How to Add Google Analytics to Substack

And Is It Worth it?

Jul 16, 2025

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So, you’ve started a Substack. You got your first subscribers. Views come in. People read, people like. They comment and share.

It’s all good.

But now you want some more insights into your numbers. You want to analyze your publication.

You should. But how?

Substack’s built-in stats do a good job. They’ll show you open rates, views, subscriber stats, top posts, and many more interesting stats.

Still, there could be more you want to know. That’s where dedicated analytics tools come in. Most famous is Google Analytics.

So, how can you add Google Analytics to your Substack? Let’s dive in.

But first…

Why Bother with Google Analytics?

GA4 (fancy right?) gives you some extra stuff:

✅ See Where People Come From: Substack already gives you a good portion of this in their own stats, but GA4 is even more detailed.

✅ Understand Behavior: Which posts keep folks scrolling? Where do they drop off?

✅ Spot Trends: Who’s reading on mobile vs desktop? What countries or cities? And more.

✅ Track Conversions: Sign-ups, paid subs, clicks to external pages — if you’re selling something, this is great to know.

The Downsides of Google Analytics

It’s a Google service. So there are definitely downsides:

❌ Privacy: GA4 is infamous for EU privacy headaches. Some European countries have ruled standard GA4 setups non-compliant with GDPR.

❌ Data Hungry: Google wants more data. And this is an easy way to get it.

❌ Limited Email Insights: Substack doesn’t let GA4 track email opens or link clicks in your actual emails, just the web traffic.

❌ Google Search Console: You can also do a lot with the Google Search Console. I use this more than Analytics. And then there is the Google Tag Manager too. Google just offers too much…

If you want to use Google Analytics, here is a mini setup guide.

The 5-Minute Setup

1️⃣ Create a Google Analytics Account

Head to analytics.google.com
Sign in (or create a Google account)
Click Start measuring. Give your account a name.

2️⃣ Set Up a Property

Click Create Property.
Name it something obvious, like Substack or [Publication Name].
Pick your time zone and currency.

3️⃣ Configure a Web Data Stream

Choose Web as your platform.
Enter your Substack URL — e.g., myname.substack.com
Give it a name like Substack Publication.
Google will hand you a Measurement ID — looks like G-XXXXXXX. Copy that.

4️⃣ Plug It Into Substack

Log into your Substack dashboard.
Go to Settings > Analytics.
Paste your shiny new Measurement ID into the “Google Analytics Measurement ID” box.

Click Save.

5️⃣ Wait

Wait up to 24 hours.
The data will come

A Friendly Alternative

Unfortunately, Substack doesn’t offer alternative options just yet. But if you’re looking for an analytics tool for your website on WordPress or other platforms that isn’t as data hungry and GDPR-problematic, you can use Beam Analytics. It’s very easy and useful.

Other good ones: Plausible, Fathom, or even just Substack’s native numbers if you want to keep life minimal.

Should You Do It?

If you love data, run ads, or sell stuff, then yes, linking up an analytics tool can be super helpful to gain more insights. Just respect your readers’ privacy and don’t get too overwhelmed by the data.

The Bottom Line

Hook it up. Or don’t.

I think general analysis of your previous work, of trends and systems, flops and viral hits is very important for any writer, especially for those who have different platforms they want readers to visit, like personal sites, business sites, stores, etc.

You can do that with or without Google.