Is Google Analytics Free? What It Really Costs in 2026
Yes, Google Analytics is free. A standard Google Analytics 4 property costs nothing, and normal small sites won’t hit a traffic cap. The paid version, Google Analytics 360, is sold through Google’s sales team and resellers, and Google does not publish its price. For a small app, the real costs of the free version are elsewhere: data retention, consent banners, export fees and your time.
This guide walks through what the free tier includes, where it stops, and when a simpler tool costs less overall.
What does the free version of Google Analytics include?
The standard GA4 property gives you almost everything a small site needs:
- Real-time reports, traffic sources, pages, countries, devices
- Events and key events (conversions)
- Explorations (funnels, paths, segments)
- Google Ads and Search Console links
- BigQuery export, up to a daily limit
There is no monthly bill and no credit card. You sign in with a Google account, create a property, and paste the tag.
Where does the free tier stop?
The limits that matter most to small sites are about time and exports, not traffic.
| Area | Standard GA4 (free) | Analytics 360 (paid) |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | Not published, quote from Google |
| Event data retention | 2 or 14 months | 2, 14, 26, 38 or 50 months |
| User-level data retention | 2 or 14 months | 2 or 14 months |
| BigQuery daily export | 1 million events | Up to 20 billion events |
| Support | Help center and community | Service levels and account support |
The retention numbers come from Google’s data retention help page. The export numbers come from Google’s BigQuery export help page.
Retention
Event data on a free property is kept for 2 months by default. You can raise it to 14 months in the admin settings. Standard reports keep working with aggregated data, but explorations that dig into raw events only go back as far as your retention setting. If you want to compare this October to last October in detail, set 14 months on day one.
BigQuery
Exporting raw events to BigQuery is included, but BigQuery itself bills for storage and queries once you leave its free sandbox. Streaming export costs extra per gigabyte. For most indie apps this stays at zero, but it is not guaranteed to.
What are the hidden costs of free Google Analytics?
Three costs show up on a small product even when the invoice says $0.
1. The consent banner. GA4 sets cookies. In the EU, the UK and several other regions you need consent before it runs, which means a banner. With basic consent mode, visitors who decline are not counted, so your numbers shrink (advanced consent mode models the gap from cookieless pings), and your landing page gets a pop-up. Read Google Analytics and GDPR for the details.
2. Setup and upkeep time. Data streams, key events, filters for your own traffic, referral exclusions for Stripe Checkout. Each is a small job, and each one you skip makes the numbers less useful. If you run several side projects, you repeat it for each one.
3. Data processed by Google. Your visitors’ data is processed by Google under its terms, with data-sharing settings you control in the admin. For many founders that is fine. For others, it is the reason to switch.
When is a paid or simpler tool cheaper overall?
It depends on how you count your time.
If you want deep marketing reports and run ads, the free GA4 is hard to beat. Stay with it.
If you want five numbers a day (visitors, pages, referrers, countries, signups) for one or more apps, a lightweight tool can pay for itself in the hours you don’t spend. Several have free plans too:
- Umami Cloud Hobby: $0 for 100,000 events a month, one website, 6 months of data.
- Clicky Free: one website, 3,000 pageviews a day, 30 days of history.
- Matomo On-Premise: free if you host it yourself.
- Indiehacker Studio Free: 1 project, 10,000 pageviews and 50 support conversations a month, cookieless, no IP stored.
Our list of free website analytics tools and the broader Google Analytics alternative comparison go through each one.
Is Google Analytics worth it for a small SaaS?
Ask what decision the numbers will drive. Most small SaaS founders check:
- Did the launch post or newsletter bring visitors?
- Which pages do people land on?
- How many visitors became signups?
- Is revenue growing?
GA4 answers the first three after some setup. It does not answer the fourth: MRR lives in Stripe. That is why many founders end up with GA4, a Stripe dashboard and a chat widget in three tabs. If that sounds familiar, see running several side projects from one dashboard and how to calculate MRR from Stripe.
Frequently asked questions
Is Google Analytics 4 free forever?
Google has offered a free standard tier since Google Analytics launched, and GA4 continues it. Google can change its terms at any time, as it did when it retired Universal Analytics, so keep your own exports of reports that matter.
How much does Google Analytics 360 cost?
Google doesn’t list a price. Analytics 360 is sold through Google’s sales team and authorized resellers, and the quote depends on your traffic and contract. Third-party estimates exist but vary widely, so ask Google for a quote if you need one.
Is there a traffic limit on free Google Analytics?
Not for normal sites. The limits you will meet first are data retention (2 or 14 months for event data) and the daily BigQuery export cap of 1 million events.
Is Google Analytics free for commercial websites?
Yes. The standard tier is free for businesses, including SaaS products and online stores, subject to Google’s terms of service.
What is a good free alternative to Google Analytics?
For a small app, a cookieless tool with a free tier is usually enough. See what is cookieless tracking? for how they count visitors without cookies.
Try Indiehacker Studio
Indiehacker Studio gives you cookieless analytics, a support chat bubble and Stripe MRR from one script. The Free plan covers one project with 10,000 pageviews a month. Pro is $12 a month for up to 50 projects, with a 14-day free trial. Compare plans in pricing.
Your next step: create a free project, paste the script on one site, and open the dashboard. Pageviews show up as they arrive, and you can add your other apps later.