You open GA4 and notice two report types, Real-Time and Events. Both display how users interact with your website, but they do it in entirely different ways. While Real-Time reporting in GA4 shows what’s happening right now, event-based reporting in GA4 reveals what has happened over time.
With the shift from Universal Analytics to GA4, Google moved from a session-based model to an event-based tracking system. Instead of grouping all user actions into a single visit, GA4 tracks each interaction individually. Every click, page view, or form submission is recorded as a separate event, giving a more flexible way to track user behavior in GA4.
But that brings up an important question: When should you rely on Real-Time reports, and when should you trust Event reports?
In this guide, we’ll explore how each report works, what kind of data they show, and how you can use both with Analytify for WordPress to simplify GA4 reporting.
Let’s get started!
Continue reading “Real-Time vs Event-Based Reporting in GA4: Which One to Use When”