What is BigQuery?
Table of contents
In short
BigQuery is a serverless data warehouse service from Google Cloud that enables fast SQL analyses of large amounts of data. It is scalable, cost-efficient and integrates seamlessly with other Google services. Directly to BigQuery.
BigQuery and Google Analytics
You can use BigQuery to save all your event data from GA4 and analyze it yourself using SQL queries. When used with Varify.io, you do not need to create SQL queries yourself
The advantage here is that the raw data of the events is stored in BigQuery, which is then used in the evaluation. This ensures the accuracy of the data for 100%.Â
In the "normal" GA4 reports, the data fluctuates in the range of 2-3% due to sampling. However, this does not usually cause any problems when evaluating key figures
BigQuery and Varify.io
With Varify.io you have the possibility to display your GA4 data of your experiments directly in the tool. You can find out more here: GA4 reporting in Varify.io.
The figures for the experiments are taken directly from GA4 and are therefore identical to the figures from GA4.
Linking a BigQuery project and Varify.io gives you direct access to the raw data from your experiments.Â
What does BigQuery cost?
The costs for a BigQuery project are variable, are for data storage but usually within a manageable range of a few cents. However, these can be limited by various cost controls. More on this under cost control.
Up to a certain size of your traffic, BigQuery is even available to you free of charge.Â
The connection of BigQuery and Varify.io also does not represent any additional costs if the setup has been carried out correctly.Â
BigQuery from Google Cloud calculates costs based on data storage and query volume. There are two main cost types:
1. storage: Costs for the stored data space.
2. queries: Costs for the amount of data processed during queries.
These costs are only incurred when the free monthly limits are exceeded. The monthly free limits are 10GiB for data storage and 1TiB for data queries (as of September 01, 2024).
Google lists all costs in a Cost overview on. You can also work in a Cost calculator estimate possible costs incurred.
What advantages does BigQuery offer?
The combination of BigQuery and GA4 opens up completely new possibilities for understanding and using your data. Here are the key benefits:
Raw data without sampling:
Get complete and unsampled data for precise analysis.
Lightning-fast data analysis:
BigQuery also processes large data records in seconds.
Customized analyses:
Create customized reports and investigate specific questions.
Perfect for A/B testing:
Test hypotheses effectively and obtain reliable results from detailed user analyses.
More insights into user behavior:
Understand how users really use your website or app.