Data retention in GA4 controls how long user-level and event-level data is kept before it is automatically deleted. It affects explorations, which query that data, but not the aggregated standard reports. Standard properties can choose two months or fourteen months, and the default is two months, which surprises many teams the first time they try to explore last year's data.
What retention affects
Standard reports in GA4 are built from aggregated data and keep working for older dates regardless of the setting. Explorations, funnel and path analysis, and other event-level analysis only go back as far as retention allows. GA4 360 properties have longer options.
Retention changes are not retroactive. Moving from two months to fourteen keeps data from that point onward but does not bring back anything already deleted.
Setting it
Find it under Admin, Data collection and modification, Data retention. Choose the longer setting unless your privacy policy or legal advice says otherwise, and note the date you changed it.
- Event data retention: two or fourteen months on standard properties
- Reset user data on new activity: whether the retention clock restarts when a user returns
For longer history
If you need event-level data beyond the retention window, export it to BigQuery. The export keeps raw events for as long as you store them, under your own cloud account and retention rules.
Example
A year-over-year funnel that could not be built
Imagine Tidehollow, a field service SaaS, wants to compare its trial funnel with the same quarter last year. The property still has two-month retention, so the exploration only reaches back eight weeks. The team sets retention to fourteen months and turns on the BigQuery export so the next comparison is possible.
Common mistakes
Leaving the default
Two months is too short for most analysis. Change it when the property is created.
Assuming standard reports are affected
Aggregated reports keep historical data. Only event-level analysis is limited.
Questions
Shorter retention reduces how long event-level data is kept, which some privacy programs prefer. Decide with whoever owns privacy at your company, and document the choice.
