Key Definitions
What Perfect Analytics Tracking Looks Like
Before comparing approaches, let's define what we're aiming for. The ideal analytics implementation has three characteristics:
Accurate
Consistent, trustworthy data from a unified source of truth
Complete
Captures all relevant information for audience segmentation
Timely
Near real-time accessibility for immediate action
"Everything comes at a cost"—capturing comprehensive metadata requires significant investment in infrastructure and storage. The question is which tradeoffs make sense for your business.
Client-Side TrackingWhen Data Comes From the Browser
Advantages
- ✓Simple implementation via script injection
- ✓Reduced developer workload for basic tracking
- ✓Vendor-managed updates for privacy standards
- ✓Straightforward anonymous user tracking
Disadvantages
- ✗Ad-blockers eliminate 30-50% of user events
- ✗Inconsistency across platforms (web, iOS, Android)
- ✗Mobile app fixes require time-intensive releases
- ✗Outdated client versions cause metric divergence
- ✗Network issues affect data validity
- ✗Subject to third-party tracking restrictions
When Data Comes From Your Backend
Advantages
- ✓Reliable data maintained on company infrastructure
- ✓Consistent collection across all sources
- ✓Simple error correction and historical backfilling
- ✓Compliant with privacy-first standards
- ✓Immune to ad-blockers and browser restrictions
Disadvantages
- ✗Higher implementation complexity
- ✗Extended development timelines
- ✗Requires ongoing internal support
- ✗Cannot capture certain client-side interactions
A Hybrid Approach
The most effective analytics strategies combine both methods. Here's how to think about what goes where:
Client-Side Implementation
- →Capture clickstream data unavailable server-side
- →Deploy proxy solutions to mitigate ad-blocker losses
- →Establish platform-specific tracking plans
- →Track UI interactions and page views
Server-Side Implementation
- →Track critical business metrics from backend systems
- →Implement failover mechanisms and logging
- →Enable historical data enrichment and backfilling
- →Track transactions, subscriptions, and conversions
The Bottom Line
Your analytics tracking implementation will be as unique as your company. The right approach depends on:
- •Your product type (web vs. mobile vs. hybrid)
- •Engineering resources available for implementation
- •Privacy requirements and compliance needs
- •Which metrics matter most to your business
The recommendation: start with server-side for your most critical metrics, then layer in client-side tracking for interaction data that can only be captured in the browser.
About GrowthBench
We've worked with over 400 companies including Dropbox, Dialpad, Calendly, and Tonal—helping them build analytics infrastructure that balances accuracy with practicality. Every implementation is different, but the principles remain the same.