Google Analytics

• Free forever for most websites, with a paid GA4 360 tier for enterprises
• Event-based data model replaces UA's session-based view, with web + iOS + Android in one property
• Free BigQuery export unlocks raw SQL analysis on your own data
• Consent Mode v2 and modeling fill gaps from cookieless users and EU regulation
• Steep learning curve for ex-UA users; reports feel less intuitive out of the box

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a web and app analytics service from Google, launched in 2005 after the company acquired Urchin Software. The current generation — Google Analytics 4 (GA4) — was released in October 2020 and became the only option after Universal Analytics stopped processing new hits on July 1, 2023. Every site that ran UA had to migrate, and GA4 is now the de facto analytics layer for a large share of the public web.

Where UA was a session-and-pageview product, GA4 is fully event-based. Every interaction — a page view, a scroll, a click, a purchase, a video play — is an event with arbitrary parameters. That model lets a single GA4 property track a website, an iOS app, and an Android app with one schema, which was impossible in the old world.

Key features in 2026

GA4 pricing: free vs GA4 360

For most websites, GA4 is completely free. There are no traffic-based pricing tiers anymore (UA had those). Google monetizes the product through the rest of the Google ad stack, not by charging for the analytics itself.

The paid version, GA4 360, is aimed at large enterprises. Historically it started at roughly $50,000/year, but Google has shifted it toward a consumption-based model tied to data volume — verify current pricing with a Google sales rep. What you get in exchange:

• Higher data limits and 60 months of data retention (vs 14 months on free)
• SLA-backed support and dedicated account management
• Advanced BigQuery features, rollup properties, and sub-properties for roll-up reporting
• Larger hit limits and unsampled standard reports at scale

Unless you're an enterprise running very high traffic or strict governance requirements, you almost certainly do not need 360.

Google Analytics vs the alternatives

GA4 is the default, but it's not the only option. Here's how it stacks up against three popular alternatives for 2026:

The short version: Mixpanel and Amplitude win for product analytics (funnels, retention, cohort analysis). Plausible wins for privacy-first, content sites that want a one-line snippet. GA4 wins for marketing teams who need paid-media attribution and Google Ads integration.

Who Google Analytics is (and isn't) for

How to get started with Google Analytics

1. Create a GA4 property

   Sign in at analytics.google.com with a Google account, create a property for your business, and pick "Web" (or App). Set your reporting timezone and currency during setup.

2. Install the gtag.js or Google Tag Manager snippet

   The simplest path is the gtag.js snippet on every page. For most teams, Google Tag Manager is cleaner and lets marketing manage tags without dev help.

3. Mark key events as conversions

   In GA4, "events" replace UA's goal types. Toggle the switch on purchases, sign-ups, form submissions, and any other event that matters to your business — these become the conversions that flow back to Google Ads.

4. Set up Consent Mode v2

   If you serve EU traffic, integrate a CMP (OneTrust, Cookiebot, Iubenda) and pipe consent state into gtag. This unlocks behavioral modeling for users who decline cookies.

5. Link Search Console and Google Ads

   Under Admin → Product links, connect Search Console for organic query data and Google Ads for conversion import. Both take less than five minutes.

6. Set up BigQuery export (optional)

   Admin → BigQuery Links. Once enabled, every event lands in a daily streaming dataset you can query with SQL. It's free, and it's the killer feature for analysts.

Verdict

Google Analytics 4 is the rare tool that's both the default and genuinely good. The free version has no traffic cap, integrates natively with the Google ad stack, ships raw data to BigQuery for free, and handles web plus mobile in one schema. Yes, the UI is less polished than Universal Analytics, and yes, the migration was painful — but in 2026 the platform has matured. The predictive metrics, Consent Mode, and cross-platform identity are real advantages that competitors still struggle to match at the same price.

If you're a marketing team running Google Ads, an SEO, or a small product team, GA4 should be your starting point. If you're a serious product analyst running deep cohort and funnel work, layer Mixpanel or Amplitude on top. And if you want a privacy-first analytics layer with no cookies and a five-minute setup, Plausible is a friendlier fit. For everyone else, GA4 is still the right answer — and it's still free.