Why people leave GA4
- Cookies and consent. GA4 sets first-party cookies such as
_ga, so in many countries it needs a consent banner, and visitors who decline are not counted. - Complexity. Explorations, data streams and event configuration are a lot for a blog or a small business that wants to know which pages work.
- Short event history. Standard GA4 properties keep event-level data for 2 or 14 months.
- No heatmaps. GA4 tells you what was viewed, not where people clicked.
GA4 and SnapIT Analytics side by side
| Feature | Google Analytics 4 | SnapIT Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (GA4 360 is an enterprise contract) | Free up to 100K events a month; paid from $9 |
| Cookies | Yes (_ga and related) | None |
| Raw IP addresses stored | Google says GA4 does not log or store IP addresses | Never stored |
| Setup | Tag plus configuration in GA | One script tag |
| Real-time view | Yes | Yes |
| Sampling and thresholds | Can apply in explorations and to small audiences | Reports count every event |
| Click and scroll heatmaps | No | Every plan |
| Funnels | Funnel explorations | From $9 (Starter) |
| Core Web Vitals per page | Not built in | Yes |
| Google Ads and Search Console links | Yes | No |
| Audiences, predictive metrics, BigQuery | Yes | No |
| Data history | Event data 2 or 14 months | Reports 6 months (Free) to 3 years (Pro and Business) |
GA4 retention: Google's data-retention help page, read 30 October 2026. Need free session recordings as well? Microsoft Clarity offers them and can run next to SnapIT Analytics.
What you see in SnapIT Analytics
- Page views, visitors, visits, bounce rate and visit length for the last 24 hours, 7, 30 or 90 days
- Top pages, traffic sources (including UTM campaigns), countries, devices and browsers
- A real-time view of the last five minutes
- Click and scroll heatmaps, plus dead clicks and rage clicks
- Custom events and conversions with one line of JavaScript:
snapit.track('signup') - Conversion funnels from the Starter plan
- CSV and JSON export of your reports
Switch in 5 steps
- Create a free account with Google or email.
- Add your website on the dashboard and copy its snippet.
- Paste the snippet into the
<head>of every page:
<script>window.SNAPIT_TRACKING_ID = 'SA_your_tracking_id';</script> <script src="https://snapitanalytics.com/analytics.js" defer></script>
- Run it next to GA4 for a week or two and compare the numbers. Expect SnapIT to show more visitors on sites with a consent banner, because GA4 does not count visitors who decline.
- Remove the Google tag. If GA4 was the only reason for your cookie banner, review whether you still need it.
Questions
What is a free alternative to Google Analytics?
SnapIT Analytics is free for 100,000 events a month (about 10,000 page views) on 3 websites, with no card. Other free options include Umami Cloud's Hobby plan, and Microsoft Clarity for heatmaps and session recordings.
Does SnapIT Analytics use cookies?
No. It sets no cookies, writes nothing to localStorage and does no fingerprinting. Visitors are counted from a hash of IP address and browser with a salt replaced every day, and raw IP addresses are never stored.
Do I still need a cookie banner if I leave GA4?
SnapIT Analytics sets no cookies, which removes the analytics reason for most banners. You may still need one for other tools your site loads (ad pixels, embedded videos), and rules differ by country, so check your own obligations.
What does GA4 do that SnapIT Analytics does not?
Google Ads and Search Console integration, audiences, explorations, BigQuery export and predictive metrics.
Can I import my GA4 history?
Not yet. Keep GA4 read-only for your history and start fresh in SnapIT Analytics.