Google Analytics vs Minimal Analytics (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Google Analytics if

• Fits if you run Google Ads and want to see which campaigns bring in sales
• Works for small businesses that want free traffic reports with raw data in BigQuery

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want to watch recordings of visits, which it doesn't do
• Not for you if you need more than 14 months of user-level history without paying for 360
• Tight if you need data within the hour, as intraday freshness is a 360 feature
• Watch out: Analytics 360 has no published price, and sub-properties and roll-up reports are 360 only
• Watch out: Google Ads data in reports covers a rolling 36 months, and Google signals data is kept 26 at most

Pick Minimal Analytics if

• Fits if you already use Google Analytics and want a very small script
• Works for developers comfortable pasting a snippet

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you want a dashboard, as it has none
• Watch out: the ID placeholder and /collect endpoint follow the older format, and GA4 is not mentioned
• Skip it if you need advanced features such as AdWords tracking, as the page says not to use it for those
• Watch out: the code is a GitHub gist, and the page names no company or support channel

Google Analytics

• Analytics 360 has no published price; it is quoted through Google's sales team.
• In the free version, user- and event-level data is kept for 2 or 14 months; 26, 38 and 50 months are 360 only.
• Intraday data freshness, sub-properties, roll-up reporting and higher limits on custom dimensions and audiences are 360 only.
• Google Ads data in reports is limited to a rolling 36 months, and Google signals data is kept no more than 26 months.

Minimal Analytics

• It only sends data to Google Analytics; there is no dashboard of its own.
• The page says not to use it for advanced features such as AdWords tracking.
• Its ID placeholder (XX-XXXXXXXXX-X) and /collect endpoint follow the older Google Analytics format; GA4 is not mentioned, so check it records to your property.
• The code is published as a GitHub gist; the page names no company or support channel.

Google Analytics

Traffic and acquisition reports

Shows how people reach a site or app across paid and organic channels, which pages and screens they use, and what happens in real time.

Explorations

Free-form analysis, open or closed funnels, path analysis, segment overlap, cohorts and user lifetime value, built by dragging fields onto a canvas.

Attribution

Data-driven attribution, conversion path reports and model comparisons show how each marketing channel contributes to conversions.

Predictions and insights

Machine learning predicts actions such as purchase or churn to build audiences, flags notable changes automatically, and answers typed questions.

Google Ads and BigQuery links

Imports Google Ads, Display & Video 360 and Search Ads 360 data, sends audiences and conversions back, and exports raw events to BigQuery.

Minimal Analytics

Small footprint

The site compares its 1.5 kB snippet with 73 kB for Google Tag Manager plus Analytics.

Page view tracking

Sends page views directly to Google Analytics without external libraries, and works with single page apps built with React or Vue.js.

Custom events

ma.trackEvent takes a category, action, label and value.

Exception tracking

ma.trackException records an error description and whether it was fatal.

Configurable data

Options switch IP anonymization, color depth, character set, screen size and language on or off.

Google Analytics

• Google Analytics$0

  Free: reports, explorations, attribution, predictive audiences, Google Ads and Search Console links, and BigQuery export.

• Analytics 360Custom

  Sold through sales: intraday data within an hour, sub-properties, roll-up reporting, higher limits, up to 50 months of data and SLAs.

Minimal Analytics

• Free snippet$0

  Copy the snippet from the page and add your Google Analytics tracking ID.