Our recommendation is to use the Google Site Kit Plugin, which is developed by Google to support their own analytics product. As of July 2023, all users have been forced over to GA4.
Grayson from imarkinteractive has suggested Clicky or Plausible as an addition for real-time analytics that GA4 lacks.
Mike Zielonka recommends Fathom Analytics.
Microsoft Clarity is also a potential replacement, but may have INP issues.
Experts
If you'd like additional help setting up Analytics, we've heard good things about: