What Does It Cost for Google Analytics Setup for a Website

Last updated November 23, 2024
What Does It Cost for Google Analytics Setup for a Website - Unsplash Photo
Google Analytics is used by a majority of websites, accounting for over 60% of all sites.
 
It is now an essential tool for companies seeking insights into their customer interactions and website traffic.
 
But, what does it cost for Google Analytics setup for a website? Read on to learn more!

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a web analytics platform that is used for collecting, processing, analyzing, and reporting data on app or website visitors.
 
Since its inception, it has undergone continuous enhancements through updates such as the recent Google Analytics 4 release. 
 
Google Analytics provides important information about the origins of your website visitors whether organic, social media, paid advertising, etc.
 
It also gives you insights into the actions visitors take on your website, such as the pages they view, CTR, and other engagement metrics. 
 
Then, it tells you the most important things your visitors do, such as signing up or making a purchase. 
 
By utilizing all this information, you can gain a more comprehensive understanding of your clients, enhance your marketing tactics, and improve key conversion measurements. 

What Does It Cost for Google Analytics Setup for a Website?

It costs nothing for Google Analytics setup for a website in the free version but the premium version costs some amount.
 
That is to say, there are both free and paid versions of Google Analytics available. 
 
The free option is designed for individuals with Google accounts. It provides fundamental reporting capabilities for essential web analytics requirements. 
 
Then, the paid option called GA360 is a premium choice designed for big companies, offering enhanced features, increased data blending, and minimal sampling limitations. 
 
As you require more features, it becomes important to upgrade to Google Analytics 360. 

What are the Features of the Free Version of Google Analytics?

Google Analytics free version is extremely adaptable and can be personalized to meet the majority of small business requirements. 
 
It allows you to see your website performance and customers with little effort. 
 
Although it may be expected for free analytics tools to be limited in their capabilities, the Google Analytics free version is actually quite powerful. 
 
A few of the remarkable attributes that can be accessed in this non-paid Google Analytics version include live reporting.
 
You can receive a real-time display of your site traffic that is constantly updated. 
 
Then, you can be able to determine your popular pages, sources of traffic, locations of visitors, and technology utilized by users.
 
Users can customize their reports by including metrics, tables, filters, and charts to analyze data for their business. 
 
You can use Google's advanced AI technology to decipher details about your visitors such as interests, age, and more through their browsing habits. 
 
Also, with the free Google Analytics version, you can monitor key actions such as form submissions, downloads, signups, and purchases.
 
It even has attribution modeling which helps you identify the impact of different marketing channels on conversions throughout your customer journey. 
 
Additionally, you can examine user groups' behaviors over time in order to increase repeat visits and enhance your user retention.

What are the Features of Google Analytics 360?

GA360, the Google Analytics premium version, is designed for big businesses with higher data needs than what the free Google Analytics can offer.
 
The numerous advanced features that GA 360 offers include handling as many as 100 million unmonitored sessions in each report to eliminate any sampling errors. 
 
Then, it improves the timeliness of data by reducing intraday processing to 1 hr for crucial metrics. 
 
You can even get past data up to 50 months accessible in the interface. 
 
Also, this premium version of Google Analytics consolidates data from different domains to create comprehensive reports through roll-up reports. 
 
Then, it has sophisticated connections with the other Google software such as Display and Video 360 and Campaign Manager 360. 
 
With it, you will get access to professional assistance, training credits, and managing customer success.
 
Additionally, it includes enhanced features for creating custom funnels, defining audiences, attributing models, and advanced analytics amongst other functionalities. 
 
For businesses able to justify the cost, GA360 provides a greater range of analysis options not constrained by the data limitations of the free version. 

What is the Cost for GA360?

The cost of GA360 starts at $50,000 per year.
 
Extra charges for services such as cloud platform usage and BigQuery access can be added to the base fee. 
 
So, in addition to the primary GA360 subscription fee, extra services will result in additional charges. 
 
For example, the Google Cloud Platform is necessary for implementation on the server side, which helps in reducing tracking delays. 
 
The majority of businesses utilize GCP paired with Google Analytics 360 at a monthly cost of approximately $1,000.
 
Then, to directly query raw analytics, there are data processing costs which start at $400.
 
This cost makes only a limited number of mid-sized or small companies choose to invest in it.
 
Its additional features are highly valuable for advanced companies, considering the benefits they provide. 

Should You Switch from Free Google Analytics to Premium Google Analytics?

The free version of Google Analytics is sufficient for the majority of websites with average levels of traffic. So when should you switch from the free GA4 to the premium one?
 
Once you surpass 500000 sessions monthly, you should make the switch to GA360 because sampling begins affecting data precision, requiring the use of unsampled reports. 
 
Then, you should also switch if you are experiencing cross-domain complicatedness when dealing with multiple sites, domains, and apps.
 
Also, in a situation where you want to examine long-term patterns and develop unique metrics specific to your app or website, you can consider making the switch.
 
Lastly, when you want to connect digital data from various channels such as display, search, video, and campaigns with other 360 tools, you should switch.

Conclusion

Google Analytics free version provides companies with ample data for generating insights and improvements. 
 
It also offers enough insight for small businesses to enhance customer data, marketing efforts, and overall development. 
 
It fulfills the majority of fundamental requirements for reporting and tracking in web analytics. 
 
However, unlocking enhanced capabilities is only possible by moving to GA360, which surpasses restrictions in integrations, data processing, and flexibility. 
 
That comes with a steep price, with prices beginning at $50,000 annually. 
 
Your next action on whether to switch or not should be determined by your plans for growth and your strategy for analyzing data.

You may also like