What it is
Google Analytics 4 is Google's free web analytics platform: traffic sources, user behaviour, conversions and audience data, on an event-based model.
It replaced the previous version with a data model most people found harder to use, and the reporting interface remains its weakest aspect.
It is on almost every site I work with, because it is free, it integrates with everything Google, and nothing else provides this depth without cost.
What it does
Traffic and acquisition reporting tells you where visitors come from, which is the report most businesses need and rarely look past.
Conversion tracking through events lets you count enquiries, purchases, calls and downloads, and this is where correct setup matters most.
Explorations allow custom analysis: funnels, path analysis, segment comparisons. Powerful and genuinely difficult until you have used them a dozen times.
Integration with Google Ads and Search Console ties spend and search visibility to behaviour, which no third-party tool matches for free.
Who it's for
Features
Pros and cons
Pricing
| PLAN | WHAT YOU GET | WORTH IT FOR |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Full platform with data limits and sampling. | Almost every site. |
| Analytics 360 | Enterprise version with higher limits and support. | Large organisations only. |
| Setup cost | Yours, in time or paid help. | Budget an afternoon or a small fee. |
| Consent tooling | Often needs a separate cookie solution. | Factor in for compliance. |
Free for practically every small business. The real cost is the time to configure conversions correctly, which is where most value is won or lost.
The free version, with conversion events configured properly for enquiries, calls and purchases. Then learn the acquisition report and one exploration, and ignore the rest.
Alternatives
My verdict
Google Analytics is free, deep and awkward, and it is still what I install. Nothing else gives you conversion tracking, acquisition reporting and Google Ads integration without cost, and those three cover what most businesses need to decide anything.
The failure mode is not the tool, it is setup. I regularly find sites where nothing is tracked as a conversion, which means every report is traffic trivia. Configure your enquiry and call events properly and the rest follows.
Pair it with Microsoft Clarity. Analytics tells you what happened; Clarity shows you why, and together they cost nothing.
Try Google Analytics →Who should use it
Who should avoid it
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Affiliate disclosure
I earn nothing from this recommendation. There is no affiliate link on this page and I pay for my own subscription where one is needed. When a review on this site does carry a commercial link, it says so in this same place on the page.