GA4 Free vs GA4 360: A Comprehensive Comparison

GA4 Free vs GA4 360: A Comprehensive Comparison

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the latest iteration of Google’s analytics platform, designed to provide businesses with a more comprehensive understanding of user behavior across websites and apps. GA4 comes in two versions: the free version (GA4) and the premium version (GA4 360). While both versions share many features, GA4 360 offers additional capabilities tailored for larger enterprises with more complex needs. In this blog, we’ll dive deep into the differences between GA4 Free and GA4 360, covering cost, features, integrations and more.

 

1. Cost

GA4 Free

• Cost: Completely free to use.
• Best For: Small to medium sized businesses, startups and individuals who don’t require advanced enterprise level features.

GA4 360

• Cost: GA4 360 is a premium offering with pricing based on your organization’s size and data volume. Pricing typically starts at $2800 per month and can go up significantly depending on usage.
• Best For: Large enterprises with high traffic volumes, complex data needs and advanced reporting requirements.

 

2. Event Tracking

GA4 Free

• Events: Supports up to 500 unique event names.
• Custom Events: Allows custom event creation, but with limitations on the number of parameters and their complexity.
• Automated Events: Automatically tracks events like page views, scrolls, outbound clicks and more.

GA4 360

• Events: No hard limit on the number of unique event names.
• Custom Events: Offers more flexibility in creating and managing custom events, with support for more parameters and advanced configurations.
• Enhanced Measurement: Includes all the automated event tracking features of GA4 Free, with additional customization options.

 

3. Segmentation

GA4 Free

• Segments: Allows basic segmentation based on user demographics, behavior and events.
• Limitations: Segments are limited in complexity and cannot be saved for long term use in all cases.

GA4 360

• Segments: Offers advanced segmentation capabilities, including the ability to create and save complex segments for ongoing use based on customer events and parameters beyond the free version limit.

 

4. Integration with BigQuery (BQ)

GA4 Free

• Integration: Free integration with BigQuery is available with limits.
• Data Export: Exports raw event data to BigQuery, but with limitations on data freshness and volume.

GA4 360

• Integration: Seamless integration with BigQuery, including automatic data export.
• Data Freshness: Near real time data export to BigQuery, ensuring up to date analytics.
• Volume: Handles significantly higher data volumes without sampling.

 

5. Integration with DV360 and Salesforce

GA4 Free

• DV360: Offers integration capabilities with Display & Video 360 (DV360).
• Salesforce: Requires custom setup and may not support advanced data synchronization.

GA4 360

• DV360: yes, integration is available with DV360, enabling advanced audience targeting and campaign optimization.
• Salesforce: Seamless integration with Salesforce, allowing for enhanced CRM analytics and data sharing.

 

6. Real Time Reporting

GA4 Free

• Real Time Data: Provides real time reporting, but with limitations on the depth and granularity of data.
• Latency: Slight delays may occur during high traffic periods.

GA4 360

• Real Time Data: Offers enhanced real time reporting with minimal latency, even during high traffic.
• Granularity: Provides more detailed and granular real time insights.

 

7. Data Sampling

GA4 Free

• Sampling: Applies data sampling to reports when querying large datasets, which can reduce accuracy.
• Threshold: Sampling typically occurs when analyzing more than 500,000 sessions.

GA4 360

• Sampling: Eliminates or significantly reduces data sampling, ensuring higher accuracy in reports.
• Threshold: Handles much larger datasets without sampling, making it ideal for enterprises.

 

8. Custom Dimensions and Metrics

GA4 Free

• Custom Dimensions: Supports up to 50 custom dimensions and 50 custom metrics.
• Limitations: Limited flexibility in defining and using custom dimensions and metrics.

GA4 360

• Custom Dimensions: Supports up to 125 custom dimensions and 125 custom metrics.
• Flexibility: Offers greater flexibility and control over custom dimensions and metrics.

 

9. Data Freshness

GA4 Free

• Data Freshness: Data processing can take up to 24 48 hours, especially for high traffic websites.
• Real Time Data: Limited to basic real time reporting.

GA4 360

• Data Freshness: Provides near real time data processing, with updates available within minutes.
• Real Time Data: Enhanced real time reporting capabilities.

 

10. Historical Data

GA4 Free

• Retention: Retains data for up to 14 months by default.
• Export: Allows exporting historical data to BigQuery, but with limitations.

GA4 360

• Retention: Offers extended data retention options, with the ability to retain data for up to 50 months.
• Export: Provides more robust options for exporting and analyzing historical data.

 

11. Sub Properties and Roll Up Reporting

GA4 Free

• Sub Properties: Does not support sub properties or roll up reporting.
• Limitations: Limited ability to aggregate data from multiple properties.

GA4 360

• Sub Properties: Supports sub properties and roll up reporting, making it easier to aggregate data from multiple sources.
• Flexibility: Ideal for enterprises with multiple brands or regions.

 

12. Hit Volume

GA4 Free

• Hit Volume: Limited to 10 million hits per month per property. Exceeding this limit may result in data loss or sampling.
• Best For: Suitable for small to medium sized businesses with moderate traffic.

GA4 360

• Hit Volume: No hard limit on hit volume, making it suitable for high traffic websites and apps.
• Best For: Large enterprises with millions of monthly hits.

 

13. Support and SLAs

GA4 Free

• Support: Limited to community forums and online documentation.
• SLAs: No service level agreements (SLAs) for data processing or support.

GA4 360

• Support: Dedicated account manager and premium support, including phone and email assistance.
• SLAs: Guaranteed SLAs for data freshness, processing and uptime.

 

14. Advanced Features

GA4 Free

• Advanced Analysis: Limited access to advanced analysis tools.
• Predictive Metrics: Basic predictive metrics like churn probability and revenue forecasting.

GA4 360

• Advanced Analysis: Full access to advanced analysis tools, including path analysis, funnel analysis and segment overlap.
• Predictive Metrics: Enhanced predictive metrics with greater accuracy and customization.

15. API Quotas

API quotas determine how much data you can pull from Google Analytics via its API. This is particularly important for businesses that rely on automated data extraction for reporting, integrations, or custom dashboards.

GA4 Free

• API Quota: Limited to 200,000 tokens per day.
• Implications:
  • Suitable for small to medium sized businesses with moderate data extraction needs.
  • May face limitations if you need to pull large volumes of data frequently.
  • Exceeding the quota can result in temporary API access restrictions.

GA4 360

• API Quota: Significantly higher at 2,000,000 tokens per day.
• Implications:
  • Ideal for enterprises with high data extraction requirements.
  • Supports large scale reporting, integrations and custom analytics solutions.
  • Reduces the risk of hitting API limits, ensuring uninterrupted data access.

 

16. Number of Audiences

Audiences are groups of users segmented based on specific criteria, such as behavior, demographics, or events. These audiences can be used for remarketing, personalization and analysis.

GA4 Free

• Audience Limit: Supports up to 100 audiences.
• Implications:
  • Suitable for businesses with basic audience segmentation needs.
  • May be restrictive for businesses with multiple campaigns, products, or user segments.
  • Requires careful management to avoid hitting the limit.

GA4 360

• Audience Limit: Supports up to 400 audiences.
• Implications:
  • Ideal for enterprises with complex audience segmentation requirements.
  • Allows for more granular targeting and personalization across multiple campaigns.
  • Provides greater flexibility for advanced analytics and remarketing strategies.

 

17. Key Events (Conversions)

Key events, formerly known as conversions, are critical actions that users take on your website or app, such as purchases, sign ups, or form submissions. Tracking these events is essential for measuring performance and optimizing campaigns.

GA4 Free

• Key Event Limit: Allows marking up to 30 key events.
• Implications:
  • Suitable for businesses with a limited number of conversion goals.
  • May require prioritization of key events if you have many conversion points.
  • Restricts the ability to track all potential conversion actions comprehensively.

GA4 360

• Key Event Limit: Allows marking up to 50 key events.
• Implications:
  • Ideal for enterprises with multiple conversion goals and complex funnels.
  • Enables tracking of a broader range of user actions, providing deeper insights into customer behavior.
  • Supports more advanced optimization strategies by capturing a wider array of conversion data.

 

Conclusion: Which One Should You Choose?

• GA4 Free is ideal for small to medium sized businesses that don’t require advanced features or have high traffic volumes. It’s a cost effective solution for basic analytics needs.
• GA4 360 is tailored for large enterprises with complex data requirements, high traffic volumes and the need for advanced reporting, integrations and support.

Ultimately, the choice between GA4 Free and GA4 360 depends on your business size, traffic volume and specific analytics needs. If you’re a growing business with increasing complexity, upgrading to GA4 360 may be worth the investment for its enhanced capabilities and scalability.