Web Analytics · Vendor profile

Google Analytics

Free web and app analytics platform by Google with audience and conversion insights.

Founded 2005· Mountain View, CA· ~190.8k employees· marketingplatform.google.com ↗

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Last verified 2 days ago · 22 sources · Updated automatically

Founded

2005

Headquarters

Mountain View, CA

Employees

190.8k

Free tier

Yes

Script size

135.7 KB

Overview

Google Analytics is a free web and app analytics platform from Google, built around audience and conversion insights. The standard GA4 tier is permanently free with no trial period, while a paid enterprise tier sits above it.

It covers the core of product analytics: a real-time dashboard, custom event tracking, goal and conversion tracking, funnel analysis up to multiple steps, and native ecommerce revenue reporting. Raw event-level data exports to BigQuery, and a Data API supports programmatic querying. An official Google WordPress plugin and scheduled email reports round out the integration surface.

On privacy and data ownership it is a proprietary, cloud-only service. Google operates as a GDPR data processor, but GA4 relies on first-party cookies, requires a consent banner, does not offer EU-only data residency, and caps free-tier retention at 14 months.

Best for

Teams that want full web analytics at no cost, since the standard tier is free with no trial limit.
Ecommerce sites needing revenue, conversion, and funnel reporting in one tool.
Data teams that want raw event-level data, with export to BigQuery and a Data API for custom analysis.
WordPress sites wanting an official, Google-published plugin for setup.
Marketers tracking live activity and custom events without engineering a reporting pipeline.

Less ideal for

Privacy-first teams needing cookieless tracking, since GA4 sets first-party cookies and requires a consent banner.
Organizations that must keep EU traffic stored in the EU; GA4 forwards data to Google's global processing servers with no EU-only residency.
Teams wanting to self-host or run open-source analytics; GA4 is proprietary and cloud-only.
Users needing built-in heatmaps, which GA4 does not provide.
Anyone needing long-term retention or a public, no-login dashboard; free retention caps at 14 months and reports require a Google account to view.

Pricing

Starting Monthly Price (USD)

Not tracked yet

Offers Free Tier

GA4 standard is entirely free to use with no time limit. Google Analytics 360 is the paid enterprise tier.

Free Trial Length (Days)

0 days · No free trial needed — GA4 standard is permanently free. No paid plan exists at entry level.

Entry Plan Pageview Limit (Monthly)

Not tracked yet

Entry Plan Website Limit

Not tracked yet

Analytics capabilities

Real-Time Dashboard

Realtime report shows active users in last 5 and 30 minutes, events, sources, and pages as they happen.

Custom Event Tracking

Custom events tracked via gtag('event', '<name>', {params}) or Google Tag Manager on any plan.

Goal / Conversion Tracking

Any event can be marked as a key event (conversion); GA4 reports key-event counts and rates by source, medium, and campaign.

Funnels

Funnel Exploration (in Explore) supports up to 10 steps with per-step drop-off rates, open and closed funnel modes.

Ecommerce / Revenue Tracking

Native ecommerce reporting includes revenue by transaction, purchase journey, checkout journey, and monetization overview.

Heatmaps

GA4 has no built-in click/scroll heatmap feature. Heatmaps require a separate third-party tool (e.g. Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity).

Privacy & compliance

Cookieless Tracking

GA4 uses first-party cookies (_ga, _ga_<id>) by default. Cookieless operation is not a supported mode.

Consent Banner Required

GA4 sets cookies and processes personal data; GDPR/ePrivacy require a consent banner for EU users.

GDPR Compliant

Google states it operates as a GDPR data processor for GA4, with Data Processing Terms, ISO 27001, and consent tooling.

EU Data Residency

EU traffic is initially collected on EU servers but is then forwarded to Google Analytics processing servers globally; data is not stored exclusively in the EU.

Data ownership & deployment

Open Source

GA4 is a proprietary cloud service. No source code is publicly available.

License

proprietary · GA4 is a closed-source cloud product. API client libraries are Apache 2.0 but the platform is proprietary.

Self-Hostable

GA4 is cloud-only with no self-hosting option. All data is sent to Google's servers.

Data Retention (Months)

14 mo · Free GA4 properties can choose 2 or 14 months retention for user/event-level data; 14 months is the maximum on the free tier.

Unlimited Data Retention

Free GA4 caps retention at 14 months for user/event-level data. No unlimited/forever retention option on any GA4 tier.

Google Analytics Import

GA4 cannot import historical Universal Analytics analytics data. Data Import covers external business data (cost, item, user, offline events) only — not migrating legacy GA report history.

Raw Data Export

Raw event-level data exportable to BigQuery (free sandbox available); daily and streaming export modes. Data API also available.

Platform & integrations

Has API

GA4 Data API (v1) enables programmatic querying of analytics data with runReport, runRealtimeReport, and more.

Tracking Script Size (KB)

135.7 KB · gtag.js baseline payload; varies with property configuration.

Official WordPress Plugin

Site Kit by Google is an official Google-published WordPress plugin that includes GA4 integration.

Email Reports

GA4 admins can schedule up to 50 reports for email delivery (daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly) in PDF or CSV format.

Public Dashboard Sharing

GA4 reports cannot be shared publicly without a Google account. Share links require recipients to have GA property access.

Alternatives to Google Analytics

Clicky

Real-time, privacy-friendly web analytics with per-visitor tracking and heatmaps.

View profile

Cloudflare Web Analytics

Free, privacy-first web analytics that tracks page views without cookies or fingerprinting.

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Fathom Analytics

Privacy-first, cookieless web analytics with a simple dashboard and forever data retention.

View profile

Sources · 22 verified references

about.google macrotrends.net marketingplatform.google.com support.google.com developers.google.com + 3 more

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