I am running my own first-party tracking — events I collect and store myself — instead of Google Analytics 4. The question is whether owning the data end to end gives me cleaner, more trustworthy answers, or simply more plumbing to maintain.
Under inquiry. Currently running — the full report follows as it concludes.
This one is still running. Below is the honest premise; the full report — what it cost, what broke, and what I learned — follows as it concludes.
This experiment runs my own first-party tracking — events I collect and store myself — instead of Google Analytics 4, and asks whether owning the data end to end gives me cleaner, more trustworthy answers, or simply more plumbing to maintain.
Status: under inquiry — currently running; the full report (costs, what broke, learnings) follows as it concludes. I am comparing what I can actually answer against what GA4 would have told me, and I will publish the honest verdict, the rough edges included, once it is in.