How to Create a Custom Report in Google Analytics 4 (Step by Step)
Build a custom report in GA4 using Explorations — pick your dimensions and metrics, choose a visualization, and save it. A clear, step-by-step walkthrough with an interactive demo you can click through.
To create a custom report in Google Analytics 4, open the Explore section from the left-hand menu, start a Free-form exploration, then drag the dimensions you want into Rows and the metrics into Values. Pick a visualization, adjust the date range, and the report builds live — then save it and it stays in your Explore list. GA4's custom reporting lives in Explore, not the standard Reports area, which trips up a lot of people coming from Universal Analytics. Here's the full walkthrough.
Step 1: Open Explore
In the left-hand navigation, click Explore. This is GA4's custom-report workspace — separate from the standard Reports section, which only allows light tweaks. Explore is where you build a report from scratch.
You'll land on a gallery of templates. You can start from one, but for a true custom report, pick Blank.
Step 2: Choose a technique
GA4 calls report types "techniques." The three you'll use most:
- Free-form — the spreadsheet-style table (and the default). Best for most custom reports: drag dimensions and metrics into a table or chart.
- Funnel exploration — visualizes the steps users take toward a goal and where they drop off.
- Path exploration — shows the paths users actually take through your site or app.
For a standard custom report, choose Free-form.
Step 3: Add dimensions and metrics
The editor has three panels: Variables (the dimensions, metrics, and segments available to you), Tab Settings (how the data is arranged), and the Output on the right.
- In Variables, click the + next to Dimensions, pick what you want (e.g. Landing page, Session source / medium), and import it.
- Do the same for Metrics (e.g. Sessions, Engaged sessions, Conversions).
- In Tab Settings, drag your dimension into Rows and your metric into Values.
The table on the right fills in immediately.
Only combine dimensions and metrics that are compatible. If a row shows "(not set)" everywhere or the numbers look wrong, GA4 is telling you the pairing isn't valid — swap one out rather than trusting the output.
Step 4: Shape the report
Now refine it:
- Date range — set it in Tab Settings; widen it if rows look empty.
- Visualization — switch between table, bar chart, line chart, or pie depending on what you're showing.
- Filters — add a filter in Tab Settings to narrow to a country, device, or channel.
- Segments — build a segment in Variables to compare groups (e.g. new vs returning users) side by side.
Step 5: Save and share
Explorations save automatically and stay in your Explore list. To let teammates see it, use Share in the top-right — they'll need access to the same GA4 property. You can also export the data to Google Sheets, PDF, or CSV from the export icon.
A faster way to teach this to your team
The hard part of GA4 isn't the concepts — it's that the buttons live in non-obvious places. If you're documenting this for a team, a static screenshot deck goes stale every time Google moves the UI. An interactive demo lets people click through the exact path themselves, and you update one step instead of re-shooting the whole thing. That's the same idea behind a good step-by-step guide — show the path, don't just describe it.
Common mistakes
- Looking in the wrong place. Custom reports are in Explore, not Reports. This is the #1 point of confusion for people coming from Universal Analytics.
- Incompatible dimension/metric pairs. GA4 will grey these out or return "(not set)" — start simple and add one field at a time.
- Too-narrow date range. A new exploration defaults to a short window; widen it if the table looks empty.
Once you've built one, the rest are fast — the Explore workflow is the same whether you're building a funnel or a simple traffic table.
Frequently asked questions
Where do you build custom reports in GA4?
In the Explore section (the left-hand menu), not the standard Reports area. Explorations are GA4's custom-report workspace: you pick a technique (Free-form, Funnel, or Path), drag in the dimensions and metrics you want, and the report builds live. The standard Reports section can be lightly customized, but Explore is where real custom reporting happens.
What's the difference between a report and an exploration in GA4?
Standard Reports are GA4's pre-built, fixed summaries (Acquisition, Engagement, etc.) that everyone sees. Explorations are your own ad-hoc reports built from scratch in the Explore section — you choose the rows, columns, metrics, segments, and chart type. If you need a view GA4 doesn't ship by default, you build an exploration.
Can you create a custom report in GA4 for free?
Yes. Explorations are part of the free, standard version of Google Analytics 4 — no GA360 license required. The only limits on the free tier are data-sampling thresholds on very large properties and a cap on the number of saved explorations per user, which most sites never hit.
Why is my GA4 custom report showing no data?
Usually one of three things: the date range predates when the property started collecting data, the dimension and metric you combined aren't compatible (GA4 greys these out or shows '(not set)'), or a segment/filter is excluding everything. Start with one dimension and one metric over a wide date range, confirm data appears, then add complexity back one piece at a time.