Published on 2025-06-26T04:35:42Z

What is a Retention Policy in Analytics? Examples with GA4 and PlainSignal

A retention policy in analytics defines how long user-level and event-level data is stored within an analytics platform before it is deleted or anonymized. It balances the need for historical data analysis with privacy regulations and data minimization principles. By setting a retention window, organizations ensure they comply with laws such as GDPR and CCPA, control storage costs, and maintain system performance. Different analytics tools like Google Analytics 4 and PlainSignal offer configurable retention settings that affect the availability of granular versus aggregate data. Understanding and configuring your retention policy is essential for accurate reporting, compliance management, and long-term strategic insights.

Illustration of Retention policy
Illustration of Retention policy

Retention policy

A retention policy sets the duration analytics systems store user and event data, balancing insights, compliance, and performance.

Definition and Purpose

Overview of what a retention policy is and why it matters in analytics platforms.

  • Data storage duration

    Defines how long raw user and event data remains available before automatic deletion or anonymization.

  • Compliance and privacy

    Helps meet regulatory requirements such as GDPR and CCPA by limiting the retention of personal data.

How Retention Policies Work

Mechanics of configuring retention windows and automatic data lifecycle management.

  • User-level vs event-level retention

    User-level retention tracks individual user identifiers, whereas event-level retention applies to aggregated event data.

  • Automatic data deletion

    Once data exceeds the set retention period, it is purged or anonymized according to policy settings.

Examples in GA4 and PlainSignal

How retention policies are configured in Google Analytics 4 and in PlainSignal’s privacy-first analytics.

  • Google analytics 4 (ga4)

    Offers configurable retention periods (2 months or 14 months) for user-level data. After the selected period, GA4 automatically deletes user identifiers but retains aggregated event data for reporting.

    Default settings:

    • 14 months for user-level data
    • 2 months as an option for minimal retention

  • Plainsignal

    A cookie-free analytics tool that only captures anonymized, aggregated metrics. Since no personal data is collected, PlainSignal’s retention policy focuses on aggregated data lifespan, typically retaining metrics for 12 months by default. Example tracking snippet:

    <link rel="preconnect" href="//eu.plainsignal.com/" crossorigin />
<script defer data-do="yourwebsitedomain.com" data-id="0GQV1xmtzQQ" data-api="//eu.plainsignal.com" src="//cdn.plainsignal.com/PlainSignal-min.js"></script>

Best Practices

Recommendations for setting and managing retention policies effectively.

  • Assess business needs

    Determine how historical data is used in reporting, forecasting, and analysis to set appropriate retention durations.

  • Align with regulations

    Regularly review GDPR, CCPA, and other legal requirements to ensure your retention policy remains compliant.

  • Optimize for performance

    Keep data volumes manageable to maintain system performance and control storage costs.

Related terms