DEV Community

Cover image for Tag manager for eCommerce decision checklist (developer + marketer friendly)
Nebojsa Radakovic
Nebojsa Radakovic

Posted on

Tag manager for eCommerce decision checklist (developer + marketer friendly)

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

  1. 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.).
  2. Define non-negotiables up front. Privacy & compliance (data location, consent), performance SLAs, governance (who deploys, reviews), cost ceiling.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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 (0)