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The discrepancy in data between Universal Analytics (UA) and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) can be attributed to the intrinsic differences between these two platforms, they have different ways of tracking and counting sessions, events, and users.
UA and GA4 track sessions differently: UA sessions time out after 30 minutes of inactivity, whereas GA4 doesn’t have a session timeout as it uses an event-based model. This could result in fewer sessions reported in GA4. In terms of events, GA4 might record less because “bounce” (single-page sessions) doesn’t exist in the same way as it does in UA; this could particularly impact page views count.
Moreover, concerning users, GA4 has upgraded ways of identifying unique users, it’s often more accurate and subsequently might count fewer users than UA.
If you want comparable data, you need to ensure you’re making like-for-like comparisons. For full comparison, you might want to consider setting up equivalent events in GA4 to those you are tracking in UA.
GA4 is a powerful tool for understanding user journeys and behaviors on your website, even if the raw numbers of users and pageviews appear lower. The data can appear skewed when switching from UA to GA4, but it’s important to understand these systems function differently and provide different insights. Therefore, it might take some time and testing to fully adapt and correctly interpret the new set of data from GA4.
