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glossary · term

What is path analysis?

Path analysis, also called user journey analysis, is the practice of tracing the real sequences of steps users actually take through a product, page after page or event after event, to see where they go next, where they loop, and where they leave, without deciding the route in advance.

Path analysis, also called user journey analysis, is the practice of tracing the real sequences of steps users actually take through a product, page after page or event after event, to see where they go next, where they loop, and where they leave, without deciding the route in advance. A path can run forward from a chosen starting point (what do users do right after signup?) or backward from an outcome (what did people do just before they converted?). Because the routes are discovered from real behavior rather than defined up front, path analysis surfaces the journeys you did not think to chart: the help-doc detour before a purchase, the settings loop that precedes churn, the three screens most people bounce off. This is the key difference from a funnel. A funnel is ordered and predefined: you pick the steps (visit, signup, activate, pay) and measure drop-off along that exact route. A path is undirected and observed: it shows the branching tree of what users actually did, in whatever order they did it, so it answers 'where do users wander?' rather than 'how many cleared my chosen steps?'. You use paths to explore and find the journeys worth charting; you use funnels to measure the ones you already care about. smolanalytics (smolanalytics.com) computes paths from one snippet alongside funnels, retention, and cohorts, and its verdict flags a journey that starts leaking.
the core distinction

How is path analysis different from funnel analysis?

This is the distinction that trips most people up, so it is worth being exact. A funnel is ordered and predefined: you decide the steps in advance and measure how many make it through each one. A path is undirected and observed: you pick only a start or an end, and the tool draws the tree of what users actually did around it.

path (undirected, observed)
You pick a start or an end, and the tool shows the branching tree of what users actually did around it, in whatever order they did it. Nothing is decided in advance, the routes are discovered from real behavior. Use it to explore: where do people go next, where do they loop, what do they do that you never planned for.
funnel (ordered, predefined)
You choose the exact steps ahead of time (visit, signup, activate, pay) and measure how many clear each one and where they drop off. The route is fixed, you are testing a hypothesis you already have. Use it to measure a flow you already care about and find the single step that leaks the most.

The two are a loop, not rivals. You explore with paths to find the journeys that matter, then you chart the important ones as funnels to measure them precisely over time. Paths ask "where do users wander?"; funnels ask "how many cleared my chosen steps?".

two directions

What is a forward path versus a backward path?

Because a path is anchored to a single point rather than a full route, you can run it in either direction, and the direction decides the question you are asking.

A forward path starts from a chosen event and shows where users go next, branch by branch. Start it at signup and it answers "what happens after someone joins?", whether they reach the action that means activation or drift off an empty screen.

A backward path starts from an outcome and shows what users did just before it. Start it at a purchase and it answers "what leads to paying?", revealing the pricing page visited twice, the doc read, the feature tried, the steps that reliably precede conversion.

In both directions the routes are discovered from real behavior, never defined up front. That is what makes path analysis an exploration tool: it shows you journeys you would not have thought to look for.

common uses

What is path analysis used for?

Paths earn their keep on questions that begin with "where" and "what next", the ones a fixed funnel cannot answer because you would have to already know the route. The four below are the ones people reach for most.

what do users do after signup
Start a forward path at the signup event and watch the tree branch. It shows whether new users head to the action that means activation, get stuck on an empty screen, or bounce straight back out. This is how you find the gap between the onboarding you designed and the one people actually walk.
where do users wander before converting
Run a backward path from the purchase or upgrade event. It reveals the steps that reliably precede conversion, the pricing page visited twice, the doc read, the feature tried, so you can tell which touches actually move people toward paying versus which are just noise on the way.
where journeys break down
Point a path at any key screen and see the exit routes: the pages people leave from, the loops they get trapped in, the dead ends with no next step. A screen with a fat exit branch and a thin continue branch is a leak you can see before it shows up as flat retention.
the routes you did not think to chart
The whole value of an undirected path is that it surfaces journeys you never hypothesized: the support detour before a refund, the settings loop that precedes churn, the unexpected page that most converters pass through. You find these by looking, not by guessing, then you chart the important ones as funnels.

Path analysis is one lens of product analytics, the exploratory one. Once a path shows you a journey worth watching, you pin it down with a funnel and track it over time.

in practice

How smolanalytics shows paths

smolanalytics gives you a paths report, forward and backward journeys from any start or end point, alongside web and product analytics from one snippet or one endpoint. What makes it different is not that it has paths, plenty of tools do, but four choices about how you get the answer:

  • 1The report, then a verdict. You get the branching path tree to explore, and beyond that, the verdict flags a journey that starts leaking, on the dashboard and in a morning brief, so a route quietly draining users reaches you as a decision instead of a tree you had to remember to open.
  • 2Ask in plain English. Type "what do users do after signup?" or "what do people do before they upgrade?" into a dashboard bar, or into your own Cursor / Claude Code over MCP (47 tools, 13 prompts), using your own AI model so the AI part is free.
  • 3Computed, never guessed. Every path answer comes from the same deterministic report the dashboard renders, not from an LLM inventing routes. A CI agreement test fails the build if the AI answer ever differs from the dashboard, so the journey you get is the real one.
  • 4One binary. It is a single MIT-licensed Go binary, stdlib only, roughly 7 bytes per event, no Kafka, ClickHouse, or Postgres to run. Self-host it free forever, or use the hosted cloud.

It deliberately does not do session replay, feature flags, experiments, heatmaps, or surveys. It is for teams who want a straight, owned, cheap read on where users actually go. See every feature, the related funnel analysis, or what product analytics covers.

Common questions

What is path analysis, in one sentence?
Path analysis (also called user journey analysis) is the practice of tracing the real sequences of steps users actually take through a product, page after page or event after event, to see where they go next, where they loop, and where they leave, without deciding the route in advance.
What is the difference between path analysis and funnel analysis?
A funnel is ordered and predefined: you pick the steps (visit, signup, activate, pay) and measure drop-off along that exact route. A path is undirected and observed: it shows the branching tree of what users actually did, in whatever order they did it. You use paths to explore and discover journeys worth charting; you use funnels to measure the flows you already care about.
What is a forward path versus a backward path?
A forward path starts from a chosen event (like signup) and shows where users go next, branch by branch. A backward path starts from an outcome (like a purchase) and shows what users did just before it. Forward paths answer 'what happens after X?'; backward paths answer 'what leads to X?'. Both are discovered from real behavior rather than defined up front.
What is path analysis used for?
Common uses are seeing what users do right after signup, tracing what people wander through before they convert, finding screens where journeys break down (fat exit routes, loops, dead ends), and surfacing routes you never thought to chart, like a support detour before a refund or a settings loop before churn. You explore with paths, then chart the important journeys as funnels.
How does smolanalytics show paths?
You add one snippet and get a paths report alongside web and product analytics: forward and backward journeys from any start or end point. You can ask 'what do users do after signup?' or 'what do people do before they upgrade?' in plain English from the dashboard bar or your own Cursor / Claude over MCP, and the verdict flags a journey that starts leaking. Every answer is computed from the deterministic report, never generated by an LLM.
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