Best GA4 Dashboard Plugins Under $100 a Year
Apply a hard price filter to this category and the ladder becomes visible. Under $100 a year you can have MonsterInsights Plus at $99.50 for one site with no e-commerce tracking, ExactMetrics Plus at the same price with the same limits, or Analytify StartUp at $99 covering two sites with e-commerce included.
That is the same money buying quite different things, and the differences are precisely the features people find themselves needing three months later. This article sets out what the sub-$100 tier actually gets you, which gates you will hit, what renewal costs after the introductory year, and which free options make the purchase unnecessary.
Verified August 2026. Introductory and renewal pricing commonly differ in this category; confirm both before purchasing.
What under $100 actually buys
Three things are common to every entry tier, and three things are usually missing.
You get the dashboard. Reports inside wp-admin, which is the actual product being sold, since the tracking itself is free from several sources.
You get guided setup and support. Connecting analytics without touching a settings screen you do not understand, and somebody to ask when it goes wrong.
You get basic event tracking, typically outbound links, downloads and scroll depth, configured without effort.
What is usually gated above this tier: e-commerce tracking, which is the most common reason people upgrade; custom dimensions for author and category reporting; and form conversion tracking. Two of the three products here put all of those at $199.50, which is the gate that matters.
Site count is the other constraint. Under $100 generally means one site, with the exception noted below, so an agency or anybody running two properties is already outside this bracket with the better-known options.
The 6 options compared
1. Analytify StartUp
The most capable thing you can buy under the threshold. $99 for two sites, with e-commerce tracking included.
Two sites rather than one, and e-commerce at the entry tier rather than two rungs up, are both meaningful differences at the same money. For a small store that combination is the difference between a $99 purchase and a $199.50 one for the same capability. Its per-post statistics, shown in the post list and on the edit screen, are also the feature most likely to get actually used, because the number appears where you already are. It is a smaller product with a smaller user base and less documentation, so verify the specific reports you want exist during the refund window. At this price point, it is the one to try first.
- Price: $99
- Sites: Two
- E-commerce included: Yes
- Watch out for: Smaller product; verify your reports exist
2. MonsterInsights Plus
The polished option at the entry rung. $99.50 introductory for one site, without e-commerce tracking or custom dimensions.
What you are buying is quality of experience: the cleanest reports in wp-admin, the best documentation in the category, guided setup that genuinely works for non-technical owners, and responsive support. For a blog or a brochure site whose owner wants to open one screen weekly and understand it, that is a defensible $99.50. The problem is what happens next. If the site adds a shop, or the owner asks which author performs best, the answer is the $199.50 tier, and at that point the cheaper alternative was offering both at $99 all along. Buy this if you are confident your needs will not grow.
- Price: $99.50 introductory
- Sites: One
- E-commerce included: No
- Watch out for: The upgrade path is a doubling
3. ExactMetrics Plus
An identical proposition at an identical price, from the same parent company. $99.50, one site, no e-commerce.
The matching ladders are not a coincidence and not competition; these are sibling products under one owner. For a buyer that means the apparent choice at this price point is narrower than the search results suggest, and comparing these two against each other is comparing two presentations of one pricing decision. Choose between them on interface preference if you have one. The comparison worth making is against products outside that family, which is the whole reason a $99 licence covering two sites with e-commerce included deserves a look before you commit to either.
- Price: $99.50 introductory
- Sites: One
- E-commerce included: No
- Watch out for: Same owner and ladder as its sibling
4. Site Kit
Free, official, and the thing you should install before spending anything at all.
It provides a dashboard in wp-admin, which is the feature the paid plugins are charging for, and adds search performance data, which they generally do not. For a great many site owners, knowing which queries bring people to which pages is more actionable than another view of traffic numbers. Run it for a month and note which question it fails to answer. If there is no such question, you have saved $99. If there is, you now know exactly which paid feature you need rather than guessing, and can buy the specific tier that provides it. This is not a reluctant free recommendation; it is the correct first step.
- Price: Free
- Sites: Unlimited
- E-commerce included: Basic
- Watch out for: No author or category dimensions
5. Self-hosted analytics plugins
The category that sidesteps the ladder entirely, with free tiers and inexpensive upgrades.
Tools that record visits in your own database put the dashboard inside WordPress by definition, answer author and category questions natively because the data sits beside your posts, and add no external script to slow pages down. Their paid tiers, where they exist, are typically well under the prices discussed here and include campaign tracking and goals. What you give up is the depth of the major platform and its advertising integration. For a content site, a small business site or anybody whose analytics questions are about which pages work, this is frequently a better purchase than any tier in this comparison, and it is worth evaluating alongside rather than after.
- Price: Free, with cheap paid tiers
- Sites: Varies
- E-commerce included: Some, in paid tiers
- Watch out for: Less depth, and database growth
6. A free snippet plugin and nothing else
The option for anybody who is honest about how often they read reports.
A minimal plugin places the tracking code and adds nothing else. Data collects in your analytics account, you open it when you actually want to know something, and you have spent nothing and added no weight to your pages. The reason this is worth stating is that a large share of dashboard licences are bought by people who then look at the dashboard twice. If your honest answer to “how often will I check this” is “monthly at best”, the report you will read is the one you go and find, not the one waiting in wp-admin. Spend the $99 on something with a clearer return.
- Price: Free
- Sites: Unlimited
- E-commerce included: Not applicable
- Watch out for: You must open the analytics interface
Comparison table
| Option | Price | Sites | E-commerce | Custom dimensions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Analytify StartUp | $99 | Two | Yes | Verify |
| MonsterInsights Plus | $99.50 | One | No | No |
| ExactMetrics Plus | $99.50 | One | No | No |
| Site Kit | Free | Unlimited | Basic | No |
| Self-hosted analytics | Free plus cheap tiers | Varies | Some | Native |
| Snippet plugin | Free | Unlimited | Not applicable | No |
Renewal, and the gates you will hit
Two things turn a sub-$100 purchase into something larger, and both are predictable.
- Introductory pricing is not renewal pricing. The figures ending in fifty cents are first-year rates in this family, and the second year is higher. Ask what renewal costs before buying, and budget for that number rather than the one on the checkout page.
- E-commerce is the most common gate hit. A site that adds a shop, even a small one selling three products, needs the $199.50 tier in two of these products. That is the upgrade to anticipate.
- The second site is the next one. One site per licence means a staging environment, a second brand or a client project each needs its own, and the multi-site tiers start well above this bracket.
- Custom dimensions arrive with the second author. As soon as anybody asks which writer performs best, you need dimensions, which sits at the same $199.50 rung.
- Form tracking is the quiet one. Knowing which form on which page generates enquiries is genuinely useful and also gated, and it is the feature people forget to check for before buying.
- Model three years, not one. At $99.50 introductory, a higher renewal and a likely upgrade, the three-year figure is often close to double what the entry price suggested.
The practical conclusion: if there is any chance of a shop, a second site or an author question, the $99 licence covering two sites with e-commerce included is the better bet at the same money, and the free official plugin is the better bet than either if you have not yet confirmed you will read the reports.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best analytics plugin under $100?
Analytify StartUp at $99, because it covers two sites and includes e-commerce tracking, both of which the similarly priced alternatives withhold.
Do I need a paid analytics plugin at all?
Often not. The free official plugin gives you a wp-admin dashboard plus search data. Run it a month and see which question it cannot answer.
Why do two plugins cost exactly the same?
They are sibling products under one parent company, so the matching ladders are one pricing decision rather than two competing ones.
Will the price go up at renewal?
In this family the entry figures are introductory rates and renewal is higher. Ask for the renewal price and budget on that rather than the first-year cost.
Which feature do people upgrade for?
E-commerce tracking, by a distance, followed by custom dimensions for author reporting. Both sit at $199.50 in the two best-known products.
Is a self-hosted tool a real alternative?
For content and small business sites, yes. The dashboard is native, author reporting works without dimensions, and paid tiers cost well under this bracket.
The verdict
Install the free official plugin first and use it for a month. It gives you the wp-admin dashboard the paid tiers are selling, plus search data they do not, and it tells you exactly which feature you actually need.
If you are buying under $100: Analytify StartUp at $99. Two sites and e-commerce tracking included, against one site and neither at the same price.
Choose MonsterInsights Plus only if polish is the deciding factor and you are confident you will not add a shop, a second site or an author question, since each of those is an upgrade to $199.50.
And model three years, not one. Introductory pricing, a higher renewal and one predictable upgrade frequently take the real cost to double what the entry tier implied.
