Replace Google Analytics without losing your data

Take the history.
Then take the tag.

To replace Google Analytics without losing data, export the history you want first, run the new tool alongside GA4 for two weeks, then remove every Google tag from your site: the gtag.js snippet, any Tag Manager container, and whatever your site builder added. Removing the tag only stops new data. Your history stays in the GA4 property until you delete it, and a deleted property waits 35 days in the trash before it is gone for good. Below, in order: what to keep, how to export it, a finder that lists every Google tag in your page’s source and what removing each one breaks, and the exact menus on WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace, Wix and Webflow.

Find my Google tags Export first
7 steps · 5 site builders Menus checked 13 Oct 2026

By the Builderify team

01 Keep the history 02 Remove every tag 03 One script left

Illustration · Not a real site or property

01 / Decide

What do you actually use
in Google Analytics?

Most sites use a handful of GA4’s reports and none of the rest. Go down this list before you touch anything. One row decides whether some Google tag has to stay.

What you use in Google Analytics, what to do before switching, and whether a Google tag has to stay
If you use A Google tag stays?
Visitors, sources and top pages Any simple tool answers these. Note last month’s totals so you have something to compare against. No
Key events (conversions) Write down each key event and the page, click or form behind it, then set each one up as a goal in the new tool before GA4 goes. No
Google Ads conversions or audiences If Google Ads imports your GA4 key events, they stop with GA4: Google says unlinked Ads accounts stop importing key events. Keep a Google tag for Ads, or move to Google Ads’ own conversion tag first. Yes, for Ads
Dashboards and client reports built on GA4 Anything that reads from the property, such as a Looker Studio report, stops getting new data the day the tag goes. Export it, or rebuild it elsewhere. No
Checkout or booking on another domain GA4 joins the two with cross-domain settings; the new tool needs its own. The cross-domain tracking guide covers it without GA4. No
This year against last year The new tool starts from zero. Export monthly totals now, by source and by page, and keep them next to it. No

Keeping Google Ads? Then the job is smaller: remove GA4 and keep one Google tag for Ads, with Consent Mode for visitors who are asked first. The Consent Mode v2 guide covers that without a paid banner tool. Still choosing what to move to? The Google Analytics alternatives guide compares the options and prices each one at your traffic.

02 / Export

How do I export
my Google Analytics data?

Four ways, from a button to a database. For most small sites the first is enough: download each report you rely on, by month, for as far back as you have, and keep the files somewhere that isn’t Google Analytics.

Easiest

Report downloads

Open any report under Reports, click Share this report at the top right, then Download File: PDF, CSV or Google Sheets.

Up to 100,000 rows per CSV or Sheets file. Viewer role. Not while you are customising the report.

For detail

Exploration exports

In an exploration, click Export data at the top right: Google Sheets, TSV, CSV or PDF. Sheets, TSV and CSV take all the data in the visualisation; PDF only what is on screen.

Only as far back as your retention setting: 2 or 14 months on a standard property.

For a developer

Google Analytics Data API

A script calls runReport for the dimensions and metrics you want, month by month, and saves the answers.

Standard properties get 200,000 core tokens per property per day; Google says most simple requests cost about 10.

For raw events

BigQuery export

In Admin, under Product links, click BigQuery links and choose a daily or streaming export. Every event, as rows you can query.

Up to 1 million events a day on a standard daily export. Data starts within 24 hours of linking. Streaming costs $0.05 a gigabyte.

How far back can you still export?

A standard property, two years in
Standard reports
Not affected by the retention setting
Explorations, 14 months
If you set event data retention to 14 months
Explorations, 2 months
The default for a new property
BigQuery
Only from the day you link it

GA4 lets you keep event data for 2 or 14 months; that limit applies to explorations and funnel reports, not to standard reports. Check yours under Admin › Data settings › Data retention, in Google’s words, before you plan an exploration export. And Google’s BigQuery setup page says data starts flowing within 24 hours of linking; it promises nothing earlier, so treat BigQuery as a record from today, not a backup of the past.

Illustration · From Google’s retention and BigQuery help pages

Take a few screenshots too: your key events, your data streams and your linked products, under Admin. They are the map of what you are switching off. Universal Analytics history can’t be exported any more: Google switched off the last properties in July 2024 and deleted the data. It is on the shutdown tracker.

03 / Run both

Two weeks side by side,
then switch.

Install the new tool and leave GA4 running. Two weeks gives you two of every weekday, enough to see whether the two lines rise and fall together. They won’t match exactly, and they don’t need to. You are checking the trend, not the total.

  • They count different things

    GA4 counts users and sessions; simpler tools count visitors and visits, each by its own rules.

  • Banners and blockers

    If your cookie banner holds back one tool and not the other, or blockers stop one more often, they see different people.

  • Bots and privacy signals

    Each tool filters automated traffic its own way. Builderify flags VPN, proxy and data-centre visits, and skips browsers that send Do Not Track.

  1. Day 1

    Install

    Add the new script next to GA4. Leave GA4 alone.

  2. Day 2

    Check it hears you

    Open your site in a private window and find your own visit.

  3. Day 7

    Compare a week

    Visitors, top pages, top sources: do they rise and fall together?

  4. Day 14

    Switch

    Goals working, numbers moving together. Remove the Google tags.

Illustration · Different totals, same shape: that is a pass

04 / Tag finder

Find every Google tag
on the page.

Sites that have had GA for years usually have it more than once: a plugin, a pasted snippet, a Tag Manager container someone set up for an agency. Open a page, choose View page source (Ctrl+U, or ⌥⌘U on a Mac in Chrome), copy all of it and paste it in.

What the source can’t show

  • Tags inside a Tag Manager container: the finder sees the container, and you open it to see what it loads
  • Shopify custom pixels and the Google & YouTube channel, which run apart from your theme
  • Tags a site builder adds after the page loads
  • Other templates: check the home page, a product or post, and the thank-you page

So check the live page too: Tag Assistant lists the tags that actually fire, and Chrome’s Network panel shows any request to google-analytics.com/g/collect.

Google tag finder Runs in your browser
Nothing you paste leaves this page
15 pieces of Google tagging found From GA4, Universal Analytics, Tag Manager, Google Ads and Site Kit.
  • GTM-5QX7R2LTag Manager
  • G-8XK2M4QZ1TGA4
  • AW-938271645Google Ads
  • UA-48213977-1Universal Analytics
Where each one sits57 lines
  1. Nothing to list.
  1. L8 head gtag() helper function gtag helper
    function gtag(

    Delete it last, after every gtag() call that needs it.

  2. L9 head Consent Mode call default
    gtag('consent', 'default'

    Keep it while any Google tag stays.

  3. L16 head Tag Manager container, head part GTM-5QX7R2L
    'script','dataLayer','GTM-5QX7R2L

    Delete the whole script, from <!-- Google Tag Manager --> to its end comment.

  4. L20 head Google tag loader (gtag.js) G-8XK2M4QZ1T
    <script src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-8XK2M4QZ1T

    Delete this script tag and the inline gtag() block that follows it.

  5. L22 head gtag() helper function gtag helper
    function gtag(

    Delete it last, after every gtag() call that needs it.

  6. L24 head gtag() config line G-8XK2M4QZ1T
    gtag("config", "G-8XK2M4QZ1T"

    Delete the line, and the whole block once no config is left in it.

  7. L25 head gtag() config line AW-938271645
    gtag("config", "AW-938271645"

    Delete the line, and the whole block once no config is left in it.

  8. L27 head Site Kit by Google Site Kit
    <meta name="generator" content="Site Kit by Google

    Switch the tag off in Site Kit; it isn’t in your theme files.

  9. L32 head Universal Analytics loader Universal Analytics
    google-analytics.com/analytics.js

    Delete the whole snippet it sits in.

  10. L33 head Universal Analytics property UA-48213977-1
    ga('create', 'UA-48213977-1'

    Goes with the snippet above.

  11. L34 head ga() send call pageview
    ga('send', 'pageview'

    Delete it with the Universal Analytics snippet.

  12. L39 body Tag Manager container, noscript part GTM-5QX7R2L
    googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5QX7R2L

    Delete this <noscript> block too: it is the other half of the same install.

  13. L47 body gtag() event call generate_lead
    gtag('event', 'generate_lead'

    Delete it, or swap in your new tool’s event, in the same edit.

  14. L52 body dataLayer push contact_form_sent
    dataLayer.push({ event: 'contact_form_sent'

    Delete it in the same edit as Tag Manager.

  15. L53 body Google Ads conversion event AW-938271645
    gtag('event', 'conversion', { send_to: 'AW-938271645

    Keep it while you run Google Ads; otherwise delete it with the tag.

What removing it breaks
  • Nothing, as far as this page goes.
  • Google Ads conversion tracking stops

    Google asks for its tag on every page and the conversion snippet on the conversion page. Remove AW-938271645 and Google Ads stops hearing about conversions from this site. Still running ads? Keep that tag, with Consent Mode, and remove only the analytics parts.

  • Tag Manager may run more than analytics

    GTM-5QX7R2L can load any tag at all: Google Ads, Meta, a chat widget. Open the container and list its tags first. Delete both parts of the snippet only once nothing in it is still needed.

  • WordPress adds this tag through Site Kit

    You won’t find it in your theme files. Switch off “Place Google Analytics code” in Site Kit, or reset Site Kit, which deletes every snippet it placed.

  • Leftover event calls will throw errors

    Found 2. Once the gtag() or ga() helper is gone, each of these stops with “not defined”, and the code after it in the same handler never runs. Delete them in the same edit, or swap in your new tool’s event.

  • dataLayer pushes need the dataLayer

    Found 1. Once nothing on the page creates window.dataLayer, each push stops with “dataLayer is not defined”, and the code after it never runs. Delete them with Tag Manager.

  • Consent Mode goes with the last Google tag

    Found 1. These tell Google tags what each visitor allowed. Keep them while any Google tag stays; once the last one is gone, they have nothing to talk to.

  • Universal Analytics is already switched off

    UA-48213977-1 belongs to Universal Analytics, which stopped processing data on 1 July 2023 (360 properties a year later). Removing it breaks nothing.

  • GA4 stops collecting from this page

    G-8XK2M4QZ1T gets nothing new once the tag is gone. What it already holds stays in the property, so export it first.

Looks like WordPress

Also check Site Kit, any header-and-footer plugin, and your theme. The steps

05 / Remove it

How to remove Google Analytics
from your website.

Every site builder hides the tag in a different drawer, and most have more than one. Work through every place on your tab, then run the finder again on the live page.

Remove Google Analytics on WordPress

  1. 01

    Site Kit by Google

    Go to Site Kit › Settings › Connected Services › Analytics › Edit and switch off Place Google Analytics code. To take out everything Site Kit added, use Site Kit › Settings › Admin Settings › Reset Site Kit: it deletes every snippet Site Kit placed. Then check Tools › Site Health › Info › Site Kit by Google.

  2. 02

    A header-and-footer plugin

    In WPCode, open Code Snippets › Header & Footer, clear the Google lines from the Header, Body and Footer boxes, and click Save Changes. Analytics plugins such as MonsterInsights come off under Plugins › Deactivate, then Delete.

  3. 03

    Your theme

    Pasted straight into header.php or functions.php? Use the Theme File Editor, under Appearance for classic themes or Tools for block themes. A theme update overwrites edits made there, so a child theme is safer.

Clear your caching plugin’s cache afterwards, or visitors keep getting the old page.

Remove Google Analytics on Shopify

  1. 01

    Google & YouTube channel

    In Sales channels › Google & YouTube, find the Google Analytics property and click Disconnect. Google notes this stops all Analytics data from the app, purchase events included. Tags added by hand are in the app’s Settings, under Google tags › Manage.

  2. 02

    Customer events

    Go to Settings › Customer events › Custom pixels. Disconnect stops a pixel without deleting it; the menu on its row has Delete, which can’t be undone. Tag Manager on Shopify lives here, and so do Google tags from the old Preferences page, which Shopify turned into custom pixels in February 2025.

  3. 03

    Theme code

    Go to Online Store, click the … menu, then Edit code, and open layout/theme.liquid. Shopify names it as a place old tag code needs removing by hand, with checkout.liquid and Additional scripts on older Plus checkouts.

Uninstall the whole channel (Settings › Sales channels) only if you use it for nothing else.

Remove Google Analytics on Squarespace

  1. 01

    Built-in Google Analytics

    Go to Settings › Developer tools › External API keys, delete the measurement ID from the Google Analytics field, and click Save.

  2. 02

    Code injection

    Open Website tools › Code injection and remove the Google code from the Header and Footer boxes, then Save. Single pages have their own: in the Pages panel, click the page’s gear, then Advanced.

  3. 03

    Both at once?

    Squarespace’s own advice is not to add Analytics code by hand when you use the built-in connection. Sites that did anyway count every visit twice; check both places.

Code injection needs a Core, Plus or Advanced plan, or some legacy plans.

Remove Google Analytics on Wix

  1. 01

    Marketing Integrations

    In your dashboard, open Marketing Integrations and click View under Google Tag, which replaced Wix’s separate Google Analytics and Google Ads tools. Remove the tag ID there.

  2. 02

    Custom Code

    Go to Settings and click Custom Code in the Development & integrations section. Find the snippet holding a G-, GT-, AW- or GTM- ID and remove it.

  3. 03

    Tag Manager

    Wix’s own troubleshooting page warns against adding Google Analytics both in Tag Manager and in Marketing Integrations. If you have a container, check it too.

When we checked, Wix’s help didn’t spell out the delete button for either screen. If you can’t find it, Wix support can.

Remove Google Analytics on Webflow

  1. 01

    The Google Analytics field

    Go to Site settings › Apps & Integrations › Google Analytics, delete the Measurement ID, click Save, then publish. The field takes G-, GT-, AW- and GTM- IDs, so check which one is there before you clear it.

  2. 02

    Google site tools app

    If you connected through the app, disconnect each Google service in its settings, or uninstall it under Site settings › Apps & Integrations › Connected Apps › View details › Uninstall App.

  3. 03

    Custom code

    Site-wide code is in Site settings › Custom code, in Head code and Footer code. Each page has its own, in Page settings › Custom code.

Nothing changes on the live site until you publish.

Remove Google Analytics on Hand-coded and Tag Manager

  1. 01

    The gtag.js snippet

    Google tells you to put it immediately after the opening <head> tag of every page you measure, so check every template, not just the home page.

  2. 02

    A Tag Manager container

    It has two parts: a script high in <head> and a <noscript> block right after <body>. Or keep the container and delete only its GA4 tags, then Submit and publish a new version.

  3. 03

    The container itself

    Once it is off every page, delete it in Tag Manager under Admin › Container Settings, the ⋮ menu, Delete. It stays in the trash for 30 days.

Static site generators and frameworks often keep the snippet in one layout file. Search the codebase for googletagmanager.

Check 1

Run the finder again

Paste the live page’s source into the tag finder. Check a few templates, not one page.

Check 2

Ask Tag Assistant

At tagassistant.google.com, click Add domain, enter your address and Connect. It lists the Google tags that fire.

Check 3

Watch the network

In Chrome’s developer tools, the Network panel should show no request to google-analytics.com/g/collect as you move around the site.

06 / Clean up

The tag is gone.
Now tell people.

Your privacy policy and cookie list describe what your site does. The day the tags change, they should change too. This is what changes, not legal advice for your site.

  1. 01

    Your privacy policy

    Take out the Google Analytics paragraph once no Google tag is left, and describe the new tool: what it stores, for how long, and where. For Builderify, that is a visitor cookie, a visit cookie, IP address and approximate location, kept for 7, 14 or 30 days.

  2. 02

    Your cookie list and banner

    Remove _ga and _ga_<container-id> and add whatever the new tool sets. A tool that uses cookies or device storage can still need consent where the law asks for it; GA4 leaving doesn’t make the banner go.

  3. 03

    Cookies already in browsers

    Visitors keep their _ga cookies until they expire, up to two years from their last visit. Once the tag is gone, nothing on your site reads or renews them.

  4. 04

    Links to other Google products

    In GA4, under Admin › Product links, remove the Google Ads link and the BigQuery link once your exports are done. If you delete a link, Google says data stops flowing between the two.

07 / Delete it?

Should you delete
the GA4 property?

Not yet, and maybe never. A standard property costs nothing, and with the tags gone it simply stops receiving data. Its standard reports stay readable, so it can be your archive while you get used to the new tool.

Delete it when you have your exports and are sure. You need the Editor role. In Admin, under Property, click Property details, then Move to Trash Can.

  1. Tags removed

    Nothing new arrives. Reports stay readable.

  2. Move to Trash Can

    Admin › Property details. Data isn’t processed.

  3. 35 days

    Restore from Admin › Trash, links included.

  4. Deleted for good

    No way back. Export first.

In the trash

Google keeps a trashed property for 35 days. It processes no data in that time, and a restore brings back its settings and links to other Google products. After 35 days it is deleted for good.

Or delete only the stream

A web data stream can be deleted on its own, under Admin › Data collection and modification › Data streams, in the stream’s ⋮ menu. That can’t be undone, and anything built on the stream, such as BigQuery export, stops.

08 / With Builderify

One script tag
where GA4 used to be.

User Journey is Builderify’s visitor analytics. It runs on the one Builderify script tag, gives every visitor a readable name and a page-by-page timeline, and counts goals: the thank-you page, the click on your main button, the form sent. It costs 0.1 credits per new visitor and 10 per 1,000 page loads, from 250 free credits a month, with one-time packs from $9 when you need more.

Keeping a Google tag for Ads? Let Cookie Consent load it. Its tag goes first in <head>, sets Consent Mode v2 defaults before any Google tag runs, and can load Google Ads or GA4 from the ID alone, only for visitors who allowed it. Tag Manager it loads for everyone, passing each visitor’s choice on as Consent Mode signals.

GA4 report names and their User Journey equivalents
In GA4 In User Journey
Users Visitors
Session source / medium Source, from the referrer
Pages and screens Pages, entry and exit pages
Key events Goals
Funnel exploration Goal funnel steps
User explorer Visitor profiles, by name
Realtime Online now (last 5 minutes)

What User Journey does

  • One script tag, the same one every Builderify module uses
  • Goals from a page visit, a click, a form, a scroll, time on a page, pages per visit or your own event, with funnel steps and a value
  • Visitors, sources, countries, devices, entry and exit pages, and who is online now
  • Real people, VPN or proxy visits and data-centre traffic counted apart
  • Do Not Track respected by default, and a switch to wait for consent

Know this first

  • It sets first-party cookies: _bdf_jid for 400 days and _bdf_jvs_ for a 30-minute visit. It is not cookieless
  • “Wait for cookie consent” is off until you switch it on
  • Sources come from the referrer only: there is no UTM or campaign tagging
  • Journeys are kept 7, 14 or 30 days, so your GA4 export stays your long-term history
  • No Google Ads link, heatmaps or session recordings

Rather not use Builderify?

If you need analytics that sets no cookies, or years of history, a tool built for that fits better. Read how Plausible compares and where Simple Analytics fits. The steps on this page work the same whichever you pick.

Start free See the rates
Questions

Replacing Google Analytics, before you ask.

No. Removing the tag only stops new data arriving; everything already collected stays in your GA4 property until you delete the property. Explorations reach back only as far as your retention setting, 2 or 14 months on a standard property, while standard reports are not affected.

Open each report you rely on, click Share this report, then Download File, and save it as CSV, PDF or Google Sheets, up to 100,000 rows per file. For more detail, export explorations, use the Google Analytics Data API, or link BigQuery, which starts from the day you link it.

Find every Google tag first: the gtag.js snippet, any Google Tag Manager container with its head and noscript parts, and anything a plugin or site builder added, such as Site Kit on WordPress or the Google & YouTube channel on Shopify. Remove each one, publish, then check the live page with Tag Assistant or your browser's Network panel.

It can. If Google Ads imports your GA4 key events, or the same Google tag carries your AW- conversion ID, removing it stops conversions reaching Google Ads. Keep one Google tag for Ads, with Consent Mode, and remove only the analytics parts.

It depends on what replaces it. A tool that stores cookies or other data on the visitor's device can still need consent where the law asks for it; Builderify User Journey, for example, sets first-party cookies and can wait for consent in Builderify's Cookie Consent banner. Remove _ga and _ga_<container-id> from your cookie list and add the new tool's instead.

Sources

Google’s and each platform’s own help pages, read on 13 October 2026.

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