Google Analytics (GA) consultant, the shift to Universal Analytics (UA) to GA4 has been a significant hurdle for many clients. The complexity of GA4, its event-based data model, and the often unintuitive reporting interface have left many small to medium-sized businesses feeling overwhelmed and underinformed about their website performance.

This is precisely the scenario where a GA consultant might "try" Simple Analytics, not as a complete replacement for GA4 in all client scenarios, but as a compelling alternative or supplementary tool for specific needs.

Here's a POV from a Google Analytics consultant evaluating Simple Analytics:

POV: A Google Analytics Consultant Tries Simple Analytics
"Another call from a client frustrated with GA4. 'Where's my bounce rate?' 'Why can't I find my old reports?' 'It's just so... complicated!' I hear it almost daily. My job is to demystify data, but GA4 often feels like it's designed to complicate it.

I've been recommending GA4 setups, custom events, and building Looker Studio dashboards for months now, but for many businesses – especially the ones who just need to know 'how many visitors did I get?' and 'where did they come from?' – GA4 is overkill. It's a powerful engine, but most of them only need a bicycle.

That's why I finally decided to dive deep into Simple Analytics. I've seen it pop up in privacy-focused circles, but I needed to assess it from a consultant's perspective: Can it serve my clients' actual needs without the GA4 headache?

First Impressions: The Breath of Fresh Air

Setting up my test site with Simple Analytics was, well, simple. A single script tag, no fiddling with GTM unless I wanted to. Within minutes, I had data flowing. The dashboard immediately impressed me. It's clean, intuitive, and truly lives up to its name. Everything I typically look for in a basic report – page views, visitors, referrers, top pages, device types, country data – was right there, on one screen. No endless clicks through nested menus.

The "Aha!" Moment: Privacy and Simplicity as Features

My immediate thought wasn't just 'easy to use,' but 'GDPR compliant out of the box.' No cookie banners needed. No complex consent management. For clients concerned about privacy regulations, this is a massive selling point. It removes a layer of legal complexity and improves the user experience on their site by eliminating irritating pop-ups. It also means the data is arguably more accurate because it's not being blocked by ad blockers or declined by privacy-conscious users as often as GA's script.

The Consultant's Lens: Where Does it Fit?

Here's how I'm now thinking about incorporating Simple Analytics into my recommendations:

The "Just Give Me The Basics" Client: This is its prime target. Small blogs, portfolios, service-based businesses who don't run complex ad campaigns or multi-touch attribution models. They just want to see traffic trends, popular content, and where their visitors are coming from. For them, Simple Analytics is perfect. It gives them actionable insights without the noise.

The Privacy-Conscious Client: Any client prioritizing user privacy and GDPR/CCPA compliance without wanting to wade through complex legal configurations. This is an easy win.

Supplementing GA4 for Clarity: For larger clients who do need GA4's depth for paid media integration, conversion modeling, or cross-platform tracking, Simple Analytics could serve as a secondary, simplified view. They could have Simple Analytics running in parallel for quick, high-level daily checks, and then dive into GA4 for deeper analysis when needed. It's like having a quick summary report on your desk and the full financial ledger in the vault.

A "Lite" Option for New Ventures: For startups or new websites that need to validate ideas quickly without investing heavily in complex analytics setups, Simple Analytics provides immediate, clear data.

Where GA4 Still Reigns Supreme (and why I won't ditch it entirely):

Deep Integrations: GA4's integration with Google Ads, Search Console, BigQuery, and other Google Marketing Platform tools is unparalleled. For clients running significant ad spend or needing deep attribution modeling, GA4 is indispensable.

Customization & Flexibility: While complex, GA4's event-based model allows for incredibly granular custom event tracking, audience segmentation, and custom reports. If a client needs to track very specific user journeys, micro-conversions, or complex funnels, GA4 provides that power.

Machine Learning & Predictive Audiences: GA4's machine learning capabilities for predicting user behavior and identifying high-value audiences are features that Simple Analytics (as of now) doesn't offer at the same depth.

Free Tier: For businesses with extremely limited budgets, GA4's free tier remains a powerful, albeit complex, option. Simple Analytics is a paid service.

My Workflow Moving Forward:

I won't be telling all my clients to abandon GA4. Instead, I'll be having more nuanced conversations.

Discovery: Understanding their true analytical needs. Are they running complex campaigns? Do they need granular user journey analysis? Or just basic traffic reports?

Recommendation:

Simple Needs + Privacy Focus: Recommend Simple Analytics as the primary tool.

Complex Needs + Google Ecosystem Dependence: Recommend GA4, with strong emphasis on custom setup, GTM, and potentially a Looker Studio dashboard to simplify reporting.

Hybrid Approach: For some, run both. Simple Analytics for quick overview, GA4 for the deep dives.

Simple Analytics isn't a silver bullet, but it's a refreshing reminder that not every website needs the complexity of an enterprise-level analytics solution. For a Google Analytics consultant like me, it's a valuable tool to add to the arsenal, allowing me to better serve clients who prioritize simplicity, privacy, and clear, actionable insights without the inherent overwhelm of GA4. It's about giving them the right tool for their job, not just the most powerful one."