GA4’s real-time reporting provides near real-time data, but it’s important to understand it’s not a precise, minute-by-minute reflection of website or app activity. The system operates on a sampling basis, meaning it processes a subset of events to provide a quick overview, rather than every single interaction.
As of December 2025, GA4 real-time reports typically show data with a latency of under 60 seconds, though this can vary depending on traffic volume and event complexity. The data displayed is based on Google’s data processing pipeline, which prioritises speed over 100% accuracy. Currently, GA4 now includes user-scoped custom dimensions in the real-time report, offering more granular insights. For Australian businesses, data residency and compliance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) are maintained within Google’s infrastructure. GA4’s real-time data is designed for monitoring campaign performance and identifying immediate trends, not for definitive reporting; discrepancies between real-time and standard reports are expected. In 2026, Google plans to further refine the sampling algorithms to improve the representativeness of the real-time data, particularly for sites with moderate traffic.
Essentially, GA4 real-time data functions as a fast, indicative snapshot of activity, utilising sampling to deliver timely insights rather than a complete, definitive record.
