How to know if Google Analytics Property is going to exceed 10M Hit Limit? Other than checking on Google Analytics? Any API's given by Google?

Question

I am using free version of GoogleTagManager and GoogleAnalytics for getting analytics my website. The free version of Google Analytics allows for up to 10 million hits per month, per property as per TOS.

We can check under settings section in GoogleAnalytics account as to what is the hit count in last day, last 7 days, and last month.

But, since that requires manual intervention that someone has to login to check; Is there a way to get to know what my current limit is for the month? So that if I am closer to breaching the limit we can disable GTM tracing.

Is it different for GTM?

Answer 1

It is fine to use Google Analytics even if your site gets more than 10 million hits per month. From Google Analytics Collection Limits and Quotas | Google Developers

If you go over this limit, the Google Analytics team might contact you and ask you upgrade to Analytics 360 or implement client sampling to reduce the amount of data being sent to Google Analytics.

One of my sites gets more than 10 million hits per month and uses Google Analytics. Google has never asked me to upgrade, but they do sample data in my reports.

Google has more information about what sampling actually means. It doesn't usually affect the default reports very much. The only time I notice it is if I apply advanced segments to look at a very small slice of traffic. Then I will notice erratic data.

There is no need to monitor the number of hits closely. Google will let you know if the number of hits is problematic for them. In any case, they won't automatically start charging you for the upgrade.

Answer 2

If you want to automate a way to determine the number of hits each month you can query the API.

Perhaps the simplest way is by using Google Sheets.

Create a blank document. Install the Google Analytics Add-on.

Rename Sheet1 to Report Configuration. Make it look like this:

   A                      B
1  Configuration Options  Your Google Analytics Reports
2  Report Name            hits
3  View ID                [paste your view ID here]
4  Start Date             1/1/2020
5  End Date               TODAY()-1
6  Metrics                ga:hits
7  Dimensions             ga:yearMonth
8  Order  
9  Filters  
10 Segments   
11 Limit                  1000
12 Spreadsheet URL  
13 Skip Report  
14 Report Type  
15 Sampling Level         GREATER_PRECISION
16 Use Resource Quotas  
17 Exclude Empty Rows   

Click Add-ons, Google Analytics, Run reports.

Now you have year to yesterday reports on hits each month. Play with those settings to get exactly what you want. Maybe make a chart to see trends easier. Schedule the report to update itself at your convenience.

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Notes:

B5 could say yesterday, I use TODAY()-1 out of habit and because I have a template with it.

B15 is unnecessary in this particular case but useful to be aware of. Note it does not mitigates sampling but does not wholly prevent it.