How to Enable Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Streaming Export to BigQuery

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) streaming export to BigQuery enables near real-time access to your analytics data, making it available within minutes for analysis. This guide walks you through the complete setup process, including prerequisites, linking your GA4 property to BigQuery, and configuring streaming export.

Why Use GA4 Streaming Export?

BigQuery streaming export provides several advantages:

• Access analytics data within minutes instead of waiting for daily exports
• Run SQL queries on raw, unsampled event data
• Combine GA4 data with other data sources in BigQuery
• Build real-time dashboards and monitoring systems
• Perform advanced analysis not possible in the GA4 interface

Note: Streaming export is a best-effort service and may contain data gaps. For complete data, use the daily export table (events_YYYYMMDD) rather than the intraday table.

Prerequisites

Before enabling streaming export, ensure you have the following:

Google Analytics Requirements

• A Google Analytics 4 property (standard or 360)
• An email address with Editor role or higher at the property level

Google Cloud Requirements

• A Google Cloud project with the BigQuery API enabled
• The same email address must have Owner access to the BigQuery project

Billing Requirements

• Billing must be enabled on your Google Cloud account
• Streaming export costs $0.05 per GB of data (approximately 600,000 events per GB)
• Data exported to BigQuery Sandbox expires after 60 days unless billing is enabled

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Step 1: Sign in to Google Analytics

1. Go to analytics.google.com and sign in with your Google account.
2. Make sure you have access to the GA4 property you want to export.

Step 2: Navigate to BigQuery Links

1. Click the Admin icon (gear icon) in the bottom left corner.
2. In the Property column, scroll down to Product Links.
3. Click on BigQuery Links.

Step 3: Create a New BigQuery Link

1. Click the Link button to start the linking process.
2. On the next screen, click Choose a BigQuery project.
3. Select the Google Cloud project you want to link from the list.

Tip: If your project doesn't appear, ensure you have Owner access to the BigQuery project and the BigQuery API is enabled.

Step 4: Configure Data Location

1. Select a location for your data (e.g., US or EU multi-region).
2. Choose a location that complies with your data residency requirements.
3. Click Next to proceed.

Important: The data location cannot be changed after the link is created. Choose carefully based on your compliance and latency requirements.

Step 5: Select Data Streams

1. Click Configure data streams and events.
2. Select which data streams to include in the export (web, iOS, Android).
3. Click Done after selecting your streams.

Step 6: Enable Streaming Export

1. Under export options, check the box for Streaming (continuous) export of data.
2. Optionally, also enable Daily export for complete historical data.
3. Click Next to review your settings.

Step 7: Review and Submit

1. Review all your configuration settings.
2. Verify the correct project, location, and data streams are selected.
3. Click Submit to create the BigQuery link.

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Understanding Export Tables

GA4 creates the following tables in your BigQuery dataset:

Streaming Export Table

• events_intraday_YYYYMMDD - Internal staging table with current day's data
• Updated continuously throughout the day
• May contain incomplete data (late events, failed uploads)
• Automatically deleted when daily export completes

Daily Export Table

• events_YYYYMMDD - Complete export of all events for the day
• Available the day after data collection
• Contains stable, complete data
• Updated for up to 2 calendar days with late-arriving events

Best Practice: Always query events_YYYYMMDD for analysis rather than events_intraday_YYYYMMDD to ensure you're working with complete data.

Data Availability Timeline

• Streaming data: Available within a few minutes in events_intraday_YYYYMMDD
• Daily data: Typically available mid-afternoon in the property's timezone
• Late events: Daily tables updated for up to 2 days with late-arriving data

Streaming Export Limitations

Be aware of these limitations when using streaming export:

• No user attribution for new users: traffic_source.name, traffic_source.source, and traffic_source.medium are excluded
• Existing user attribution delayed: Requires ~24 hours to fully process
• Best-effort service: No completeness SLO, may contain data gaps
• Standard properties: Limited to 1 million events per day for BigQuery export

GA360 Additional Features

Google Analytics 360 customers have access to additional export options:

• Fresh Daily export: Faster data availability, typically by 5am in property timezone
• Completeness signal: Notification when all previous day's data has been exported
• Higher limits: Up to 20 billion events per day

Troubleshooting

• Project not appearing: Ensure you have Owner access and BigQuery API is enabled
• No data appearing: Wait a few minutes for streaming data; daily data appears the next day
• Missing user attribution: Expected behavior for streaming; use daily export for attribution data
• Billing errors: Verify billing is enabled on your Google Cloud account

Useful Links

• GA4 BigQuery Export Documentation
• BigQuery Export Schema Reference
• BigQuery Pricing
• BigQuery Export Limits

Need help setting up GA4 BigQuery export or building analytics dashboards? Contact us for assistance with analytics implementation, data engineering, and custom reporting.