What are the differences between UA and GA4?

In this article, we examined the working principles of Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4, which will soon completely replace it, and the most notable differences. Happy reading.

A Brief Historical Overview of Google Analytics

Urchin was the most popular tool for monitoring website traffic in the early 2000s. Google couldn't remain passive in the face of this popularity and made the move that would directly affect our present by acquiring Urchin Software Corp. in 2005. The naming, which was initially “Urchin from Google”, was later named “Google Analytics”, which we still use today, and it has evolved a lot since Google first acquired it in 2005. Over the years, as the internet became widespread and people's shopping habits evolved, Analytics has become one of the most important tools for us to keep user data online and make sense of it.

2005 → GA1: Google Analytics (urchin.js)

2008 → GA2: Google Analytics Classic (ga.js)

2012 → GA3: Google Analytics Universal (analytics.js)

2020 → GA4: Google Analytics 4

In our upcoming headings, we will first examine Google Analytics 4, which was announced as APP+Web.

When is Universal Analytics Being Phased Out? What to Pay Attention to?

Google has postponed the shutdown of UA several times, but we are getting closer to the inevitable end every day. Although GA4 has not yet exited the beta phase, it has been announced that Google will stop collecting data after July 2023 and will not allow new processing. You can find the latest announcement here.

Important point: You need to export your data within 6 months, because Google does not guarantee access to this data. 360 Universal Analytics properties are granted an additional year of use, until July 1, 2024.

Key Points

* UA shuts down on July 1, 2023.

* The shutdown date for 360 properties is July 1, 2024.

* Data will be accessible for 6 months.

* Exporting your data is very important to avoid data loss.

What Does GA4 Offer Us? What Does It Aim For?

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the latest version of Google Analytics. It is largely different from the old Universal Analytics (GA3) platform in terms of its features and data collection method. GA4 prioritizes user privacy when collecting data and performs tracking based on events, not sessions.

With these changes, Google is adding AI-powered analysis to its reporting systems. Although it does not yet provide the desired accuracy, we think that AI-supported reporting will be used frequently in Analytics in the future.

In addition, GA4 has opened a new window on user privacy with many innovations related to cookies and GDPR. In short, GA4 aims to better protect user privacy by offering less personal data collection, more data control, and a shorter data retention period.

How Do UA and GA4 Measure Users?

The most fundamental difference between UA and GA4 is in their measurement model. Universal Analytics tracks users based on sessions, while GA4 tracks users based on events. Universal Analytics uses a model that focuses on sessions and pageviews. GA4, on the other hand, implements an event-based model. While sessions connect specific user interactions, event data is anonymous and focuses on "what was done."

In web analytics, an event is an interaction performed by the visitor on the site or application: click, pageview, scroll, file download, purchase, etc. GA4 evaluates all these interactions as events. In Universal Analytics, special setup with GTM was required to measure such interactions; GA4, on the other hand, offers some automatic tracking features. Still, the popularity of GTM continues.

What Are the Changed Metrics from UA to GA4?

One of the critical differences between UA and GA4 is how metrics are calculated. For example, metrics like Total Users or Bounce Rate, although they exist on both platforms, give different results. You can see the UA and GA4 metric comparison in the table below.

Source: Google Help

There may be inconsistencies in UA-GA4 comparisons as GA4 does not yet fully support filters.

View and Data Streams

The concept of View, which was indispensable in Universal Analytics, does not exist in GA4. In GA4, a website or application is configured as a “Data Stream”, and each property can contain a maximum of 50 streams.

Cross-Device Tracking

GA4 tracks and reports user behavior across devices thanks to multiple data streams added to the same property. Device-level data (browser, device) and user-level data are combined to provide multi-faceted analysis.

Enhanced E-commerce Events

For e-commerce sites, the Enhanced E-commerce events of UA and GA4 events are used with different names. You can see their counterparts below:

Data Collection and Privacy Differences

Data Collection

While UA relies on cookies, GA4 can track across devices with an event-based model even if cookies are disabled. UA primarily collects web data, while GA4 collects both web and application data.

Privacy

GA4 allows you to choose which data to collect and behaves according to user permissions with "Consent Mode". If consent is denied, modeling is done with machine learning. Data is deleted after 14 months; in UA, the period is unlimited.

Cookie Policy

GA4 abandons third-party cookies and focuses on first-party cookies. Google will change the way data is collected by removing third-party cookies from Analytics and Chrome. We will detail this topic in our next article.