Google Analytics 4

What the standard reports show: page views, visits and visitors, entry and exit pages, referrers, search engines and social networks as sources, campaigns tagged with UTM parameters, countries, devices and browsers, a real-time view, date comparisons, segments and filters, custom dashboards, scheduled email reports, shared or public dashboards, and whether reports are sampled or complete.

0 — Not a web analytics product; website traffic cannot be measured with it.

3 — Page views and visitors over time with top pages and referrers; campaign parameters, segments and report sharing are basic or not described.

5 — A dashboard with pages, referrers, UTM campaigns, countries and devices, a real-time view, date comparison, filters across all reports, email reports, and dashboards shared with clients or colleagues.

8 — Custom segments and saved views, custom dashboards and report builders, channel grouping that can be configured, Search Console or ad platform data shown beside the traffic, unsampled reports stated, several sites and roll-up reporting in one account, and annotations.

10 — Reporting that a whole organisation runs on: custom dimensions and calculated metrics, anomaly alerts, multi-site and multi-brand roll-ups with roles per site, report accuracy and how visitors are counted explained in a published methodology, and every report reproducible from the raw data.

How the product measures what visitors do: goals for pages and events, custom events with properties, outbound links, downloads, form submissions and scroll depth tracked without code, funnels with drop-off, e-commerce tracking of orders, revenue and products, attribution of conversions to channels and campaigns, cohorts and retention, and conversion data passed back to ad platforms.

0 — Counts page views only; no goals, events or conversions can be defined.

3 — Goals for a page or a custom event; funnels, revenue and attribution are basic or not described.

5 — Goals and custom events with properties, outbound links and file downloads tracked, funnels with drop-off per step, revenue attached to goals or orders, and conversions broken down by source and campaign.

8 — Full e-commerce tracking (products, cart, checkout, orders, revenue) with plugins for named shop systems, several attribution models compared, cohorts and retention, user journeys or paths, forms and scroll depth tracked without code, and conversions sent back to Google Ads, Meta or other ad platforms server to server.

10 — Conversion analysis to the level of a product analytics suite: multi-touch attribution explained, funnels and cohorts on any event or property, revenue reconciled with the shop system, predictive or anomaly metrics with their method stated, and every conversion traceable to the raw event.

What is collected and whether a consent banner is needed: a cookieless mode with how visitors are counted (daily hash, server-side fingerprint, no identifier), IP addresses truncated or not stored, no cross-site or cross-device profile and no use of data for the vendor's own purposes, data retention settings, opt-out and Do Not Track, a consent mode for features that do need consent, the vendor's stated reading of §25 TDDDG, the CNIL consent exemption and the authorities' rulings on Google Analytics, and guidance for the site's privacy policy. Where the data is processed is scored under sovereignty.

0 — Requires consent for every visit and sets tracking cookies with no privacy settings at all, or shares visitor data for advertising by default.

3 — IP anonymisation or a cookie setting exists and the product is described as GDPR-compliant; how visitors are identified, retention and the consent position are basic or not described.

5 — A documented cookieless or consent-free mode that states how visitors are counted, IP addresses truncated before storage, no cross-site tracking, retention configurable, an opt-out, a consent mode for the features that need one, and a data protection page explaining when a banner is required.

8 — The consent position stated against named law (§25 TDDDG, the ePrivacy Directive, the CNIL exemption or a DPA ruling), identifiers rotated or never created and the method published, personal data never stored by default, pseudonymisation and retention settings per data type, a legal opinion or external audit of the consent-free mode cited, and wording for the privacy policy supplied.

10 — Data minimisation that can be verified: the collection script and processing open to inspection, exactly which fields are stored documented, a consent-free mode recognised by a named authority or certified, accuracy with and without consent stated, and every privacy setting the customer controls listed with its effect.

Whether the data stays the customer's and can leave with them: a reporting API and a raw event export, CSV export of every report, a scheduled export or sync to a data warehouse or BI tool (BigQuery, Snowflake, Looker Studio), no data sampling or limits on history, import of historical data from Google Analytics or another tool, open-source code, and a self-hosted or on-premise edition the customer runs on its own servers.

0 — No export of any kind; the data can only be viewed in the vendor's dashboard.

3 — A CSV export of reports; an API, raw data and history limits are basic or not described.

5 — A documented reporting API, CSV export of all reports, the retention period for raw data stated, and an import of historical data from Google Analytics or a stated migration path.

8 — Raw event data exportable or streamed to a named warehouse or BI tool, an API covering both reporting and data collection, no sampling stated, a self-hosted or on-premise edition with its own documentation, and the data returned or deleted on termination under stated terms.

10 — The customer owns the data end to end: open-source code under a named licence that runs fully self-hosted with feature parity stated, a complete raw export in an open format that another tool can import, and the deletion of every copy on termination documented.

What it takes to install and run: the size and loading of the tracking script, plugins and documented set-ups for named CMS and shop systems (WordPress, TYPO3, Shopify, Shopware, WooCommerce), single-page apps and mobile SDKs, a tag manager or Google Tag Manager template, server-side tracking and first-party proxying to avoid ad blockers, team roles and permissions, client and agency accounts, single sign-on, and an uptime or status page.

0 — No documented way to install the product on a website or app.

3 — A tracking snippet to paste into the site; plugins, SDKs, server-side options and roles are basic or not described.

5 — A documented snippet with its size stated, plugins or guides for several named CMS and shop systems, support for single-page apps, team members with roles, and an agency or multi-site account.

8 — A lightweight script or server-side collection documented, a first-party proxy or own tracking domain, SDKs for iOS, Android and named frameworks, a tag manager integration, granular roles per site, single sign-on (SAML), and a public status page with uptime history.

10 — Installation that scales across an organisation: server-side and client-side tracking with an equal feature set, an infrastructure-as-code or API-driven site set-up, white-label for agencies, SLA and support terms published, and the performance impact of the script measured and stated.

Who the contracting entity and the parent company are, where visitor data is collected, stored and processed, and who the subprocessors are (script CDN, collection endpoint, hosting, email reports, support and payment tools). Independently sourced by the sovereignty pipeline; visitor data is personal data under European rulings, so the whole chain counts, not only the database. A self-hosted or open-source edition the customer runs on its own European servers counts as the customer's chain, whatever the vendor's seat.

0 — Non-EU vendor and contracting entity, hosting unstated, subprocessors unnamed, and no data processing agreement offered.

3 — A privacy policy and a data processing agreement exist, but hosting location is unstated or non-EU and the subprocessors are not listed.

5 — EU hosting available and an EU contracting entity or EU representative, but parts of the chain (CDN, collection endpoint, email, support, payment) run through non-EU providers without a stated safeguard, or EU processing relies on a proxy in front of a non-EU service.

8 — EU hosting on named infrastructure, EU contracting entity, subprocessors listed with their locations, a data processing agreement published, and security certifications (ISO 27001, SOC 2) stated — or a self-hosted edition documented that keeps every visitor record on the customer's own servers.

10 — Sovereign end to end and evidenced: European ownership, entity, hosting and every subprocessor, or a self-hosted open-source edition with no call home, data export and deletion documented, and certifications published with their scope rather than implied.

Whether a buyer can compute the real annual cost from public pages alone: price per tier by monthly page views or events, what happens when traffic exceeds the tier, the number of sites and users included, which features (e-commerce, funnels, raw export, API, SSO, longer retention) cost extra, the free tier and its limits, the self-hosted edition and its support, minimum term and setup.

0 — No public prices at all; every customer is a sales call.

3 — A starting price or a free tier exists, but how cost scales with traffic, sites or features is unclear.

5 — Tiers are public with their price per traffic band and main inclusions, but at least one commonly needed piece (overage, extra sites, raw export, SSO, longer retention) is unpriced or "on request".

8 — Every tier priced publicly with its scaling rule (page views, events, sites, users), overage handling stated, add-ons priced, the self-hosted edition's cost or licence stated, minimum term and VAT treatment stated.

10 — Complete price computability: annual cost derivable for a given traffic volume, site count and feature set, with every add-on, setup, support and overage fee and the cancellation and data-return terms published.