| Overview |
Google's mainstream analytics platform for web and app measurement, built around GA4 events, attribution, advertising integrations, and BigQuery-connected reporting for larger deployments. | A self-hosted analytics and behavior analytics platform for teams that want full data ownership plus heatmaps, session recordings, funnels, A/B tests, error tracking, and AI-assisted analysis without recurring SaaS fees. |
| Pricing |
GA4 standard is free; Google Analytics 360 is enterprise-priced via Google sales | Perpetual licenses: Solo $299, Growth & Scale $749, Agency $2,490; one year of updates and support included |
| Deployment |
Vendor-hosted cloud | Self-hosted |
| Best for |
All website owners, from small businesses to enterprises | Privacy-conscious teams that want a feature-rich self-hosted alternative to Hotjar and cloud analytics suites |
| Operator |
Google LLC
Subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. | TIPS4DESIGN SRL
Independent private company |
| Company base |
Mountain View, United States · United States | Romania · European Union |
| Organization scale |
190,820 employees · parent company, as of 31 Dec 2025 | No comparable official organization-size figure was publicly disclosed. |
| Recent direction |
marketing attribution
Recent official evidence shows a focus on marketing attribution. | self-hosted expansion
Recent official evidence shows a focus on self-hosted expansion. |
| Key features |
- Web and app event analytics
- Real-time reports
- E-commerce measurement
- Advertising attribution
- Audience building
- Explorations and funnels
- BigQuery export
- Google Ads integration
|
- Self-hosted
- Heatmaps
- Session recordings
- A/B testing
- User segments
- Goals
- Error tracking
- AI insights
|
| Important considerations |
GA4 has a steep reporting and consent-configuration learning curve; Analytics 360 pricing is not public and standard properties have lower limits. | You operate the PHP and MySQL installation, backups, updates, retention, and privacy configuration; hosted service is available only by request. |
| Integrations |
Google Ads, BigQuery, Shopify | WordPress, DigitalOcean |
| Fact check |
We checked this information against official vendor sources on 2026-08-08. |
We checked this information against official vendor sources on 2026-08-08. |