How to Download Google Analytics Data

Need to get your Google Analytics data out of the platform for a deeper dive or to combine it with other reports? You're in the right place. Pulling your analytics data allows you to perform more advanced analysis, create custom visualizations, and merge your website metrics with other business data for a complete picture of performance. This guide will walk you through four effective methods for downloading your Google Analytics 4 data, from simple one-click exports to more powerful, automated connections.

Why Download Your Google Analytics Data?

Before jumping into the "how," it's helpful to understand the "why." While the GA4 interface is powerful, exporting your data unlocks a new level of analysis and reporting flexibility. Here are the most common reasons to pull your data out of the platform:

• Combine Data Sources: Your website performance is only one piece of the puzzle. By exporting GA4 data, you can merge it with data from other platforms like your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot), e-commerce platform (Shopify), or ad networks (Facebook Ads, Google Ads). This lets you answer critical questions like, "Which marketing channels generate a positive return on ad spend?" or "How does website traffic from different campaigns correlate with closed deals in Salesforce?"
• Advanced Analysis in Spreadsheets: Spreadsheets like Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets offer powerful analysis tools like Pivot Tables, VLOOKUPs, and complex formulas that aren't available within the GA4 interface. Exporting to a CSV file gives you a raw dataset you can slice, dice, and manipulate however you need.
• Deeper Data Exploration: GA4's default reports can sometimes have row limits or apply sampling to your data, which hides the full picture. For very large datasets, exporting provides access to raw, unsampled information.
• Custom Dashboards and Visualizations: You might want to build a specific chart or dashboard that isn't native to Google Analytics. By connecting GA4 to a tool like Looker Studio, you can create fully customized, interactive dashboards tailored to your business KPIs.
• Backing Up Your Data: GA4 has data retention limits (up to 14 months for event-level data on the free plan). Regularly exporting your data ensures you have a historical archive for year-over-year analysis long after GA4 has removed it.

Method 1: Exporting Reports Directly from the GA4 Interface

This is the quick and easy way to download a snapshot of any standard or custom report you’re looking at in GA4. It’s perfect when you need a specific table of data for a quick analysis or to drop into a presentation.

There is one key limitation to know: this method only exports the data currently visible on your screen, which for many GA4 reports is capped at 5,000 rows. If you need more granular data, you’ll need to use one of the other methods below.

How to Do It:

1. Navigate to Your Desired Report: Go to the report you want to export. For example, you might go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition. You can apply any filters or change date ranges as needed.
2. Find the "Share this report" Icon: In the top-right corner of the report, you'll see a share icon (an arrow pointing out of a box). Click on it.
3. Select 'Download File': A dropdown menu will appear. Click on "Download File."
4. Choose Your Format: You will get two options:

This method is your best friend for quick data grabs and simple reporting needs. If you need something that refreshes automatically, an API connection is a better choice.

Method 2: Using the Google Sheets GA4 Add-on

For those who live in spreadsheets, this is a game-changer. Google offers an official "GA4 Reports Builder for Google Analytics" add-on for Google Sheets that allows you to pull massive amounts of data directly from the GA4 API into a sheet. You can select specific dimensions and metrics, bypass the 5,000-row limit of the interface, and even schedule your reports to refresh automatically.

This turns Google Sheets into a powerful custom reporting tool, allowing you to build your own dashboards that update automatically without you manually downloading a CSV ever again.

Getting Started:

1. Install the Add-on: Open a new Google Sheet. Go to Extensions > Add-ons > Get add-ons. Search for "GA4 Reports Builder" and install the official one by Google. You'll need to grant it permission to access your Google Analytics data.
2. Create a New Report: Once installed, go to Extensions > GA4 Reports Builder for Google Analytics > Create a new report.
3. Configure Your Report: A sidebar will open on the right, allowing you to build your query.
4. Run the Report: After configuring your query, click the "Create Report" button. Your data will be fetched from the GA4 API and populated in a new tab within your Google Sheet. It's now ready for pivot tables, charts, or custom formulas.

Pro-Tip: The real power here lies in automation. After creating a report, go back to Extensions > GA4 Reports Builder for Google Analytics > Schedule reports. From here, you can set your reports to refresh automatically every hour, day, week, or month. This is perfect for building weekly marketing dashboards or monthly performance reports that are always up to date.

Method 3: Connecting GA4 to Looker Studio

If your ultimate goal is to create interactive, shareable dashboards, Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) is the most efficient solution. Instead of downloading static data, you create a live connection to GA4, allowing you to build and customize real-time dashboards with your analytics data.

This is arguably the best free option for creating professional-looking dashboards that you can share with your team or stakeholders via a simple link.

How to Set It Up:

1. Go to Looker Studio: Head over to lookerstudio.google.com and sign in.
2. Create a Data Source: On the homepage, click "Create" in the top-left and select "Data Source."
3. Select the Google Analytics Connector: From the list of Google Connectors, choose "Google Analytics." You will be asked to authorize Looker Studio to access your GA data.
4. Choose Your Property: Select the Account and Property you wish to connect to. Looker Studio will then display all the available fields (dimensions and metrics) from your GA4 property.
5. Create Your Report: Once you're happy with the fields, click "Create Report" in the top right.

You now have a blank canvas connected directly to your GA4 data in real-time. You can start creating charts, graphs, and tables by dragging and dropping dimensions and metrics onto the reporting canvas. Any data visualizations you create will update automatically, providing a live look at your website's performance.

Method 4: Full Export with the BigQuery Integration

This method is for power users, data analysts, and businesses with very high traffic websites. When you link your GA4 property to Google BigQuery (a cloud data warehouse), you get access to raw, unsampled, event-level data. This means every single interaction happening on your website is exported, giving you the most complete and granular dataset possible.

Linking to BigQuery is free, but you may incur costs for storing and querying the data inside BigQuery once you exceed the free tier. This approach also requires at least a basic knowledge of SQL to query the data effectively.

When to Consider BigQuery:

• You consistently hit sampling limits in the GA4 interface.
• You need to analyze user-level data or do very complex funnel and path analysis.
• You want to join your web analytics data with other large datasets in a centralized data warehouse.

How to Link GA4 to BigQuery:

1. Go to GA4 Admin Settings: Navigate to the Admin section of your GA4 property.
2. Find BigQuery Links: Under the "Product Links" section in the Property column, click on "BigQuery Links."
3. Link Your Project: Click "Link" and choose a BigQuery project. You may need to create a new one in the Google Cloud Platform if you don't have one. You'll also need to have billing enabled on your Cloud account.
4. Configure Settings: Select the data stream you want to export and choose the export frequency (either a daily batch export or a continuous streaming export).

Once the link is active, your raw event data will begin flowing into BigQuery. From there, you can use SQL queries to perform deep analysis or connect it to advanced business intelligence platforms like Tableau or Power BI.

Final Thoughts

Getting your data out of Google Analytics opens up a world of possibilities for deeper analysis and better business insights. Whether you're doing a quick CSV download for some spreadsheet work, automating your reporting with the Google Sheets add-on, building beautiful dashboards in Looker Studio, or diving deep with a BigQuery export, there's a method that fits your needs and technical comfort level.

We know that managing this can still feel like a lot of manual work - connecting sources, building reports, and making sure everything stays updated. This is why we created Graphed. We aimed to eliminate this entire manual process. After connecting sources like Google Analytics in just a few clicks, you can instantly build reports and dashboards just by describing what you want to see in simple, natural language. Instead of figuring out dimensions and metrics, you can just ask, "Show me a line chart of sessions by traffic source for the last 90 days," and we'll build it for you, connected to real-time data.