[UA] BigQuery Export for Analytics [Legacy]

Use BigQuery to quickly query all of your Analytics data.

You are viewing a legacy article about Universal Analytics. Learn more about Google Analytics 4 replacing Universal Analytics.

In light of the previous announcements for Universal Analytics 360 customers regarding the GA4 migration, Big Query (BQ) export for App views has been experiencing instability since May 14, 2024 and may not function as expected.

This article is about using BigQuery Export in Universal Analytics. For information about using BigQuery Export in Google Analytics 4, go to [GA4] Set up BigQuery Export.

This feature is only available in Analytics 360, part of Google Marketing Platform.
Learn more about Google Marketing Platform.

BigQuery is a cloud data warehouse that lets you run super-fast queries of large datasets.

You can export session and hit data from a Google Analytics 360 account to BigQuery, and then use a SQL-like syntax to query all of your Analytics data.

When you export data to BigQuery, you own that data, and you can use BigQuery ACLs to manage permissions on projects and datasets.

Compare BigQuery Export in Google Analytics 4 and Universal Analytics

Google Analytics 4 Universal Analytics

Google Analytics 4	Universal Analytics
Available to Standard (free) and 360 (paid) Standard limit: 1M events per day 360 limit: Billions of events per day	Available to 360 (paid)
Cost Free export to BigQuery Sandbox within Sandbox limits Exported data that exceeds Sandbox limits incurs charges per contract terms	Cost Free export to BigQuery Sandbox within Sandbox limits Exported data that exceeds Sandbox limits incurs charges per contract terms
Setup Can include specific data streams and exclude specific events for each property (lets you control export volume and cost)	Setup Can link 1 view per property (exports all data in that view)
Streaming export $0.05 per GB (learn more about BigQuery pricing) Table created: events_intraday_YYYYMMDD Table is deleted each day: if you also use the daily-export option in addition to streaming when the daily table is complete Does not include User campaign, User source, or User medium data for new users	Streaming export $0.05 per GB (learn more about BigQuery pricing) Table created: ga_realtime_sessions_YYYYMMDD BigQuery view created: ga_realtime_sessions_view_YYYYMMDD
Daily export Table created: events_YYYYMMDD	Daily export Tables created ga_sessions_intraday_YYYYMMDD Updated at least 3 times per day Each updated overwrites previous data Deleted when full import from next day is complete ga_sessions_YYYYMMDD Full daily import
Fresh Daily export Available on “Normal” and “Large” 360 properties Learn more about processing differences between daily export and fresh daily.	Not applicable
Export, general Backfill: no backfill Dataset: for each linked property, 1 dataset named analytics_<property id> If you've implemented consent mode, export includes: cookieless pings customer-provided data (user_id, custom dimensions)	Export, general Backfill: upon linking, backfill of 13 months of data or 10B hits, whichever is smaller (Backfill to BigQuery Sandbox can fail) Dataset: for each linked view, 1 dataset named the same as the view
Export schema GA4 only exports the traffic source that first acquired the user Does not support UA data exported to BigQuery Each row in a BigQuery table represents an event Event data that is unique to Google Analytics 4 While there are some Google Analytics 4 fields that are essentially the same as Universal Analytics fields (e.g., `device.category` and `device.deviceCategory`), there are more differences than similarities between GA4 event data and UA hit data	Export schema Session-level attribution across multiple touch points Each row in a BigQuery table represents a session Hit data that is unique to Universal Analytics While there are some Universal Analytics fields that are essentially the same as Google Analytics 4 fields (e.g., `device.deviceCategory` and `device.category`), there are more differences than similarities between UA hit data and GA4 event data.

Available to Standard (free) and 360 (paid)

Standard limit: 1M events per day

360 limit: Billions of events per day

Available to 360 (paid)

Cost

Free export to BigQuery Sandbox within Sandbox limits

Exported data that exceeds Sandbox limits incurs charges per contract terms

Cost

Free export to BigQuery Sandbox within Sandbox limits

Exported data that exceeds Sandbox limits incurs charges per contract terms

Setup

Can include specific data streams and exclude specific events for each property

(lets you control export volume and cost)

Setup

Can link 1 view per property

(exports all data in that view)

Streaming export

$0.05 per GB (learn more about BigQuery pricing)

Table created:

events_intraday_YYYYMMDD

Table is deleted each day:

if you also use the daily-export option in addition to streaming
when the daily table is complete

Does not include User campaign, User source, or User medium data for new users

Streaming export

$0.05 per GB (learn more about BigQuery pricing)

Table created:

ga_realtime_sessions_YYYYMMDD

BigQuery view created:

ga_realtime_sessions_view_YYYYMMDD

Daily export

Table created:

events_YYYYMMDD

Daily export

Tables created

ga_sessions_intraday_YYYYMMDD

Updated at least 3 times per day
Each updated overwrites previous data
Deleted when full import from next day is complete

ga_sessions_YYYYMMDD

Full daily import

Fresh Daily export

Available on “Normal” and “Large” 360 properties

Learn more about processing differences between daily export and fresh daily.

Not applicable

Export, general

Backfill: no backfill

Dataset: for each linked property, 1 dataset named analytics_<property id>

If you've implemented consent mode, export includes:

cookieless pings
customer-provided data (user_id, custom dimensions)

Export, general

Backfill: upon linking, backfill of 13 months of data or 10B hits, whichever is smaller

(Backfill to BigQuery Sandbox can fail)

Dataset: for each linked view, 1 dataset named the same as the view

Export schema

GA4 only exports the traffic source that first acquired the user

Does not support UA data exported to BigQuery

Each row in a BigQuery table represents an event

Event data that is unique to Google Analytics 4

While there are some Google Analytics 4 fields that are essentially the same as Universal Analytics fields (e.g., device.category and device.deviceCategory), there are more differences than similarities between GA4 event data and UA hit data

Export schema

Session-level attribution across multiple touch points

Each row in a BigQuery table represents a session

Hit data that is unique to Universal Analytics

While there are some Universal Analytics fields that are essentially the same as Google Analytics 4 fields (e.g., device.deviceCategory and device.category), there are more differences than similarities between UA hit data and GA4 event data.

Next step

Set up BigQuery Export.

Related resources

Visit the following guides to learn more about:

If you already have BigQuery set up, you can get acquainted with it by using our sample dataset.

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[UA] BigQuery Export for Analytics [Legacy]

Compare BigQuery Export in Google Analytics 4 and Universal Analytics

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