[digitalengineer]

GA4 is actually the simple version of GA. Lots of stuff is hidden. So it looks lol Google did exactly what you wanted )‘simplified Analytics service’). However, if you want an even simpler solution: Matamo is totally free as well.

[josefresco]

GA4 which I've migrated about 250 clients to (that was a ton of fun /s) simplifies some things, but complicates others. I know of the alternatives but run into anther issue relating to cost: Most of my clients are not willing to pay (more) for analytics which is why GA remains the default (free) choice. Do I raise prices for everyone and include an analytics alternative? Or do I stop using GA and only give (alternative) analytics to clients that pay extra? I'm leaning towards the latter.

[exodust]

Don't suppose you've noticed Analytics or Google Tag Manager slower than before? I've noticed when our page loads, lingering sluggish connections related to GTM, even when there's no tags apart from analytics. Prior to GA4 I never noticed this.

Also Google seems desperate for Analytics users to send their user/customer data to Google, via "Google Signals" and User-id. Google wants this normalized. They use a murky mix of ambiguous settings and labels in Analytics to present the case for these data collection features to be activated. I recall a Google Ads account manager sent a direct email to my non-technical boss with steps for moving from UA to GA4. "You need to do these steps" it read. Step 3 was "enable Google signals". They implied it was required for GA4 when it isn't. I thought that was grubby. "Used car salesman" grubby.