The verdict
If you have to pick one and you're early, pick Google Analytics , it's free, it's the default everyone integrates with, and it answers the traffic-and-conversion questions every founder has on day one. Once you're spending real money on ads against a B2B pipeline and "which channel actually closed revenue?" becomes a board-level question, Spectacle earns its 99 USD/mo floor by closing the loop from spend to closed deal , the loop GA4 was never built to close.
For most lean B2B teams the honest answer is both: GA4 for free behavioural and channel data, Spectacle layered on top for revenue attribution when the funnel justifies it.
Side by side
| 9 points compared | ||
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | €89/mo | |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | Yes | No |
| Custom dashboards | Yes | Yes |
| Heatmaps | No | No |
| Product analytics | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosting | No | No |
| Session replay | No | No |
| Links |
Plans and pricing
Google Analytics
- StandardFree
Spectacle
- Essential€99/mo
- Scale€349/mo
Who each is for
Choose Google Analytics if…
Pick Google Analytics if you want free, broad website and app analytics with no budget line , traffic, events, conversions, and channel reporting , and you live inside the Google stack (Google Ads, Search Console, BigQuery). It's the right call for early-stage founders, content and SEO-led teams, and anyone who needs a baseline of quantitative data without a contract. It's also the universal integration target: nearly every other tool expects you to have it. The trade-off is that GA4 stops at the session , it won't tell you which campaign closed a deal in your CRM.
Choose Spectacle if…
Pick Spectacle if you run a B2B SaaS, product-led, or long-funnel B2C motion with a CRM (HubSpot or Salesforce), real ad spend across Google, Meta and LinkedIn, and a finance or leadership team asking which marketing actually produces revenue. Spectacle's whole point is stitching ad spend and campaigns to pipeline and closed-won in your CRM , the attribution GA4 can't do. You'll pay for it (from 99 USD/mo, no free tier, 14-day trial), so it makes sense once the spend you're attributing dwarfs the subscription.
Other options worth a look
Combines analytics, session replay, and heatmaps to reveal user behaviour and identify conversion friction.
View session recordings and heatmaps free to understand how users navigate your website or app.
Lightweight, open-source web analytics that shows your traffic on one page without cookies or consent banners.
Assigns unique phone numbers to campaigns so inbound calls can be attributed to their original marketing source.