Google Analytics vs Firebase Analytics for your App

Google Analytics (GA) and Firebase Analytics (FA), despite their common name, are widely different in many aspects. While GA is a general-purpose (and more web oriented) analytics tool, Firebase was built keeping mobile in mind: therefore, the feature set is different between the two, with some things that were added in FA and things that are missing from GA.

“Should we be using Firebase or Google Analytics?” – We get this question a lot regarding tracking behavior in mobile apps. Even though the older Google Analytics mobile SDKs have officially been deprecated by Google and the analytics reports in Firebase have been rebranded to “Google Analytics for Firebase,” there is still a lot of confusion out there as to which analytics tool is the right one for the job.

The Google Analytics mobile SDKs are technically still supported, and offer traditional reporting methods you’re more likely to be familiar with – but Google Analytics for Firebase has a lot to offer as well, and is considered to be the future of mobile app tracking. This post aims to help clarify the important differences between the two and provide some suggestions around using each platform.

Free unlimited event reporting in Firebase Analytics, unlike Google Analytics

Another outcome of the page and session based instruments like Google Analytics is that occasions are an untimely idea. In this way there are cutoff points to which one can go while breaking down occasions. Most paid investigation arrangements have a farthest point on what number of occasions you can report and break down, but Firebase provides you with unlimited reporting for up to 500 distinct events. Did we mention that Firebase is also free?

Mobile Dev Platform vs Analytics-Specific Tool

The Firebase SDK is really a mobile development stage, not only an independent investigation apparatus. I have brought this up previously, yet comprehend that the examination reports are only one arrangement of instruments in the Firebase stage, intended to coordinate with other Firebase devices –, for example, Cloud Messaging, Cloud Functions, Remote Configuration and so forth.

This is one of the greatest ‘masters’ of Firebase as it takes into account exceptionally helpful mixes with other Firebase items. The new open doors that these combinations introduce are basically why the more established Google Analytics SDKs have been belittled.

You can connect Firebase Analytics to Google Analytics

In the event that you need Google Analytics on your sites, at that point you can incorporate Firebase with Google Analytics. Regardless of whether you don’t, in the event that you have partners who see just the dialect of Google Analytics, this association can be useful. Firebase has a tight coordination with Google Analytics. Associate your Firebase information to Google Analytics and see your Firebase investigation reports without leaving the Google Analytics UI.

On the off chance that you have both an iOS and an Android rendition of your application, the two would be followed independently for Firebase. There is at present no choice for moving up information from different sorts of applications into one informational collection for announcing purposes – in any event not without BigQuery. You can interface your Firebase information to BigQuery, yet you may acquire capacity and questioning expenses. Customary Google Analytics enables you to gather information in one informational collection (property) on the off chance that you’d like. This has been one of the essential cases for proceeding to utilize Google Analytics.

Platform Support

As of now, Google Analytics for Firebase is accessible for iOS, Android, C++ and Unity, particularly. This help covers most stages, however not exactly every one of them. Firebase additionally does not offer an estimation convention. There are sure Firebase items intended for the web (HTML/JS) too, yet examination isn’t as of now a piece of those offerings – so in case you’re managing a cross breed application or dynamic web application, you’ll most likely need to get inventive.