Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Universal Analytics (UA) differ significantly in how they define and measure key metrics, reflecting a shift from session-based to event-based tracking and enhanced privacy compliance.
Key metric comparisons include:
| Metric | Universal Analytics (UA) | Google Analytics 4 (GA4) |
|---|---|---|
| Users | Total Users, New Users, Returning Users | Total Users, New Users, Active Users, Returning Users (inverse of New Users) |
| Sessions | Session (grouping of user interactions) | Session Start (event-based, marking session beginning) |
| Pageviews | Pageviews, Unique Pageviews | Views (similar to pageviews) |
| Events | Total Events, Event Count (various hit types) | Event-based model with fewer event types but more customization potential |
| Conversions | Conversions (goals, transactions) | Conversions (customizable events marked as conversions) |
| Bounce Rate | Bounce Rate (single-page sessions) | Bounce Rate metric is not directly available; engagement metrics replace it |
| User Metrics | 2 user metrics (Total, New) | 3 user metrics (Total, New, Active) reflecting more granular user engagement |
Additional context:
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Tracking Model: UA uses a session-based model grouping user interactions into sessions, while GA4 uses an event-based model where every interaction is an event, allowing more granular and flexible data collection .
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Privacy and Compliance: GA4 is designed to comply with stricter privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA) and reduces reliance on third-party cookies, unlike UA which depended heavily on them .
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Customization: GA4 encourages customization of events and reports, offering fewer default reports but greater flexibility, whereas UA had many predefined hit types and templates .
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Integration: GA4 integrates more deeply with tools like Google Tag Manager and BigQuery, enabling advanced data management and analysis .
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Bounce Rate Replacement: GA4 does not provide a traditional bounce rate metric; instead, it focuses on engagement metrics such as engaged sessions, engagement rate, and average engagement time to better reflect user interaction quality .
In summary, while some metrics like total users and pageviews have direct analogues, GA4 introduces new metrics (e.g., active users) and fundamentally changes how data is collected and interpreted, emphasizing events and user engagement over sessions and page hits. This requires users transitioning from UA to GA4 to adjust their analysis approach accordingly.
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