io/pricing) - [plausible.io](https://plausible.io/privacy) 19 more citations in the capture ### You.com — 35s model provider-managed There is no single best replacement; choose based on whether you need **simple website reporting, privacy, product analytics, or enterprise attribution**. | Alternative | Best for | Main strengths | Main trade-off | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Matomo** | Closest full-featured GA replacement | GA-like reports, goals, funnels, ecommerce, heatmaps, session recordings; self-hosting provides data ownership | More complex to configure and maintain | | **Plausible** | Small businesses, blogs, marketing sites | Lightweight, cookieless, privacy-focused, simple dashboard, optional self-hosting | Less depth in user journeys, ecommerce, and behavioral analysis | | **Fathom** | Polished, privacy-first reporting | Very simple hosted analytics, cookieless tracking, campaign and conversion reporting | Cloud-only and narrower than Matomo | **Sources (6 in the capture; up to 5 shown)** - [Plausible vs Matomo - Analytics Platform - Matomo](https://matomo.org/plausible-vs-matomo/) - [Why Fathom Analytics is a great Matomo alternative](https://usefathom.com/features/vs-matomo) - [Best Google Analytics Alternatives: 9 Tools Compared](https://amplitude.com/compare/best-google-analytics-alternatives) - [Mixpanel vs. Amplitude (Complete Guide to and Comparison of Both)](https://mcgaw.io/blog/mixpanel-vs-amplitude/) - [Google Analytics Alternatives 2026: Top 22 Tools](https://accs-net.com/the-complete-guide-to-google-analytics-alternatives-in-2025-20-best-tools/) 1 more citations in the capture ### Which tools did each excerpt name? A mention is not an endorsement. “—” means the tool is not in the displayed excerpt, not that the full report ruled it out. | Provider | Plausible | Matomo | PostHog | Fathom | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Exa | ✓ | — | — | — | | Perplexity | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | | Gemini | — | — | — | — | | Parallel | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | | You.com | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | ### Check where providers agree. Every answer keeps its provider and cited pages. Agreement is a lead, not proof. Plausible named in 4 of 5 provider excerpts - Exa — Named - Perplexity — Named - Gemini — Not in excerpt - Parallel — Named - You.com — Named Only the displayed excerpts are compared. Open the Answers tab to read their wording and citations. ## Choose how far to go. [Source selection](https://librarium.si/docs/source-selection) Quick research · default ### Get a first answer. Fast, cited answers for everyday questions. ```sh librarium research "What are the best alternatives to Google Analytics?" ``` Deep research ### Investigate further. Full, cited reports for questions that need real digging. Start one and pick it up later by its Run ID. ```sh librarium research "What are the best alternatives to Google Analytics?" --deep ``` AI answer engines · select by name ### Check AI answer engines. See what ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot recommend in your category, and which pages they cite. ```sh librarium research "What are the best alternatives to Google Analytics?" --only chatgpt,gemini-app,copilot ``` ## Keep the evidence. Keep control. ### See what it will cost before it runs. Preview any question for free: see which sources would run and what each would cost, before anything is called. [How budgets work →](https://librarium.si/docs/costs-and-limits) ``` Preview a $1 deep research run on "What are the best alternatives to Google Analytics?" with Parallel and You.com. Show me the estimates; don't run it yet. ``` ```sh librarium research "What are the best alternatives to Google Analytics?" --deep --only parallel,you --max-cost 1 --dry-run ``` ``` await librarium.research('What are the best alternatives to Google Analytics?', { depth: 'deep', only: ['parallel', 'you'], maxCost: '1.00', dryRun: true, }); ``` ``` Librarium::research('What are the best alternatives to Google Analytics?') ->deep() ->only(['parallel', 'you']) ->maxCost('1.00') ->dryRun(); ``` ### Come back to long-running research. Deep research can take minutes. Start it, walk away, and pick it up later by its Run ID. [How recovery works →](https://librarium.si/docs/request-and-retry) - You.com — 35s - Perplexity — 1m 01s - Exa — 2m 02s - Parallel — 4m 31s - Gemini — 5m 07s ``` Start deep research on "What are the best alternatives to Google Analytics?" without waiting, and give me the Run ID. I'll ask for the results later. ``` ```sh librarium research "What are the best alternatives to Google Analytics?" --deep --no-wait librarium show --wait ``` ``` const started = await librarium.research('What are the best alternatives to Google Analytics?', { depth: 'deep', wait: false, }); const later = await librarium.get(started.id, { wait: true }); ``` ``` $queued = Librarium::research('What are the best alternatives to Google Analytics?') ->deep() ->queue(); $run = Librarium::find($queued->id())?->refresh(); ``` ## Many sources. One interface. 16 research sources and 5 AI answer engines in one catalog. Support varies by source and language. ### Research sources - Brave Quick - Claude Quick - Exa Quick + deep - Firecrawl Quick - Gemini Quick + deep - Google results Quick - Grok Quick - Jina Quick - Kagi Quick - OpenAI Quick + deep - OpenRouter Quick - Parallel Quick + deep - Perplexity Quick + deep - Tavily Quick - Valyu Quick + deep - You.com Quick + deep ### AI answer engines · choose by name - ChatGPT - Gemini app - Google AI Mode - Google AI Overview - Microsoft Copilot [JavaScript provider capabilities →](https://librarium.si/docs/providers) [Laravel provider capabilities →](https://librarium.si/docs/php/providers) [Add a custom source →](https://librarium.si/docs/custom-providers) ## Use Librarium where you build. ### Agents & MCP Give Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and other agents a research tool. One prompt sets it up. [Explore Agents & MCP](https://librarium.si/agents) ### CLI Ask from your terminal and get every answer with its citations. [Explore the CLI](https://librarium.si/cli) ### JavaScript / TypeScript Add multi-source research to a Node app or Worker with a typed client. [Explore JavaScript](https://librarium.si/javascript) ### PHP / Laravel Research from a Laravel facade, with queues and a test fake. Built on the Laravel AI SDK. [Explore Laravel](https://librarium.si/laravel) ## Put your sources to work. Install Librarium, connect your sources, and preview your first query. Use it yourself or hand the research to your agent. [Set up Librarium](https://librarium.si/#install)