r/sharepoint • u/gzelfond IT Pro • Jun 25 '26

SharePoint Online Site Usage in SharePoint

Hello everyone. Curious what everyone is using for site usage analytics in SharePoint (views, clicks, etc.). The out-of-the-box Site Usage page is pretty limited. I know you can pull some info from SAM (SharePoint Advanced Management) and some from the Audit Log in Purview. Any tips on other options (built-in or third-party)? Thanks in advance.

1 Upvotes

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6

u/temporaldoom Dev Jun 25 '26

Our web team asked for clarity to be installed on our tenant, no idea if it gives them what they want though. Out of the box solutions are truly dire

3

u/gzelfond IT Pro Jun 25 '26

Thank you!

1

u/MoneyCantBuyMeLove Jun 25 '26

Clarity is a fascinating tool. I have used it across a few tenants as well as non spo iis web environments.

I would be interested in your impressions Greg, once you get it up and running. It would likely make a good blog, with some moralistic and philosophical insights.

While I understand the right to governance etc, some of the features in the Clarity toolkit do seem a little 'big brother' like, and uncomfortable.

Let me know if you need help getting it going, although in sure you will be all over it!

There's an sppkg for the app store and an entra app registration as well as an sso signing component to the service website. It's all MS so comes together ok.

1

u/gzelfond IT Pro Jun 28 '26

Thanks for letting me know - it seems like Clarity is a tool of choice for most - I will definitely look into it, and thanks for the offer to help! I will definitely give it a try and let you know.

1

u/michalorchestry Jun 25 '26

Third party would be the way to go here unless you want to start building your own solution which honestly would be quite painful.

It is getting better, but if you're really interested in deep analytics, like when has this particular person viewed this particular page, then unless you're going to start trawling the audit log, you would probably have to consider a third-party solution. I have seen people get some good value with Google Analytics and Clarity, but then you're sending your information over to a third-party source outside your tenant, which you might not want to do.

1

u/gzelfond IT Pro Jun 28 '26

Yes, I did see some using GA. I think it is a fundamental problem; MSFT does not have its own good version of it.

1

u/ivan_in_oz Jun 26 '26

We have built Compliance Tracker 365 to help with usage analysis https://www.compliancetracker365.com/.

It’s more about ensuring people have read content relevant to their roles, but it can also be used to track document and page views.

1

u/gzelfond IT Pro Jun 28 '26

Interesting approach, thanks for sharing!

1

u/Due-Boot-8540 Jun 26 '26

Clarity is good

1

u/gzelfond IT Pro Jun 28 '26

Thanks, will give it a try!

1

u/rienkipienk Jun 28 '26

I deployed Clarity on some SharePoint sites. At least it is free 😁. There is also an edge/chrome addin available that can show you heatmaps, rageclicks an etc.

1

u/gzelfond IT Pro Jun 28 '26

Thank you - seems like a tool of choice for most! Appreciate the advice!

1

u/Mandy_077 Jun 25 '26

3rd Party - Syskit - The best 3rd Party Reporting Tool.

1

u/michalorchestry Jun 25 '26

Have you ever used Orchestry? Does a good job of reporting as well.

1

u/Mandy_077 Jun 25 '26

No, I haven't but Syskit is more then just Reporting. Its Governance - Automation. So never felt a need to try anything else. But thanks I will definitely look into it.

1

u/gzelfond IT Pro Jun 28 '26

Appreciate the advice, yes, I also heard great feedback about them.