GA4 Subproperties and Roll-up Properties

This guide uses Analytics Help: About subproperties, Create and edit subproperties, Syncing subproperties, About roll-up properties, Create and edit roll-up properties, Delete and restore roll-up properties and Compare filters, subproperties, and user roles. Quotes are from those pages.

Who can use them: Analytics 360 only

Both features belong to the paid tier. Every one of the Help pages above starts with the same condition: they are "available only to Google Analytics 360 accounts that are linked to a Google Marketing Platform organization with an active 360 order." Only a 360 property can be the source for a subproperty or a roll-up property. If your property is a standard (free) GA4 property, these features are not available to you, and the alternatives section below is the part that applies to you.

The two features solve opposite problems:

• A subproperty takes one property and gives a subset of its data its own property, with its own users and settings. Google's example: "one property for a brand and one subproperty for each region in which you market the brand", so one team sees only its region.
• A roll-up property takes several properties and combines them. Google's example: "if you have separate properties for multiple brands that your company owns, you can roll those up to a single property that provides an aggregate look at how those brands perform."

If you are still learning how properties, data streams and events fit together, start with Google Analytics 4 basics.

Subproperty or roll-up: side by side

	Subproperty	Roll-up property
Data comes from	One source property, through a filter	Up to 200 source properties
How many	Up to 400 per source property (they count toward 2,000 properties per account)	No more than 200 sources per roll-up
Own events or data streams	No	No
Users	Added separately; removing a user from the source also removes them from its subproperties	Added separately; nothing is inherited either way
Custom dimensions and metrics	Not inherited, but can be synced from the source	Not inherited; recreate them (syncing is not available)
Who can create one	Editor or Administrator on the account	Administrator on the account
Cost of events	Half the cost of source events; filtered-out events are not charged	Half the cost of the events in each source property

The table is a summary of the Help pages; the sections below give the detail and the exact wording where it matters.

Subproperties

Google defines a subproperty as "a property that gets its data from another property." Once it exists, you work with it much like any property: you can add and remove users, mark key events, create audiences, delete data and link Google Ads. The restrictions come from the fact that it has no data collection of its own:

• "A subproperty can't have events of its own; all its events must first exist in its source property." So you cannot add or delete data streams, import offline events, or create and modify events in the interface. Audience triggers do work.
• You can import most kinds of data into a subproperty, except offline events.
• Attribution runs separately. You can pick a different attribution model for a subproperty and its source, and Google trains the models for source, sub and roll-up properties independently.
• Deleting data in the source also deletes it from its subproperties; deleting data in a subproperty only affects that subproperty. Moving a source property to the Trash moves all its subproperties there too.
• Google signals must be activated in the subproperty itself. Without that, signals data from the source is not processed in the subproperty.
• Only event data import is inherited. Custom dimensions and metrics, user data imports and query-time imports such as cost data are not, though you can recreate them (or sync, see below).

To create one: in Admin, under Property, open Subproperty management > Create a subproperty, choose the 360 source property, name it, set the time zone and currency, confirm "I'm aware of the additional cost in creating this property", then define the filter and finish the business details. You need Editor access or above on the account. The source must be an ordinary property; you cannot create a subproperty from another subproperty or from a roll-up.

Subproperty filters

The filter decides which source events reach the subproperty. It uses include and exclude conditions, with AND and OR logic. Google's example combines "City exactly matches Hong Kong" AND "Signed in with user ID exactly matches 'yes'". The dimensions you can filter on are:

• Location and language: Continent, Subcontinent, Country, Region, City, Language, Language Code
• Platform and stream: Platform, GMP App ID, Measurement ID, OS Version, Browser Version
• Content: Page Path, Full Page URL, Page Title, Screen Name
• Events: Event name, event parameters, Signed-in with User-ID, plus event-scoped custom dimensions you created

Points to know before you rely on the numbers:

• Not retroactive. "Changes made to a subproperty filter are not retroactive." Data only flows from the moment the filter applies.
• Data delay. A new filter or an edit can take time to apply: "For realtime data, the waiting period can be 5 minutes to 4 hours. For daily data, the waiting period can be 4-36 hours."
• New users. If any event for a user passes the filter, GA4 also includes that user's first_visit or first_open event. If those are the only events for a user that pass, GA4 drops them.
• Custom parameters and attribution. Google notes that automatically collected events drive attribution dimensions but carry no custom parameters, so a filter built on custom parameter conditions "can impact on the attribution dimension values" in the subproperty's reports.
• There is no strict limit on the number of filter conditions, but Google recommends using only the ones you need.

Editing the filter is done in Admin > Property access management, Edit filter in the subproperty's row. Google says you need Administrator access at the property level for that step.

Syncing custom dimensions and metrics

Instead of recreating custom definitions in each subproperty, you can sync it to its source. After syncing, the subproperty "can only use the dimensions and metrics already defined in the source, and can't edit, remove, or create new ones", and changes in the source flow through automatically.

• Turn it on while creating the subproperty (the "Sync all custom dimensions and custom metrics to the subproperty" toggle), or later from Subproperty management in the source property.
• An existing subproperty can only be synced if it has no custom dimensions or metrics of its own; delete those first.
• "Initial syncing can take up to 48 hours." The Sync status column shows Synced, Syncing… or Not synced.
• If you unsync, the subproperty keeps a copy of the definitions and can edit it, but stops receiving changes from the source.
• Syncing is not available for roll-up properties.

Roll-up properties

A roll-up reports the data of all its sources "as a single data set". Google's examples: Realtime shows the total users from all sources in the last 30 minutes, and the Monetization overview shows total revenue from all of them. The rules:

• Up to 200 source properties. A roll-up cannot be a source for another roll-up, and you cannot create a subproperty from a roll-up.
• Either a subproperty or its source property can be a source for the roll-up, but not both.
• It collects no data itself: no data streams, no offline event import, no event editing. Audience triggers work.
• History starts when you add a source: roll-ups "start accumulating data from their source properties starting on the date each source property is added to the roll-up property." When you remove a source, its historical data stays in the roll-up.
• Admin settings are independent in both directions, and once data reaches the roll-up it follows the roll-up's own settings (reporting identity, attribution and so on).
• Custom dimensions and metrics, and report collections, are not imported from sources. You can create your own, plus audiences and key events. Marking a key event in the roll-up does not mark it in the sources.
• Users are deduplicated across sources when they share a reporting identity, for example the same user ID or the same signed-in Google account.

One deduplication catch is worth knowing before you combine several websites. Cross-domain measurement works within a single data stream, so "a single user whose data is collected in multiple data streams is counted as a separate user in each data stream." A roll-up does not fix that on its own.

To create one you need Administrator access on the account: Admin > Create > Property, then Create in the Roll-up property row, name it, set time zone and currency, accept the cost notice, choose the source properties and finish. A roll-up in the Trash stays there for 35 days and can be restored in that time; while it sits there no new data flows in.

Google Ads and other product links

Subproperties and roll-ups can link to Google Ads, BigQuery, Campaign Manager 360, Display & Video 360 and Search Ads 360. A few rules apply to both:

• A source property plus its subproperties, or a roll-up plus its sources, can have at most 400 unique links to Google Ads accounts. Above that, Analytics deactivates the most recently added links, listed on the Inactive tab.
• Each property exports only its own data. For a roll-up to send audiences to Google Ads, the roll-up needs its own link to that Ads account.
• Some links belong on the source. Firebase can only link to an ordinary property, and for Search Console Google recommends linking the data stream in the source property rather than the inherited one. See linking Search Console to GA4.

Cost, moving and downgrading

• Cost. Both have an additional data cost under your 360 contract. For subproperties, "each two events in a subproperty cost the same as one event in the source property", and events you filter out are not charged. Roll-up events cost half the cost of the events in each source. Google refers questions about the contract to your Google partner or account manager; we do not quote prices.
• Moving. A subproperty cannot move to another account. To move a source property, first delete its subproperties (Trash, then 35 days until permanent deletion). To move a roll-up, remove all its sources first; to move a source, remove it from the roll-up first.
• Downgrading. Subproperties and roll-ups exist only as 360 entities and cannot be downgraded. To downgrade a source property to standard, delete its subproperties or disconnect it from the roll-up first. To stop paying for a roll-up without deleting it, disconnect all its sources.
• Change history. Changes to a subproperty, and source changes that affect it, appear in the subproperty's change history. Roll-up changes appear in the roll-up's history.

When you do not need either

Google's own comparison page is clear that subproperties are for governance: use them "when certain groups of users should not have any access to a subset of the data in a property. In instances where governance is not needed, features such as reports, explorations, and others ... should be used instead." Its sample use cases:

• To see data by region or device: report filters and report customization (available on every property, and retroactive).
• To restrict access for security reasons: subproperties.
• To hide cost and revenue data: more restrictive user roles.
• To keep internal traffic out: data filters, as covered in our GA4 internal traffic filter guide. Their effect is permanent.

Our suggestion for a small business with one or a few sites on a standard property: one property, a data stream per site, report filters or explorations for per-site views, and user roles for access. Consider 360 with subproperties or roll-ups when you truly need separate access per brand or region, or a combined view of many properties, and your contract makes sense for it.

Frequently asked questions

Can I create a subproperty in standard GA4?

No. Google says subproperties and roll-up properties are available only to Analytics 360 accounts linked to a Google Marketing Platform organization with an active 360 order.

How many subproperties can one property have?

Up to 400 per source property. They count toward the limit of 2,000 properties per account.

Does a subproperty show data from before it was created?

No. Google states that subproperty filter changes are not retroactive, and a new filter can take 4-36 hours to apply to daily data.

How many properties can a roll-up combine?

Up to 200 source properties. It cannot include a subproperty and its own source at the same time, and it cannot use another roll-up as a source.

Does a roll-up property count the same user twice?

Not when the user has the same reporting identity in the sources, such as the same user ID or signed-in Google account; then they are deduplicated. A user measured in separate data streams without a shared identity is counted in each stream.

Do custom dimensions carry over to a subproperty or roll-up?

Not automatically. A subproperty can be synced to its source to use the same custom dimensions and metrics. A roll-up cannot be synced; you recreate them there.

Whether one property is enough or a 360 structure is worth it depends on how many sites, brands and teams you run. Setting up analytics that matches that is part of our website development work. See all our services, or email [email protected].