SourceMedium vs Google Analytics 4

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.

GA4 is free — until you need unsampled data, longer retention, or higher export limits. GA4 360 starts at ~$50K/year.

Where the approaches differ

GA4 tracks web events; SourceMedium unifies commerce data. GA4 sees sessions and pageviews. SourceMedium reconciles commerce, ads, email, subscriptions, and ops into a governed data foundation — documented schema, 2,500+ automated quality checks running daily, and included BigQuery compute for your team to actually build on.

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 — the same technology GA4 360 exports to, but managed, modeled, and queryable without the $50K/year price tag. Any tool that supports BigQuery connects natively — Tableau, dbt, Python, Hex, your own scripts.

14-month retention vs full historical backfill. GA4 standard retains data for 14 months. Multi-year cohort studies, seasonal trend analysis, and LTV modeling require longer history. SourceMedium provides full historical backfill into BigQuery with unlimited data storage — centralize beyond ecommerce by bringing in finance, ops, or any custom source into the same warehouse at no extra cost.

Forkable Looker Studio templates: GA4 requires you to build Looker Studio dashboards from scratch or find third-party templates. Every SourceMedium Looker Studio template is open-source and forkable — copy it, customize it, build something entirely new. Your reporting layer belongs to you.

Server-side attribution vs web-session attribution. GA4's 3 attribution models only see web touchpoints. SourceMedium runs multi-touch attribution server-side across all channels — capturing conversions that web-only tools miss from privacy gaps, cross-device journeys, and channel blind spots.

Predictable pricing vs free-to-$50K cliff: GA4 is free until you need unsampled data, longer retention, or higher export limits — then it's GA4 360 at ~$50K+/year with no middle ground. SourceMedium covers the gap between your commerce platform and the analytics your team actually needs — on one bill. Generous base compute included, with simple usage-based pricing for heavy BigQuery or AI workloads. Ask any vendor: if we leave, what happens to our data, dashboards, and team's work?

The ownership stress test: If you walk away from GA4 tomorrow, what do you keep? Your historical data disappears after the 14-month retention window, and export caps limit what you can take with you. SourceMedium writes to BigQuery you own — your data persists regardless of vendor relationship.

Onboarding that's built into the plan: Included solution hours with a dedicated US-based analyst who's worked across DTC brands. No surprise services fees, no offshore support team.

AI you can verify: GA4 requires you to build insights manually through Explorations or Looker Studio. SourceMedium's AI Analyst answers questions in natural language and shows the SQL, so your team gets answers in minutes instead of hours.

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.