GA4 connects to Data Studio through a free, Google-built connector — no third-party tool, no subscription, about ninety seconds. You pick the property, and every dimension and metric in it becomes available to your report.
This guide covers the connection itself, how to check it worked, and the four GA4-specific limitations that will otherwise confuse you a week from now.
What you need first
- A Google account with at least Viewer access to the GA4 property
- The property already collecting data — Data Studio reads GA4, it doesn’t set it up
- Nothing else. This connector is free and native; no connector subscription is involved.
If you don’t have a property to practise on, Google publishes a public GA4 demo account with real populated data. It’s free to add and ideal for learning without touching client data.
Connect GA4 to Data Studio, step by step
- Go to datastudio.google.com and sign in with the account that has GA4 access. This is the most common failure point — if the property doesn’t appear later, you’re usually signed in as the wrong user.
- Create → Data source (or, from inside a report, Add data).
- Choose “Google Analytics” from the Google Connectors section. It’s marked By Google, which is how you know it’s the free native one.
- Authorise if prompted. You’re granting Data Studio read access to your Analytics data.
- Pick the account, then the property. GA4 properties are listed directly — there’s no view to choose, since GA4 doesn’t have views.
- Click Connect. You’ll land on the fields screen, listing every dimension and metric available.
- Click Create report, or Add to report if you started from an existing one.
How to check it actually worked
Drop a scorecard on the page and set the metric to Sessions, with the date range set to last 28 days. Then open GA4 itself and compare.
Small differences are normal — GA4 samples and re-processes, and the two interfaces don’t always attribute a session to the same day. What isn’t normal is a zero, a blank, or a number that’s out by an order of magnitude. That means the wrong property, or a date range covering a period before tracking started.
Four things the GA4 connector won’t do
These aren’t bugs, and knowing them now saves an afternoon later.
- Segments and comparisons don’t come across. Google’s documentation is explicit: “Google Analytics 4 segments and comparisons are not available using the Google Analytics connector.” If your GA4 analysis leans on segments, you’ll rebuild them as Data Studio filters.
- API quotas surface as errors in your report. Reports connected to GA4 “are subject to Google Analytics Data API quotas”, and reports that exceed them “may display an error message.” A busy report on a busy property can hit this — which is one reason heavy users route GA4 through BigQuery instead.
- Thresholding can blank your data. When a report combines demographic or signals data with small user counts, GA4 withholds rows to protect identifiability. You’ll see gaps that look like a broken connector but aren’t.
- It’s live, not stored. Data Studio queries GA4 each time the report opens. If your property only retains data for two months, your report only ever shows two months — no matter how far back you set the date range.
What to build first
Resist building a fifty-chart dashboard on day one. A GA4 report earns its keep with four things:
- Sessions and users over time, with a comparison to the previous period
- Traffic by default channel group — the fastest answer to “where did people come from”
- Landing pages by sessions and engagement rate
- Key events (GA4’s conversions), by channel
Add a date range control and a channel filter so people can answer their own follow-up questions instead of asking you.
If you’d rather start from something finished, copy a template and remap the data source to your property — usually about two minutes.
Adding Search Console alongside GA4
The most common next step is joining GA4 behaviour to Search Console visibility, so one page shows impressions, clicks, sessions and conversions together.
It’s worth knowing the join is fiddlier than it looks: Search Console gives full URLs while GA4 gives paths, so the two won’t match without work. The usual fix is a calculated field on the GA4 side — CONCAT("https://yourdomain.com", Landing Page) — remembering that GA4 stores paths without a trailing slash.
Also keep the five-source blend cap in mind before you design something that needs six.
When you’d pay for a GA4 connector instead
You mostly wouldn’t. The native connector is free and maintained by Google, and for a single property it’s the right choice.
Two situations change that. The first is volume — if you’re repeatedly hitting API quotas, moving GA4 into BigQuery and reporting from there is the durable fix. The second is consolidation: if you already pay a connector to bring Meta, LinkedIn or TikTok into the same report, pulling GA4 through the same tool can be simpler to maintain than mixing native and third-party sources. Supermetrics, Windsor.ai and Coupler.io all offer GA4 alongside the paid platforms.
If GA4 is the only thing you’re reporting on, though, pay nothing.
Frequently asked questions
Is the GA4 connector free?
Yes. It’s built and maintained by Google, listed under “By Google” in the connector gallery, and costs nothing. Data Studio itself is free too.
Why can’t I see my GA4 property in the list?
Almost always the wrong Google account. Check which account you’re signed into Data Studio with, and confirm it has at least Viewer access to that property in GA4.
Why don’t my Data Studio numbers match GA4 exactly?
Small differences are expected from sampling, re-processing and attribution timing. Large differences usually mean the wrong property or a date range predating your tracking.
Can I use GA4 segments in Data Studio?
No. Google states segments and comparisons aren’t available through the connector. Rebuild them as Data Studio filters instead.
Why do some rows show as blank or “(other)”?
GA4 withholds data that could identify individuals when user counts are small, and groups high-cardinality dimensions into “(other)”. Both are GA4 behaviours, not connector faults.
How often does the data refresh?
Data Studio queries GA4 when someone opens the report, so it’s current on load — subject to GA4’s own processing delay, which can be several hours for some metrics.
Where to go next
- Connect Google Search Console — the natural companion
- Connect Google Ads
- Build your first report
- What is Data Studio? — the full beginner’s guide