Is Google Analytics Free? (And Is It Worth Using?)

Short answer

Yes, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is completely free. There's a paid enterprise version (Google Analytics 360) but it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars per year — no small business needs it. The free version is more than enough.

What Google Analytics tells you

How many people visit your website each day/week/month
Where they come from (Google search, social media, direct, referral)
Which pages they visit and how long they stay
What device they're using (mobile vs desktop)
Where in the world they are
Which pages have the highest "bounce rate" (people leaving immediately)

How to set it up (takes 10 minutes)

Go to analytics.google.com and sign in with your Google account
Click "Start measuring" and create an account name (your business name)
Create a Property for your website
Copy the Measurement ID (looks like G-XXXXXXXXXX)
Add the tracking code to your website:
- Squarespace: Settings → Developer Tools → Google Analytics → paste your ID
- Wix: Marketing & SEO → Marketing Integrations → Google Analytics
- Shopify: Online Store → Preferences → Google Analytics → paste your ID
- WordPress: Use the Site Kit by Google plugin

The 3 reports small businesses actually need

1. Traffic overview — are more or fewer people visiting over time?

2. Acquisition — where is your traffic coming from? If 90% is from Google Search, you need to keep up your SEO. If you're running Instagram ads, this tells you if they're working.

3. Pages and screens — which pages are most popular? If your pricing page gets tons of visits but nobody contacts you, that's a problem worth fixing.

Should a small business use Google Analytics?

Yes, but keep it simple. You don't need to understand every report. Focus on:

Total monthly visitors (is it growing?)
Top traffic sources (what's working?)
Most visited pages (what are people looking for?)

Check it once a week, not obsessively. Data is only useful if you act on it.

A simpler alternative: Plausible Analytics