SourceMedium vs Google Analytics 4

An evidence-backed comparison across integrations, attribution, data freshness, SQL access, pricing, and compliance.

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Feature	SourceMedium	Google Analytics 4
Integrations & Data Sources	40+ integrations across 5 business functions — commerce, ads, email, subscriptions, and ops — with documented coverage and daily reconciliation	Web/app event tracking only — no commerce, ad, email, or subscription data integration
Data Freshness	Reconciled daily across all sources with full historical backfill — every metric traceable to its source	Standard has processing delays and sampling; unsampled intraday requires 360 (~$50K+/yr)
Attribution Models	Server-side multi-touch attribution — no new pixels, no cookies, works with your existing tracking infrastructure	3 models — data-driven, last click, and Google paid channels last click
Cohort / CLTV	20 pre-built analytics modules including LTV, repurchase, retention, and new customer analysis — ready to use on day one	No built-in ecommerce LTV — requires custom event setup and downstream modeling
Dashboards & Visualization	Pre-built dashboards + AI analyst that answers ad-hoc questions in natural language, backed by SQL you can verify	Standard dashboards subject to sampling and privacy thresholds that can withhold data
Custom Metrics	Define a metric once, use it everywhere — dashboards, SQL, and AI always return the same answer	Custom metrics and events via event schema — requires manual configuration
SQL / Export / API Access	Full SQL access on every plan — query your managed BigQuery warehouse, connect any BI tool, extend with custom models	BigQuery export capped at 1M events/day on standard; unsampled data requires 360
Legal / Compliance	Compliance documentation available on request	ISO 27001 certification for Google systems; GA4 360 has enterprise compliance features

Confidence: Verified Inferred Unknown

Based on publicly available documentation, last verified February 2026.

Pricing overview

How SourceMedium and Google Analytics 4 pricing compares.

SourceMedium

Model: Subscription based on data volume
Starting price: Custom pricing
Limits: Custom pricing — contact for details on data retention and seat limits

Google Analytics 4

Model: Free (standard) plus enterprise GA4 360 with negotiated pricing
Starting price: Free; GA4 360 estimated ~$50K+/year (negotiable)
Tiers: Standard (free) / GA4 360 (enterprise)
Limits: Standard: 14-month retention, sampling in explorations, 1M events/day BigQuery export

Why teams choose SourceMedium over Google Analytics 4

GA4 is a web analytics tool. It tracks page views, sessions, and events. It does not unify your commerce data, build your P&L, calculate CLTV, analyze cohorts, or provide the SQL-accessible data warehouse your team needs. To get ecommerce analytics from GA4, you have to build an entire data stack around it — SourceMedium is that stack.

Where the approaches differ

GA4 tracks web events; SourceMedium unifies commerce data. GA4 sees sessions and pageviews. SourceMedium reconciles data from 40+ sources — Shopify, Amazon, ad platforms, email, subscriptions, and ops — into P&L, cohort LTV, contribution margin, and 20 pre-built analytics modules.

Sampling vs full data access. GA4 explorations can be sampled, and privacy thresholds can withhold data entirely. Unsampled access requires 360 (~$50K+/yr). SourceMedium provides full, unsampled SQL access to a managed BigQuery warehouse on every plan.

14-month retention vs full history. GA4 standard retains data for 14 months. Multi-year cohort studies, seasonal trend analysis, and LTV modeling require longer history. SourceMedium retains your full history with no retention limits.

Server-side attribution vs web-session attribution. GA4's 3 attribution models only see web touchpoints. SourceMedium provides multi-touch attribution running server-side across all channels — capturing 10-30% more attributable orders than GA-only measurement.

When GA4 might be the better fit

GA4 is the right tool for web analytics, Google Ads attribution, and traffic analysis. It's free and deeply integrated with Google's ad ecosystem. Most brands should keep GA4 for web analytics and use SourceMedium for commerce intelligence — they solve different problems.

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