Best e-commerce analytics tools for stores under $100k

The best e-commerce analytics tool for stores under $100K revenue depends on three factors: technical comfort, time availability, and specific needs. If you’re comfortable with dashboards and have 15-20 minutes daily for analysis, Google Analytics 4 provides comprehensive free tracking. If you want key metrics delivered via email without dashboard logins, Peasy ($49/month) saves 10-15 minutes daily. If you use Shopify exclusively and need basic metrics only, built-in Shopify Analytics covers essentials at no extra cost. Most stores under $100K don’t need enterprise analytics platforms costing $200+ monthly—those tools provide features smaller stores won’t use.

This guide compares five analytics solutions suitable for stores generating under $100K annual revenue. Each comparison includes feature coverage, ease of use, time investment required, and honest assessments of limitations. Here’s what actually matters at this revenue level.

What stores under $100K actually need

At under $100K revenue, you need visibility into five core metrics: daily revenue trends, order count and average order value, conversion rate by traffic source, top-selling products, and traffic source performance. That’s it. Everything beyond these five areas provides diminishing returns until you cross $100K-$200K and have budget for dedicated marketing channels requiring deeper attribution analysis.

The problem with most analytics tools: they’re built for larger operations. Features like multi-touch attribution, cohort analysis, and predictive modeling sound useful but require data volumes smaller stores don’t generate. A store with 50 daily orders doesn’t have enough data for meaningful cohort segmentation. Focus on tools that excel at the five core metrics rather than offering features you won’t use.

Time matters more than features. If you spend 20 minutes daily in Google Analytics checking the same five metrics, that’s 120 hours yearly—$3,600 in opportunity cost at $30/hour founder time. A $49/month tool that delivers those metrics via email saves $3,012 annually while costing $588. The math favors automation at this revenue level.

Google Analytics 4: Comprehensive but complex

GA4 tracks everything. Sessions, users, events, conversions, traffic sources, demographics, behavior flow—it provides more data than most small stores need. The price is right: free. But free comes with hidden costs.

Setup complexity: GA4 requires technical configuration. Installing the tracking code, setting up e-commerce events, configuring conversions, and creating custom reports takes 2-4 hours initially. Most store owners need help from developers or agencies. Ongoing maintenance adds complexity when you change themes, add pages, or modify checkout flows.

Dashboard time investment: Finding specific metrics requires navigating multiple reports. Want to see yesterday’s revenue compared to last week? That’s Reports → Monetization → E-commerce Purchases, then adjusting date comparison settings. Checking conversion rate by traffic source requires building custom explorations. Daily analysis takes 15-20 minutes once you learn the interface.

Data accuracy questions: GA4 uses sampling for large data sets and client-side tracking that misses some conversions due to ad blockers or tracking prevention. Revenue numbers often differ slightly from payment processor totals. The differences are usually 3-5% but can create confusion when reconciling with accounting.

Best for: Stores with technical resources, founders comfortable with dashboards, businesses needing detailed user behavior analysis beyond basic metrics. If you enjoy diving into data and want complete control over tracking configuration, GA4 provides everything at no cost.

Not ideal for: Non-technical founders, stores without development support, businesses wanting pre-built reports without configuration, anyone preferring email delivery over dashboard access.

Shopify Analytics: Built-in basics

If you run on Shopify, you already have Shopify Analytics included. The reports section shows revenue, orders, products, and customers without installing anything. Data accuracy is perfect because it comes directly from your store database rather than tracking pixels.

What it covers well: Revenue totals, order counts, average order values, top products by sales or units, and customer acquisition over time. These reports work out of the box and match your actual sales perfectly. For stores focused purely on revenue tracking and product performance, Shopify Analytics handles essentials.

What’s missing: Traffic source analysis is basic. You see that orders came from “Direct” or “Social” but lack detailed breakdown by specific channels or campaigns. Conversion rate calculations are limited. Comparing time periods requires manual date selection each time. There’s no email delivery—you must log into Shopify dashboard daily.

The catch: You’re already paying for Shopify ($29-$299/month depending on plan). Analytics is included, but you’re not getting it free—it’s bundled in your platform cost. If you need more detailed traffic analysis or want automated reporting, you’ll need additional tools anyway.

Best for: Shopify stores wanting basic revenue and product tracking, businesses satisfied with dashboard-only access, stores prioritizing perfect data accuracy over comprehensive traffic analysis.

Not ideal for: Stores using multiple platforms, businesses needing detailed traffic source analysis, anyone wanting email-delivered reports, stores requiring comparison features beyond basic date ranges.

Peasy: Email-delivered simplicity

Peasy takes a different approach: deliver the five core metrics via email daily, weekly, and monthly. No dashboard logins required. No configuration complexity. The entire value proposition is saving time while ensuring you see critical metrics consistently.

What you get: Daily emails show yesterday’s revenue, orders, average order value, conversion rate, and sessions with percentage changes versus last week. Top 5 products, pages, and traffic sources included. Weekly and monthly emails provide longer-term trend visibility. Reports arrive automatically—you don’t need to remember to check dashboards.

Time savings: If you currently spend 15 minutes daily checking analytics, Peasy reduces that to 2 minutes reading an email. Over a year, that’s saving 78 hours. For founders wearing multiple hats, reclaiming 78 hours matters more than accessing advanced features you rarely use.

Team collaboration: Email reports make sharing easy. Your whole team (fulfillment, customer service, marketing) receives the same data simultaneously. No training required on dashboard navigation. Everyone stays informed without account setup or access management.

Limitations: Peasy doesn’t provide deep-dive analysis tools. If you want to segment customers by behavior, build custom funnels, or analyze user paths, you’ll need GA4 or similar platforms. Peasy focuses exclusively on the five core metrics—deliberately choosing simplicity over comprehensiveness.

Pricing: $49/month. Integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, and connects to Google Analytics for session and conversion tracking. Free 14-day trial available.

Best for: Busy founders wanting core metrics without dashboard time, teams needing shared reporting, stores prioritizing consistency over depth, businesses valuing time savings above feature count.

Not ideal for: Stores needing custom analysis beyond core metrics, businesses wanting detailed user behavior tracking, companies requiring complex segmentation or attribution modeling.

Littledata: GA4 with better accuracy

Littledata connects your e-commerce platform to Google Analytics using server-side tracking. This improves data accuracy compared to standard GA4 implementation because server-side tracking isn’t affected by ad blockers or browser privacy settings.

The value proposition: Get GA4’s comprehensive tracking with 20-30% better accuracy. Revenue numbers match your payment processor more closely. Attribution data becomes more reliable for paid advertising optimization. You still use GA4’s interface, but with better underlying data quality.

Setup: Easier than configuring GA4 manually but still requires connecting accounts, verifying tracking, and understanding which reports to use. Littledata provides templates and support, but you’re still working within GA4’s complex interface daily.

Who needs this: Stores running paid advertising that requires accurate attribution data. If you’re spending $500+ monthly on Facebook or Google Ads, the improved tracking accuracy helps optimize campaigns. At lower ad spend levels, the accuracy improvement doesn’t justify the cost.

Pricing: Starts around $40/month for stores with lower order volumes. Check their pricing page for current rates based on your monthly order count.

Best for: Paid advertising-heavy stores, businesses requiring attribution accuracy for ROAS optimization, technical teams comfortable with GA4 interface.

Not ideal for: Stores not running paid ads, businesses wanting simpler reporting than GA4, founders seeking email delivery rather than dashboard access.

Triple Whale: Built for agencies

Triple Whale provides a unified dashboard pulling data from your store, ad platforms, and analytics tools into one interface. It’s powerful but designed for agencies and larger operations rather than stores under $100K revenue.

Features: Multi-touch attribution, predicted customer lifetime value, profit analytics, automated reporting, and integrations with 15+ marketing platforms. If you run complex marketing across Facebook, Google, TikTok, and email simultaneously while tracking profit margins, Triple Whale makes sense.

The reality for smaller stores: Most features require marketing sophistication and budgets smaller stores don’t have. Multi-touch attribution needs multiple active channels with significant traffic. Profit analytics requires detailed cost tracking many small stores don’t maintain. The tool is excellent but often overkill.

Pricing: Plans start around $129/month with higher tiers for growing stores. Check their pricing page for current rates based on store size.

Best for: Stores scaling rapidly toward $250K+ revenue, businesses with multiple active marketing channels, companies with dedicated marketing managers or agencies, operations tracking detailed profitability.

Not ideal for: Stores under $100K revenue, single-channel marketing strategies, founders managing everything solo, businesses not tracking detailed costs beyond platform fees.

Decision framework

Choose Google Analytics 4 if:

• You’re comfortable with technical setup and dashboard navigation

• You want comprehensive tracking at no cost

• You have 15-20 minutes daily for analytics review

• You need detailed user behavior analysis beyond basic metrics

• Developer or agency support is available for setup and maintenance

Choose Shopify Analytics if:

• You run exclusively on Shopify

• Revenue and product performance are your primary concerns

• Perfect data accuracy matters more than comprehensive traffic analysis

• You’re satisfied with dashboard-only access

• You don’t need detailed traffic source breakdowns

Choose Peasy if:

• You want core metrics delivered via email without dashboard logins

• Saving 10-15 minutes daily justifies $49/month cost

• Your team needs shared reporting without training overhead

• Consistency matters more than occasional deep-dive analysis

• You value simplicity and time savings over feature comprehensiveness

Choose Littledata if:

• You run paid advertising requiring accurate attribution

• Data accuracy problems with standard GA4 affect your decisions

• You’re comfortable using GA4 interface daily

• Better tracking accuracy justifies $40/month investment

Choose Triple Whale if:

• You’re approaching or exceeding $100K revenue

• Multiple marketing channels require unified tracking

• You need profit analytics beyond basic revenue reporting

• Marketing sophistication justifies $129+/month cost

Common questions

Can I use multiple tools simultaneously?

Yes. Many successful stores use Google Analytics for deep-dive analysis when needed while relying on Peasy or similar tools for daily monitoring. The tools aren’t mutually exclusive. GA4 handles comprehensive tracking while email-based reporting ensures you actually check metrics consistently. Using both provides backup data sources and different perspectives on the same metrics.

How much time should analytics take at this revenue level?

Two to five minutes daily for basic review, fifteen to thirty minutes weekly for trend analysis, one to two hours monthly for strategic planning. If you’re spending more time than this, you’re either over-analyzing or using tools that require too much effort to extract insights. At under $100K revenue, execution matters more than exhaustive analysis. Get the core metrics, make decisions, and get back to growing the business.

Should I invest in analytics before hitting $100K?

Yes, but focus on consistency rather than sophistication. The habits you build tracking metrics at $50K revenue will serve you well at $500K. Start with free or low-cost tools that you’ll actually use daily. Upgrading tools is easy when you scale. Building the habit of data-informed decisions is hard—start that habit immediately regardless of revenue level. Just avoid overspending on features you don’t need yet.

Track your store’s performance by monitoring daily revenue, orders, and conversion rate. Peasy delivers these metrics via email every morning, saving time while ensuring you stay informed about what’s working and what needs attention. Starting at $49/month. Try free for 14 days