Add analytics to your website in 5 minutes

1. Pick a tool

All five connect to Pingsold read-only. Not sure? Google Analytics 4 is free and the steps below are for it.

• Free

  Google Analytics 4

  Most sites. Free, and what most people already know.

  Sets cookies: in the EU and UK you'll usually need a consent banner.

  Open Google Analytics 4
• Paid

  Plausible

  A simple, privacy-friendly dashboard with one script tag.

  Cookieless, so usually no consent banner.

  Open Plausible
• Paid

  Fathom

  The same idea as Plausible: simple and privacy-first.

  Cookieless, so usually no consent banner.

  Open Fathom
• Free tier

  PostHog

  Product analytics too: funnels, session replays, feature flags.

  More to set up than a pageview script, and much more to explore.

  Open PostHog
• Paid

  DataFast

  Seeing which traffic sources bring paying customers.

  Popular with indie hackers who want revenue next to visitors.

  Open DataFast

2. Set up Google Analytics 4

Using another tool? Its setup is the same idea: copy the snippet it shows you into your site's <head>, the same place the Google tag goes below.

1. 1

   Create a property

   Go to analytics.google.com and sign in. Click Start measuring (or Admin → Create → Property), name it after your site and pick your time zone and currency.

2. 2

   Add a web data stream

   Choose Web, enter your site's address (e.g. https://yourstartup.com) and click Create stream.

3. 3

   Copy your Measurement ID

   On the stream's page, copy the Measurement ID. It looks like G-XXXXXXXXXX.

4. 4

   Add the tag to your site

   Pick how your site is built below and follow the two steps.

5. 5

   Check it works

   Open your site in another tab, then in Google Analytics go to Reports → Realtime. You should see yourself within a minute or two.

Where the tag goes, by how your site is built

// npm install @next/third-parties
// app/layout.tsx
import { GoogleAnalytics } from "@next/third-parties/google";

export default function RootLayout({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
  return (
    <html lang="en">
      <body>{children}</body>
      <GoogleAnalytics gaId="G-XXXXXXXXXX" />
    </html>
  );
}

<!-- Google tag (gtag.js) -->
<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XXXXXXXXXX"></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('js', new Date());
  gtag('config', 'G-XXXXXXXXXX');
</script>

Questions

Which one should I pick?

If you're unsure, Google Analytics 4: it's free and you can be set up in five minutes. If you'd rather skip cookie banners, Plausible or Fathom. If you also want funnels and session replays, PostHog. All five connect to Pingsold read-only.

Will it slow my site down?

Barely. Each of these loads one small script asynchronously, so your page renders first. Next.js's GoogleAnalytics component also waits until the page is interactive.

Do I need a cookie banner?

Google Analytics sets cookies, so for visitors in the EU and UK you'll usually need consent first. Plausible and Fathom are cookieless and usually don't. This isn't legal advice: check what applies to you.

I use Google Tag Manager. Is that fine?

Yes. Add a Google tag with your Measurement ID inside Tag Manager instead of adding gtag.js separately, and publish the container.

I only have Vercel Web Analytics. Can I connect that?

Not yet: Vercel doesn't offer the read-only access we need. Add one of the tools above next to it and connect that one.

When do my numbers show on Pingsold?

After the first sync, usually within about 15 minutes of connecting. A brand-new Google Analytics property can take a day before its reports have data, so if it says there's nothing to count yet, connect again tomorrow.

What does connecting give you access to?

Read-only, site-wide totals: visitors, pageviews and top referring sites. Never anything about a single visitor, and you can disconnect at any time.