Firebase Analytics 2026: free tier, limits, alternatives

Firebase Analytics, officially Google Analytics for Firebase, is Google's free analytics for mobile apps and games. It records events from your game, shows them in the Firebase console and Google Analytics, and can export raw events to BigQuery. This guide covers what it costs, what it records for games, the limits to check before you rely on it, and the alternatives for the cases it does not cover.

Facts and limits were checked against Google's Firebase and Google Analytics documentation in October 2026.

What is Firebase Analytics?

Firebase Analytics is the app version of Google Analytics 4. When you add the Firebase SDK, your app gets a Google Analytics property, and the reports in the Firebase console are the same as the app reports in that property. It includes:

Dashboards for active users, engagement, retention, revenue, and events, plus a Realtime view and DebugView for testing.
Explorations in Google Analytics: funnels, paths, cohorts, and segment comparisons.
Audiences that other Firebase products use, such as Remote Config, A/B Testing, and Cloud Messaging.
BigQuery export of every raw event.

The SDK records some events on its own, such as the first open, sessions, screen views, and in-app purchases, and data usually shows up in the console within hours.

It has SDKs for iOS, Android, Flutter, Unity, and C++, plus the web. The Unity SDK records analytics on iOS and Android only: its desktop support is a beta for use during development, and Analytics is not one of the desktop libraries. There is no Unreal, Godot, or console SDK.

How much does Firebase Analytics cost?

Firebase Analytics is free on every Firebase plan, with no limit on monthly active users. Google calls it unlimited reporting on up to 500 distinct events.

The costs show up around it:

BigQuery: the export itself is free, but storage and queries are billed by Google Cloud. The BigQuery sandbox needs no billing account, with a lifetime limit of 10 GiB of storage, 1 TiB of queries a month, and tables that are deleted after 60 days. Streaming export, which sends events within minutes instead of once a day, costs $0.05 per GB, about 600,000 events.
Remote Config: since September 1, 2026, it is free up to 100,000 fetch requests a day per project, then billed on the Blaze plan. Projects that used it before that date move to the new pricing on February 1, 2027.
Google Analytics 360: Google's paid tier raises the limits below. Its price is a quote from Google's sales team.

How Firebase Analytics events work for games

Every event has a name and up to 25 parameters. Google recommends a set of event names for games, which some reports understand:

level_start, level_end, and level_up for progression.
post_score and unlock_achievement.
earn_virtual_currency and spend_virtual_currency for your economy.
tutorial_begin and tutorial_complete for onboarding.
join_group and select_content.

Anything else, such as a match result, is a custom event with your own parameters, for example match_end with character, map, and result.

Parameters are not reportable on their own. To filter or group a report by a parameter such as character, register it as a custom dimension in Google Analytics first. It only applies to events from then on.

Limits to know before you choose Firebase Analytics

500 distinct event names per player. Events you name yourself count toward it, while automatically collected events don't. Use a few event names with parameters, such as match_end with a map parameter, instead of one event per map.
Small parameter limits. Each event can have 25 parameters, names can be 40 characters, and values 100 characters. Each player can have 25 user properties.
50 custom dimensions. A standard property can register 50 event-scoped custom dimensions, 50 custom metrics, and 25 user-scoped dimensions. That is the number of things you can filter and group reports by, across your whole game.
Explorations keep 2 or 14 months of data. The data retention setting limits funnels, paths, and other explorations. Set it to 14 months right away, because data older than the current setting is already gone. Standard reports are not affected.
BigQuery export is capped at 1 million events a day on standard properties. A game with 20,000 daily players who each send 50 events sends 1 million a day. Use the export's event filters to stay under it, or move to Google Analytics 360. Data you already exported cannot be exported again.
Mobile only for engines. Unity desktop builds, Unreal, Godot, and consoles have no Firebase Analytics SDK. Google Analytics' Measurement Protocol can receive events from a server, but you build the sending yourself.
Built for apps, not games. The reports cover users, engagement, retention, and revenue. Win rates, balance, and per-match stats come from your own events, and you build those reports in Explorations or BigQuery SQL.

When Firebase Analytics is a good fit

Firebase Analytics is a reasonable default when:

Your game ships on iOS or Android, and you already use Firebase for Crashlytics, Remote Config, Cloud Messaging, or AdMob.
You want free analytics with no player limit, and the standard app reports answer most of your questions.
Your team can write BigQuery SQL for anything deeper.

Firebase Analytics alternatives

The full comparison of game analytics tools has pricing and engine support for each of these. To run your own pipeline instead, see game analytics infrastructure: build or buy.

GameAnalytics is free with no MAU limit, has SDKs for most engines, and has built-in reports for progression, resources, and monetization. GameAnalytics pricing and alternatives covers its plans and data limits.
Unity Analytics is free up to 50,000 MAU, keeps raw events for 13 months, and covers Unity desktop builds as well as mobile. Read Unity Analytics pricing and alternatives.
Azure PlayFab is a full game backend with console SDKs and its own analytics. PlayFab pricing and alternatives explains its plans and event meters.
devtodev is free up to 25,000 MAU and includes raw data export and SQL access from its first paid plan.
Game Stats AI is built for competitive and match-based games. A match is one record with its own attributes, such as character, map, mode, and result, with no custom dimensions to register and no 500-event limit to plan around. Reports cover win rate by character, win rate by map, deck archetypes, retention, and progression, split by game version. Events go to a REST API from your game or server, so it works on PC, consoles, and any engine. Every plan, including the free plan with 1,000 tracked records a month, includes the MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT, and other AI tools. It can run alongside Firebase.

Frequently asked questions

Is Firebase Analytics free?

Yes. Firebase Analytics is free on every Firebase plan, with no limit on players and unlimited reporting on up to 500 distinct events. BigQuery storage and queries for exported data are billed separately by Google Cloud, after the free sandbox limits.

What is the difference between Firebase Analytics and Google Analytics?

Firebase Analytics is the app version of Google Analytics 4. Your app's data goes to a Google Analytics property, and the reports in the Firebase console are the same as the app reports there. Google Analytics adds explorations, custom dimension settings, and data retention settings.

How many events can I track in Firebase Analytics?

Each player can send up to 500 distinct event names you define, and automatically collected events don't count. There is no limit on how many times each event is sent, up to 100,000 events per player a day. Each event can have 25 parameters.

Does Firebase Analytics work with Unity?

Yes, on iOS and Android. The Firebase Unity SDK records analytics in mobile builds. Its desktop support is a beta for use during development, and Analytics is not one of the desktop libraries, so Windows, macOS, and Linux builds of your game won't send analytics.

How long does Firebase Analytics keep data?

Standard reports keep aggregated data. Explorations, such as funnels and paths, use event-level data that is kept for 2 or 14 months, depending on the property's data retention setting. To keep raw events longer, export them to BigQuery.

Is Google shutting down Firebase?

No. Google shut down Firebase Dynamic Links on August 25, 2025, but Firebase and Firebase Analytics are still running.