OnRamp vs Firebase Analytics

The short answer: Firebase Analytics is free and already in many React Native and Expo apps, but it is a general event-logging tool - not an onboarding analytics tool. Useful funnels and retention in Firebase require significant configuration and often BigQuery exports. OnRamp gives you purpose-built onboarding funnels, retention cohorts, and live sessions with no configuration.

See the full side-by-side OnRamp vs Firebase comparison table for a feature-by-feature breakdown.

What Firebase Analytics does well

• Free, with generous event limits
• Deep integration with the rest of Firebase (Crashlytics, Remote Config, Push)
• Automatic event collection (app_open, screen_view, first_open, etc.)
• Google's infrastructure, so highly reliable

Where Firebase falls short for onboarding

Funnels require BigQuery. Firebase's built-in funnel explorer is limited - it only works with automatically collected events and has no step-by-step drop-off ribbon. Meaningful custom funnel analysis requires exporting to BigQuery, which requires a paid Firebase Blaze plan and SQL knowledge.

Retention is not built in. Firebase has a "User retention" chart that shows day-1 and day-7 retention, but it is not cohort-based and cannot split retention by whether users completed a specific funnel. Getting this view requires BigQuery.

No session timeline. Firebase does not have a per-user session view. You can query individual users in DebugView during development, but there is no production-ready user timeline.

Ad-blocker and privacy risk. Firebase Analytics routes data through Google's infrastructure (firebase.googleapis.com, app-measurement.com). These domains are blocked by many privacy-focused browsers and ad blockers by default.

Side-by-side

Can I use both?

Yes. Many teams use Firebase for crash reporting, Remote Config, and push notifications - and OnRamp for onboarding funnel analytics. They don't conflict. Call OnRamp.step() and analytics().logEvent() on the same user action.

When to choose Firebase Analytics

• You are already on Firebase for other features and only need basic event logging
• You have a data analyst comfortable with BigQuery for deeper analysis
• You need the free tier and have no budget for analytics tooling
• Your Google Analytics integration is important for ad attribution

When to choose OnRamp

• You want onboarding funnels without setting up BigQuery or SQL
• You want retention cohorts split by funnel completion, built in
• You want a per-user session view in production
• You want analytics that is not blocked by ad blockers or privacy browsers
• EU data residency and no Google dependency matter to you