Google Analytics Pricing

TL;DR

Google Analytics is free, but if you need more advanced features you may have to spend around $150,000 for the premium GA360 plan.

Yes, you are right—that price is quite steep for businesses. The logical thing to do is go for a Google Analytics alternative that offers great functionality. “We all agreed” that Seline is the logical choice. It offers the best web analytics functionality at a significantly cheaper rate, starting at just $14.

How did we arrive at this conclusion? Take a few minutes to read on:

How much does Google analytics cost? Should I pay for Google Analytics? Which Google Analytics pricing plan should I go for?

If you're asking any of these questions, there's a good chance you're at that tricky stage of your digital business. When I say tricky stage, I mean the stage where:

• You are just starting to explore how digital analytics can help you understand your users' behavior on your website so you can optimize your marketing efforts.
• Your digital business is expanding rapidly, and you're debating whether to upgrade to a more advanced Google Analytics plan to support your data-driven decisions at scale

So basically, you’ve built your business from the ground up, pouring countless hours into perfecting your product. Your website is polished, your marketing is on point, and the traffic is starting to roll in.

The last piece of the puzzle right now is a web analytics solution. You want to have a clearer idea of where your visitors are coming from and how they’re using your website.

Of course, if you’re already researching Google Analytics pricing, it means you’ve probably heard how “Google Analytics is the gold standard” of web analytics.

With that in mind, you’re ready to dive in, eager to unlock the insights that will take your business to the next level with Google Analytics. But then you hit a wall: you’re not sure about the pricing.

How Much Does Google Analytics Cost?

Google Analytics features a straightforward pricing model. It offers a free plan alongside a premium option branded as Google Analytics 360. Of course, as you’d expect these plans provide different levels of service.

Now, if you are just starting to explore how digital analytics can help you understand your users' behavior on your website so you can optimize your marketing efforts, here’s the good news:

Google Analytics is free to use.

But before you jump in, let’s talk about the Google Analytics free plan a bit.

Google Analytics Free Plan

If you're just getting started or your marketing goals are simple, the Google Analytics free plan is a solid choice. It’s available to anyone with a Google account and provides essential tools for tracking your site, social media, and app performance.

Despite being the basic option, it offers a range of features that can help you gain valuable insights into your audience and their behavior.

1. Live Tracking and Custom Reporting: With the free plan, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) lets you monitor your site, social media, and app traffic in real-time. You can see who’s visiting your site and what actions they’re taking. GA4 also offers customizable reporting, allowing you to tailor reports to your needs. Whether you choose from the available templates or build one from scratch, you have the flexibility to present your data in a format that works best for you.
2. Lead Conversion Tracking: GA4’s Key Events feature enables you to track specific actions, such as email sign-ups or purchases, and monitor conversion rates. This is especially useful if you’re running a marketing campaign and want to see how many visitors are converting into leads or customers.
3. Audience Analysis and Segmentation: GA4 provides detailed information about your site’s visitors, including their location, the devices they use, and how they found your site. You can segment your audience based on these demographics, giving you the data needed to target your marketing efforts more effectively.
4. Integration With Other Google Apps: GA4 seamlessly integrates with other Google products like Search Console, Ads, and Adsense, all at no additional cost. This makes it easier to manage your marketing efforts across multiple platforms within Google’s ecosystem.

But, there are a few limitations with the free plan that might be a dealbreaker for growing businesses:

• Limited Number of Hits: The free plan maxes out at 10 million hits per month, which could be limiting if your site gets a lot of traffic. A 'hit' is any interaction a user has with your site, so even one visit can rack up multiple hits.
• Data Sampling: Once your site hits 500,000 sessions, Google starts sampling your data, meaning only the first 500,000 sessions are fully processed. This can lead to incomplete or inaccurate data, especially for bigger sites.
• Delayed Data Reporting: Data processing on the free plan can be a bit slow sometimes, with reports sometimes delayed by up to 48 hours. This is typically not a serious problem, but it might not cut it if you need real-time data to make decisions on the go.

That said, the free plan is a great option if you’re just starting or have simpler needs. But if you find the limitations too restrictive, it might be worth checking out the paid plan, Google Analytics 360.

Google Analytics Premium Plan

This plan is geared toward larger businesses and companies, and it's typically their go-to choice. In this section, we’ll walk you through the features it offers, so you can see why it’s worth the investment. Think of Google Analytics 360 (GA360) as an enhanced version of the free plan—everything the free plan does, GA360 takes to the next level. If you’re curious to learn more, stick with us.

First off, you’re probably wondering about the cost. According to the Google Analytics Community, GA360’s retail price is anything between $150,000 to $200,000 per year depending on your needs and negotiation power.

Yes, I know — that’s serious money.

So, what do you get for that kind of money?

1. Higher Threshold for Data Sampling: GA360 significantly reduces the chance of data errors by starting data sampling at 100 million sessions, giving you a much clearer picture of your site’s performance.
2. Increased Hit Limits: With the premium plan, you get up to 1 billion hits—perfect for sites with heavy traffic.
3. Faster Data Processing: GA360 speeds things up with reduced processing latency, so you can get important metrics within an hour.
4. Advanced Google App Integrations: The premium plan takes app integrations to the next level, offering connections with tools like Campaign Manager 360, Display and Video 360, and Search Ads 360.
5. Enhanced Training and Support: You also get more access to training materials and better customer support from experts.
6. Detailed Audience Segmentation: GA360 allows for more precise audience segmentation, helping you dive deeper into user behavior.
7. Access to Rolled-Up Data: This feature lets you compile metrics from different data sources into one comprehensive report.
8. Custom Funnels with Extra Capabilities: GA360 gives you advanced custom funnels to better track and understand your customers’ actions.
9. Advanced Attribution Modeling: You’ll also benefit from advanced attribution modeling and analytics, helping you gauge the effectiveness of your marketing channels.
10. More Custom Dimensions: GA360 offers up to 200 dimensions for data customization, compared to just 20 on the free plan.

Now, when using GA 360, there are a few extras that might add to the base price:

• Setup Costs: Moving to and setting up GA360 can incur additional expenses. Since Google typically outsources migration to agencies, you’ll need to hire a certified agency to help you with this, and the cost depends on what they charge.
• BigQuery Integration: If you want access to raw, unfiltered data, connecting GA360 to BigQuery is the way to go. However, this will incur extra costs.
• Server-Side Implementation: Opting for server-side implementation can reduce data latency but will also mean paying for the Google Cloud Platform, which could average around $1,000 per month.
• Management Costs: Finally, don’t forget about the cost of managing the software. GA360 can be complex, so hiring a professional or training someone on your team is often necessary and will come at a price.

When all is said and done, Google Analytics 360 is not cheap. Although there’s really no fixed price for it, if you’re going for it, it might be a good idea to have a padded wallet.

Is a Google Analytics Premium plan worth it?

Depends on your business needs. But there’s a pretty over 90 percent of Google Analytics users use the free version despite the promises of the premium plan. So, what do you do if you want more advanced features that Google Analytics 360 offers but are not ready to pay the jaw-dropping price tag?

Well, Google Analytics might have the most market share, but it isn’t the only tool in the toolbox. Most businesses just switch to a Google Analytics alternative if they want to enjoy advanced features that the free Google Analytics plan doesn't offer.

There are several reliable alternatives to choose from. Fathom is quite popular. Plausible is also making a lot of traction. Both of them do not have a free plan. So apart from the brief free trial duration, you’ll need to pull out your credit card. They also miss some key metrics that you’d need to better understand your audience.

Let’s Talk Seline: The Ideal Google Analytics Alternative

If the steep price tag and complexities of Google Analytics have you searching for an alternative, meet Seline—a robust, user-friendly web analytics tool that prioritizes simplicity and privacy.

Seline is free forever until your traffic grows enough to warrant a paid plan. Paid plans are flexible and start from as low as $14, offering larger traffic limits. Despite the high price tag, Google Analytics brings complexity and privacy headaches. Seline fixes that.

I mean, have you seen GA4? I’ve been using it for a while, but setting it up on my websites can still be a headache, with too many things to track. If you’re just starting, you’ll need a crash course to understand it.

Once again — Simplicity is key with Seline.

Seline offers the best of functionality while keeping things as simple as possible. It uses a minimalist design and is incredibly easy to set up—like, "a few minutes" kind of easy. The intuitive design lets you see all the important metrics at a glance. Navigation is a breeze, and you won’t need to Google every time you need a report. Good luck pulling that off with Google Analytics if you’re a new user.

Another reason Seline is a favorite in the web metrics community is its focus on privacy and data security. It’s no secret that Google uses data collected from its analytics tool for its vast ads empire. Seline, on the other hand, is strong on the privacy and security of your visitors’ data.

Right now, analytics and cookie consent on websites are a mess, especially in Europe. Seline doesn’t use cookies at all. No cookies, no consent headache.

But beyond these additional selling points, Seline does really well with its core tasks of web analytics and much more. With Seline, you can take a deep dive into understanding your audience in a manner you can not achieve with most other Google Analytics alternatives.

Seline tracks visitor journeys, showing you exactly how users move through your website—where users convert, and where they drop off, giving you valuable insight on how to make optimizations for better results.

Seline also offers a snapshot of visitor profiles in a way that gives you a comprehensive view of your audience's behavior.

Seline also excels in funnel analysis. You can set up funnels to track where users enter, drop off, and convert. Use this data to tailor your content and marketing strategies to enhance engagement, and retention, and drive even more traffic.

So, are you craving an easy-to-use analytics solution without breaking the bank or compromising privacy? With Seline, you get a straightforward, powerful web analytics solution that respects your privacy and your budget. Try Seline now for free!