I love data. And because I love data, I love the fact that Google has created so many APIs for its applications. Of course one of the most useful is the API for Google Analytics. But, as with all things in life, there are some limits- I’ll go over what they are.

UPDATE: This post has been updated to the latest Quota for the Google Analytics Core reporting API V3.0

The quota is assigned to an API project

• Quota assigned for each Application developer/Project (So it is based on your application vendor or service provider, and they will allocate quota to you, or if you are building your own, it is for the project you create with Google)
• Courtesy quota is 50,000 requests per service provider but established, trusted providers can have much, much more, ensuring in their customer base have the access they need.
• Same maximum of 10,000 rows per request

We probably need to define those terms a bit better. A request is a single request to the API- the application you are using requests some data and gets a response. This does not mean a single query from your point of view- it might take many requests to get the answer to a question if its a big answer.

The response to each request returns a certain number of rows (with a maximum of 10,000). If your first request defines a query that will result in more than 10,000 rows (say for the example it results in 26,000 rows), then only the first 10,000 rows will be returned. Then you have to make another request (with the same query), specifying that you want the next 10,000 rows starting at 10,001, then another request that specifies you want the rows after 20,001.

Also, you define how many rows you want returned at once- to minimize requests, you probably want this to be the 10,000 limit.

So for one query, you end up making three requests, and get all your 26,000 rows of Google Analytics data goodness.

What if I need MORE than 50,000 requests

• If you are not using a third party tool or platform, then you can make a request to Google to get your quota extended.
• Using a third party application- depends on the application provider- for Analytics Canvas, the soft quota is 50,000 a day, however providing the overall quota for Analytics Canvas is healthy, extensions are automatically granted to allow our customers to have “big data days”, and ensure they get the data they need. Customers with specific needs can arrange an increase in their quota.

End users don’t need huge queries every day, but when they do, the larger Quota of their provider will let them get what they need. Google has opened the flood gates on data- and more data is GOOD.

Do it yourself VS using an API Service provider

The Google Analytics API is open to everyone, so one option is to “Do it yourself” and hire some programmers to build software that takes advantage of the API. This can be good if you have very specific custom needs, however the down side is that you have the budget to hire the developers needed, and are willing to potentially have to do modifications to all your code/applications when there are changes to the Google API.

For the vast majority of companies and cases, hiring developers to build software from scratch is not appealing. By using third party applications and services, the overall cost is a fraction of the custom “do it yourself” approach, and by using a platform such as Analytics Canvas you know you will always have the latest API capabilities and that the platform provider is responsible to ensure the platform remains compatible with the API as it changes.

Analytics Canvas and the API

Analytics canvas is committed to providing complete access to the Google Analytics API. We participate in Googles developer community and are proud to deliver the latest features as quickly as possible. Because of our development efforts, our customers avoid expensive custom development and ensure that their data queries continue to function as Google continues to evolve and enhance its platform.

For our clients with large data requirements, the combination of expanded quota and enhanced API control that can eliminate data sampling means that Analytics Canvas is a cost effective way to get the data critical to your business out of Google Analytics and into your Enterprise systems.

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