Any news on this @Roderick ?
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What’s the latest update with this very critical need for GA4 backfill?
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Hello, I’m new to BigQuery. We started using it this year. But we want to retrieve data, at least from last year, from Google Analytics 4 to BigQuery, with a quick method and without too much code if that’s possible? Thanks in advance for your help.
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Hello, I was searching and I saw this. I don’t know if it works but I’m going to try it to retrieve the data.
This is the link : https://github.com/aliasoblomov/Backfill-GA4-to-BigQuery
It’s now mid-October 2024: 16 months since this question was asked. Any updates @Roderick or @Aris_O ?We really need this BigQuery<>GA4 backfill option ASAP.
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Well, i’d like to try to build this. Will report back once I have a testable version
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I will happily eat my words if you build this, but I don’t believe there’s any possible way to do this without Google opening up the option on their end. Because the GA4<>BigQuery integration is not retroactive, you inherently can’t backfill a raw/native GA4 export. All other solutions that access retroactive data rely on the very limited GA4 APIs. There’s no raw backfill solution available to “build” without access to the raw historical data. I wonder if you’re looking to build a limited API-based export, as other vendors have already built (but inherently fall short).
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Replying to share the concerns
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You’re absolutely right - I should have been clearer. I can’t magically bypass Google’s limitations or access raw historical data that Google doesn’t make available. My tool, like others, works within the constraints of GA4’s APIs.
What I’m building is essentially an automation layer to make the API-based export process more user-friendly. It’s not a true raw data backfill solution - that’s technically impossible without Google enabling it.
I appreciate you calling this out. Would you be interested in testing my current approach and helping me understand what specific data points would make it more useful for your needs, even within GA4’s API constraints? I’m trying to build something practical despite the limitations.
@Roderick Any updates from the team working on this feature?
We would love to have this feature available.
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Hey Peptide,
I’ve built a solution that helps backfill GA4 data to BigQuery. While it uses the GA4 API (meaning same limitations others have mentioned), we’ve focused on making it super easy to use with a simple UI - no coding or GitHub pulls needed.
Try it with one GA4 property free for 7 days at DataBackfill. Just log in, connect your accounts, and start syncing. Happy to answer any questions about how it works or discuss limitations in more detail.
Hope this helps add another option to the conversation! Let me know if you have any questions.
https://databackfill.com/ backfill GA4 data to BigQuery. While it uses the GA4 API (meaning same limitations others have mentioned), we’ve focused on making it super easy to use with a simple UI - no coding or GitHub pulls needed.
That’s cool you whipped this up. Looks like you’ve tapped into content AI generation for the host of new blog posts on the site (downside: a lot of frothy/repetitive content).
I’m guessing the tool still requires choosing what sacrifices to make in the combination of metrics and dimensions that can be associable. The site mentions “Complete GA4 Data Synchronization”, but doesn’t mention the inherent limitations. This seems a bit misleading. The documentation page doesn’t give much info either: “the schema is designed to capture essential GA4 event data”. Given there are thousands of possible dimension|metric combinations, how does it work? Does the user have to choose which dimensions they want to include, and which ones they’ll forfeit?
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Hey, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts! Just wanted to clear something up - if you check out our documentation page, we actually lay out exactly what we sync in the BigQuery Setup section. You can see the full table schema there with all the fields. We specifically built around the core event metrics available in the GA4 API to make sure the syncs are rock-solid and reliable.
But you know what? Rather than me explaining it all, why not take it for a spin yourself? You can sync one GA4 property with 60 days of historical data totally free - no credit card needed.
Has anyone tried my tool yet? Would be great to get some feedback
Wish you had other destinations other than BigQuery. Thought of trying it for personal use.
We have plans to add Snowflake and Redshift this year. What data sources did you have in mind?
This repository has been updated with a colab notebook .
It includes ?? ???-??-??? ???-??? ??? ???, designed to replicate key parts of the GA4 UI reports in BigQuery and CSV. This solution is similar to the GA4 UI and allows you to have a complete overview of your data. Additionally, it is completely free, and no coding is required.
https://github.com/aliasoblomov/Backfill-GA4-to-BigQuery/blob/main/GA4_tables_backfill.ipynb