Google Analytics is “free” in the surveillance economy sense of the word i.e. you and your users are the product. You get some fancy graphs and, in exchange, Google hoover up all the data and share it with the advertising part of their business, perpetuating the ad-funded model we see across so much of today’s internet.
There are more ethical, privacy-focused alternatives. As a bonus, they’re simpler to use and cookies aren’t necessary. Here are three options to consider: