Google Analytics
Free web analytics from Google (GA4)
What it does
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) tracks visitor behavior on a website or app through an event-based data model. Every interaction (page view, click, scroll, purchase) is an event with parameters, not a hit in a session bucket like the old Universal Analytics. Free tier covers most businesses. Paid tier (GA4 360) starts near six figures per year and is for enterprises exporting to BigQuery at scale.
Free tier
Yes
Setup
hard
Key features
Integrates with
Google Ads, Google Search Console, BigQuery, Looker Studio
Who this fits
- Any business with a website that needs to know traffic sources, conversions, funnel drop-off
- E-commerce sites paying for ads and needing conversion attribution
- Marketing agencies reporting on client campaigns
- B2B SaaS tracking signup funnels
- Anyone already inside the Google ecosystem (Google Ads, Search Console, Tag Manager)
Who it does NOT fit
- Sites with strict EU privacy stance (GA4 has faced GDPR rulings in Austria, France, Italy limiting or banning use without extra safeguards)
- Owners who want simple, glanceable numbers (Plausible or Fathom Analytics fit that better)
- Product-analytics-first teams tracking user journeys inside a SaaS product (Mixpanel or Amplitude are stronger)
- Teams wanting session replay (GA4 does not do this; add Clarity or Hotjar)
Pricing
Real gotchas
- The upgrade from Universal Analytics to GA4 was mandatory (UA stopped processing data July 1 2023, with sunset in July 2024). Historical UA data is largely inaccessible now, and GA4 does not backfill. Every business that had years of UA history lost that continuity unless they exported to BigQuery before the cutoff [source: Google Analytics announcement, support.google.com/analytics/answer/11583528].
- GA4 uses data thresholds that hide row-level data when a report might expose individual users, so small-traffic sites see (other) rows and confusing gaps.
- Explorations (the report builder) sample data above 10 million events per query even on free tier, so big date ranges return approximated numbers with no warning banner.
- Attribution defaults changed from last-click to data-driven in mid-2023, so old reports and new reports do not match without adjusting the model.
- Filtering internal traffic requires setting a filter on the property AND identifying your own IP as a developer traffic type, then activating the filter in each data stream. Two-step, hidden.
Integrations that matter
Otto’s take on this tool
Default recommendation for any site that already runs Google Ads or Search Console. Skip in favor of Plausible or Fathom Analytics when the owner prioritizes privacy, simplicity, or cookieless tracking. Pair with Microsoft Clarity for the session-replay layer GA4 lacks. For product analytics inside a SaaS app, recommend Mixpanel or Amplitude on top of GA4 for marketing.
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