What does the Universal Analytics backup look like?

A quick preview of the tables in each of the 4 data sources is below. Visit this article in the knowledge base for more details of the limits of each data source.

What is a View?

Google Analytics is organized into Analytics Accounts, Properties & Apps that belong to those accounts, and Views on those Properties. A “View” is the basis of a Google Analytics report.  It is a ‘slice’ or a filter on the raw data feed collected by a Property (a domain / website / app). A website can have multiple Views. Some filter out internal traffic, some are for specific sales regions or departments. Google Analytics shows reports for one View at a time.

Is this a monthly service?

No! This product is offered as a one time fee for each view you wish to backup. We will export your data to Sheets, Excel, BigQuery, or CSV files.  The export is the complete deliverable and there are no additional fees charged by us.

How do you retain and dispose of our data?

We hold the data until you have downloaded it or until we have transferred it to your BigQuery account. We will retain the data for 60 days beyond that, at which point we will purge the backup. We only extract and deliver the data for the purpose of a backup. Information is not shared with any third-parties.

Is there an affiliate program / can I white-label this?

We are not offering an affiliate program at this time, however if you are interested in selling back-ups in bulk, contact us. While you cannot white-label Analytics Canvas, many agencies and consultants are putting together backups for clients and charging according to their value-add.

How many Views do I need to backup?

Most people only backup one or two views per website. There may be additional views such as test views or employee-only views, but those are usually not necessary to backup.

How can I provide an estimate to my client?

The best approach is to start with a budget. Talk to the client about what they’re willing to spend, and how much detail they would like. There is a direct relationship between level of detail and number of rows. If they say “give me everything back to 2010”, well, that’s not cheap. If they say “top level metrics by month for 3 years” – ok, that’s easy and likely less than 10M rows for most websites. We can backup a HUGE site with just a few million rows, especially if they want Monthly reporting at a low level of detail.  Once you have a budget, use the application to configure a backup and get a row estimate before proceeding.  You can tune the backup as many times as you'd like before running to stay within your budget.

What happens if the estimate is wrong?

Pricing will always favor the customer.  If our estimate is too low, you will not be billed or charged for additional rows.  If our estimate is too high, we will refund you the difference between the estimated and actual row count.

Will my UA backup data be sampled?

Analytics Canvas has developed an algorithm to eliminate sampling in most cases. Generally speaking, unless you have over 500,000 sessions in a given day, the data will not be sampled. Learn more about sampling in Universal Analytics.

Can I add to my UA backup before the API turns off?

YES!  You can return through July 2024 to 'top-up' your backup to the number of rows you have paid for. This means that if you backed up 8M rows in August 2023, and in December realize you're missing some key tables, you can come back and get up to 2M more rows for no additional fee.

How does billing work?

The backups operate on a credit system.  Each 10M rows per view is 1 credit, and each credit is $99 USD.  You will make the payment by credit card through our reseller, FastSpring LLC.   Then return to Analytics Canvas and enter your order number to unlock your credits.

During the beta period, you can create as many backups as you'd like, and pay for only the ones you'd like to complete in July.

Do you offer discounts?

We believe in offering everyone our best and lowest price. We price protect customers if prices decrease and grandfather customers if prices increase. You can be assured that no one is getting a better price than you.

Who owns the data?

With Read access to a Google Analytics View, anyone can create a backup. The backup will be stored in one of four data destinations. If you choose Excel or CSV, we will generate the files for you to download. If you opt for Sheets or BigQuery, we will directly write the data into your authorized accounts. Analytics Canvas does not own the data and does not store the data beyond the retention period.

How do I know how many rows my backup will be?

The best way to estimate the number of rows is to use the backup tool.  Before running the backup, it will walk you through some steps to help determine what you want to backup and how detailed it should be.  It will then provide you a row estimate based on your configuration.  You can modify and change your tables as often as you'd like before running the backup.  Once you run, you will be billed according to the row estimate and the backup will commence.

Do I need this if I have the UA 360 BigQuery export?

We highly recommend it! Your data will be in a nested table format. You would have to write complex SQL to get a set of flat tables, or pull a data engineer onto this project and have them study an outdated model in order to write the query that answers your question.  At $99/view*, it is generally more cost effective to use our backup.

What kind of training and support is available?

We pride ourselves delivering great customer service. If you need help, we will quickly respond. We have thorough documentation on the UA backup product. If you're still having challenges, contact us or attend one of our weekly webinars on Tuesdays at 11AM ET.