Grosslytics vs Google Analytics 4
The lightweight GA4 alternative that follows the money.
Google Analytics 4 is free and very deep, but its script is about 125 KB, it uses cookies, and revenue only appears if you send ecommerce events yourself. Grosslytics is a 1.5 KB, cookie-free tracker that receives your payment webhooks and shows which channel brought each paying customer, after fees. Keep GA4 if you rely on Google Ads and Search Console integration; switch if you want a one-page answer to “which channels make money?”
By the Grosslytics team · · Checked against analytics.google.com
What is Google Analytics 4?
Google Analytics 4 is Google’s free web and app analytics. It is event-based, integrates with Google Ads, Search Console and BigQuery, and offers explorations, audiences and multiple attribution settings. It uses cookies, so many regions need a consent banner. User-level data in standard properties is kept for 2 or 14 months, set by you.
Google Analytics 4 vs Grosslytics at a glance
| Capability | Google Analytics 4 | Grosslytics |
|---|---|---|
| Tracker size (Brotli) | 125 KB (gtag.js) | 1.5 KB |
| Price | Free | $0 self-hosted; hosted $5/mo and $29 lifetime plans |
| Revenue | Ecommerce events you send yourself | Payment webhooks credit each sale to a channel |
| Gateway fees | Not handled | Deducted automatically per gateway |
| Setup | Tag, events, conversions and reports to configure | One script tag and one webhook URL |
| User-level data retention | 2 or 14 months (standard properties) | As long as you keep it in your own database |
| Cookies | Uses cookies | No cookies; a random visitor ID in localStorage |
| Google Ads and Search Console | Built in | Not integrated |
Google Analytics 4 details are from their public website, checked 2026-11-07. Tracker sizes were measured by compressing each script with Brotli. Sources: googletagmanager.com/gtag/js (measured), GA4 data retention (Google help).
Choose Google Analytics 4 if
- You buy Google Ads and need conversion data sent back to Google
- You need Search Console, BigQuery export or audiences
- You have an analyst who uses explorations and custom reports
Choose Grosslytics if
- You want one page that ranks channels by revenue
- You want a script 1% of the size and no cookies
- You do not want to write ecommerce event code
- You are a SaaS or indie founder paid through Stripe, Razorpay, Polar, Paddle or Lemon Squeezy
Google Analytics 4 pricing vs Grosslytics pricing
Google Analytics 4 is free; Google Analytics 360 is the paid enterprise tier. The cost is in setup time: tags, events, key events and reports, and keeping consent rules right.
Grosslytics self-hosted is $0 on your own Cloudflare account. Hosted plans are offered from /start.
Why revenue is hard in GA4
GA4 knows about a purchase only if your site sends a purchase event with the value, usually from a thank-you page. Subscription renewals, refunds and payment fees happen at your payment provider, not on your site, so GA4 never sees them unless you build that pipeline yourself.
Grosslytics starts from the payment side. Each signed webhook from your provider is matched to the visitor who checked out, so renewals stay credited to the channel that found the customer, full Stripe refunds drop out of revenue, and fees are subtracted automatically.
Speed and consent
At about 125 KB compressed, gtag.js is roughly 80 times the size of the Grosslytics tracker. And because GA4 uses cookies, sites with visitors in the EU and UK usually need a consent banner, and visitors who decline are missing from the data. Grosslytics sets no cookies; it does keep a random visitor ID in localStorage, so check your local rules.