If you’re already deep into a GA4-to-BigQuery migration and past the basics, this is for you.
Once your data is flowing into BigQuery, the next real decision is which BI tool sits on top of it. We generally see clients land on one of three paths:
- Looker Studio — free, easy to share, and still the gold standard for public-facing reports once it’s connected to BigQuery instead of the GA4 API directly.
- Power BI — the natural fit if you’re already running a Microsoft stack, which is common for government agencies and universities.
- Looker (the full platform) — for organizations that need strict governance and “one version of the truth” across many departments.
One thing that doesn’t get talked about enough: once you move raw event data into BigQuery, you become responsible for it. That means auditing exported parameters for PII, setting retention policies (we typically recommend auto-deleting tables older than 14–26 months to stay aligned with FERPA/GDPR), and using BigQuery’s IAM roles so only the right people can see raw event-level data.
For the full walkthrough on solving the token-limit problem itself — what causes it and the phased migration roadmap — see our Ultimate Guide to GA4 and BigQuery for Gov & Higher Ed.
