Differences between Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Google Analytics 4 360 (GA4 360)
Many companies rely on Google Analytics 4(GA4) to gain insights into their online performance. Although GA4 offers powerful functionality, larger organistions can benefit from the expanded capabilities offered by Google Analytics 360. In this article, we compare Google Analytics 4 with Google Analytics 360 on several aspects, discuss what the differences are and whether upgrading to GA4 360, is really the best solution if you want to better map your data.
Number of Dimensions and Metrics
GA4 offers up to 50 event-scoped custom dimensions which may be sufficient for smaller businesses. However, with Google Analytics 360 this is increased to 125, which is a big step and allows you as a business to perform more detailed and in-depth analysis. Especially for corporate organizations that have many Web pages, want to analyze complex data sets and need detailed insights, this is ideal.
Predictive metrics
Another important distinction is the use of predictive metrics. GA4 offers limited or no access to advanced predictive metrics. In contrast, GA4 360 does offer these metrics such as churn probability and purchase probability, which works based on machine learning. By having these metrics, you as a company can better predict and anticipate customer behavior that you can then focus your marketing strategy on.
Data volume capacity
Data throughput is an important factor for companies with large amounts of data. GA4 is suitable for smaller to medium-sized businesses with a limit of 10 million hits per month. GA4 360, on the other hand, is designed for large companies and can process up to 2 billion hits per month, making it ideal for organizations with a lot of data and thus also a significant difference.
Speed of data processing
Speed of data processing is essential for real-time insights. GA4 has slower data processing and reporting. GA4 360 offers faster data processing, with data updated every 10 minutes. This provides real-time insights, allowing companies to react faster to trends and changes.
Support and Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
Support is an important aspect for companies that rely on analytics for their operations. GA4 offers standard support through documentation and community forums. However, GA4 360 offers access to dedicated support from Google with SLAs for guaranteed service levels and uptime. This ensures higher reliability and faster problem resolution. As a business, you can move faster if you notice issues with your data, whereas with GA4 you are more dependent on your own knowledge or data team you are working with.
Custom reporting options
For companies that need extensive reporting, GA4 offers limited options for customizing reports. In contrast, GA4 360 offers extensive options for custom reports, including custom funnels and unsampled reports. This allows companies to customize reports to their specific needs and gain deeper insights.
Analysis Hub
Data exploration and analysis capabilities differ significantly between GA4 and GA4 360. GA4 offers basic analysis capabilities. GA4 360 offers advanced analysis tools such as funnel analysis, pathing analysis and segment overlap. These tools allow you to dive deeper into the data, which can be very important if you want to do complex analysis.
Integrations
Integration with other tools and platforms is essential for seamless data analysis. GA4 has limited integrations and often requires third-party assistance. GA4 360 offers seamless integrations with other Google products such as BigQuery, Salesforce, and Google Marketing Platform, without the need for third-party help. This makes it easier to integrate and analyze data.
Unsampled data
For accurate analyses, it is important to have access to unsampled data. GA4 can provide sampled reports when the data volume is large, which can lead to inaccuracies. GA4 360 provides access to unsampled data, enabling more accurate analyses without data loss due to sampling.
When to switch to GA4 360?
Businesses may want to consider switching to GA4 360 because of its extensive support and ability to get more integrations. GA4 360 offers access to dedicated support from Google and extensive integrations with other Google products. These benefits can be important for companies looking to improve their data analytics and make strategic decisions based on accurate and comprehensive insights.
Using a custom analytics dashboard
So Google Analytics 360 offers a lot of advantages compared to the normal Google Analytics. However, this also comes at a price. In fact, using Google Analytics 360 starts from $50,000 per year, which can quickly become a lot higher. That's an awful lot of money compared to what you get in return.
We also see that many companies struggle to extract all the valuable insights from their Google Analytics data. It often takes a lot of time and effort to find and interpret the right information. Therefore, we have developed a Google Analytics dashboard that displays your data in a clear and understandable way.
Having your own analytics dashboard gives you instant access to key insights, while being very quick and easy to use. This not only saves you a lot of time and money, but also makes for better and faster decision-making. It also has many other benefits, you can make connections between different data sources much easily and more.
What is the right decision?
It completely depends on your company's needs, goals and budget whether it is worth upgrading. Although native analytics tools like GA4 are powerful, companies can benefit from the expanded capabilities of GA4 360. By making the switch, companies can benefit from improved support, more integration capabilities and deeper insights.
