While working this week on a project to evaluate alternatives to Google Tag Manager (GTM), I dug into what both marketers like me and developers truly need when choosing a tag manager for eCommerce.
What follows is a decision checklist I put together (with a little help from my dev friends), based on real trade-offs I uncovered in my research, to help teams pick what’s best for them — balancing performance, privacy, governance, integration, cost, and vendor reliability.
What follows is a clear decision framework to help you choose the right tag manager before things get complicated.
Performance
- Do we audit tags quarterly and delay non-critical ones? (Y/N)
- Do we have a plan for server-side/edge where it helps? (Y/N)
Privacy & Compliance
- Do we need EU data residency/self-hosting? (Matomo/Tealium)
- Do we have consent capture integrated with our TMS workflows? (Y/N)
Governance
- Do we need fine-grained RBAC, approvals, audit logs across multiple teams/brands? (Adobe/Tealium/Ensighten)
Integrations & Data
- Do we prefer a CDP-first approach (Segment) to reduce pixels and unify schema? (Y/N)
- Number of downstream tools we must support (now/12 months)?
Cost / TCO
- Is a free client TMS enough (GTM), or do we need enterprise support & SLAs (Tealium/Adobe/Ensighten)?
- If we need EU hosting or self-host, do we have infra budget/skills (Matomo)?
Vendor outlook
- Any org-level preference/commitment to Adobe/Google/Twilio ecosystems? (If yes, bias selection accordingly.)
My Recommended Path Forward
- Audit current tag setup. Measure how many tags you have, what third-party scripts they pull, tag firing order, and whether they affect key performance metrics (LCP, FID, etc.).
- Define non-negotiables up front. Privacy & compliance (data location, consent), performance SLAs, governance (who deploys, reviews), cost ceiling.
- Pilot one alternative. If you suspect GTM will become limiting, pick one alternative (say, Matomo for privacy, or Tealium / Adobe for enterprise) and run as a pilot for a subset of properties. Compare overhead, performance, and team effort.
- Plan migration & training. If moving from GTM, migration will involve reconfiguring tags/triggers, retraining marketers/analysts/devs, and ensuring monitoring and rollback tools are in place.
- Continuously monitor. Even with alternatives, monitoring tag performance, compliance, data fidelity, and costs over time is essential. Technology, regulation, and tool performance evolve.
References & Data Sources
Here are the main sources I used / that support claims above. You can check further details there.
- "All about Googlr Tag Manager" - Tag Managers don’t have to be page-load killers.
- “Tag Management Systems: A Comparative Insight on Google Tag Manager, Tealium, Matomo, and More” — pros & cons, overview of TMS options. Lounge Lizard
- "GTM Test Environments Done Right" - Testing is a crucial part of managing and deploying tag.
- “Choosing a Tag Management System: A Comparative Analysis” — useful on what to evaluate, how GTM, Tealium differ especially for privacy, integrations. Trackingplan.
- “70-point comparison of 7 tag managers” including Matomo, GTM etc.; especially strong on privacy and hosting options. Piwik PRO
- "What Are Google Tag Manager Security Risks?" - Google Tag Manager (GTM) is powerful precisely because it can inject and orchestrate third-party JavaScript at scale. That power is the attack surface.
The main thing is to figure out what you absolutely can't live without. Next, try out a few different options to see what clicks.
There are a bunch of "yes/no" questions for each category to help you nail down your decision. Use the resources shared here and good luck!
Top comments (1)
Nice one.