Running Facebook and ads but struggling to see the complete picture of your return on investment? Whilst Google Analytics 4 brilliantly tracks what happens on your website, it can’t automatically see how much you’re spending on Meta advertising. You’re making budget decisions with only half the story.
GA4 now lets you import your Meta Ads cost data directly, giving you everything you need: spend, clicks, impressions, and conversions. All in one place. Here’s exactly how to set it up.
Before You Begin
You’ll need:
- A Meta Business account with an active Ad Account
- Editor access (or higher) in your GA4 property
- Your Meta ads tagged with consistent UTM parameters
Critical requirement: The values you enter for “Source” and “Medium” during setup must exactly match the utm_source and utm_medium values used in your Meta ads. For example, if your ads use utm_source=facebook and utm_medium=cpc, you must use those exact values. If you need help creating properly formatted UTM parameters, Google’s Campaign URL Builder makes this straightforward.
Important: This feature will pull at least 24 months of historical Meta Ads data. If you have existing Meta cost data that would overlap, delete those prior datasets before proceeding.
How to Import Meta Ads Cost Data (Step-by-Step)
1. Navigate to Data Import
- In GA4 Admin, under “Data collection and modification”, click Data import
- Click Create data source
2. Select Meta as Your Source
- Under “Upload data for import”, select Meta as the import source
- Click Next
3. Connect Your Meta Account
- Click Connect to link Meta as your data source
- Sign in with your Meta credentials in the pop-up window
- Click Log in
4. Configure Your Platforms
- Select your Meta “Business Centre” and “Ad Account”
- Enter values for each platform you advertise on: Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, Messenger, or Threads
- These values must match the utm_source parameters in your ad URLs
Top tip: If you’re tagging all your Meta traffic with one utm_source value, enter that same value in all 5 platform fields. Need to verify your Meta Business account settings? The Meta Business Help Centre has detailed guides on managing your accounts and ad permissions.
5. Review and Finalise
- Review all fields to ensure everything you want to import is included
- Adjust the data source name, import schedule, or filters if needed
- Click Finish, then Done
Imports can take up to 30 minutes to complete and up to 24 hours for the data to appear in reports.
Where to Find Your Data
Once imported, you can see your Meta cost data in the Acquisition > Non-Google cost report and on the Planning > All channels report in the Advertising workspace.
Important Limitations
Cannot modify after setup: After a connector is created, you won’t be able to modify configuration settings relevant to data pulling such as Ad Account, Source, and Medium. Double-check everything before clicking Finish.
Troubleshooting
Data not showing up?
- Verify your UTM parameters in Meta Ads exactly match your GA4 configuration
- Confirm you selected the correct Business Centre and Ad Account
- Wait the full 24 hours before investigating further
- Check you have Editor permissions in GA4
For more detailed troubleshooting steps and technical requirements, consult Google’s official guide on importing cost data from Meta Ads.
Conclusion
Importing Meta Ads cost data into GA4 transforms how you analyse your advertising performance. Instead of jumping between platforms and manually comparing spreadsheets, you’ll have everything in one place: how much you spent, how many people clicked, and what they did on your website.
This allows you to calculate metrics such as non-Google cost per click, cost per conversion, and return on ad spend directly in Analytics—making it infinitely easier to spot what’s working, what’s not, and where to invest your budget next.
Need more help? If you’re interested in importing cost data from other advertising platforms beyond Meta, Google’s comprehensive guide on cost data import in GA4 covers manual CSV uploads and connections to other ad networks.
