Pasilobus Google Analytics: GA4 Tracking for Shopify, Explained

Illustration of a storefront sending add_to_cart and purchase events through a blue app tile with a bar-chart icon to a GA4 revenue card showing purchases, refunds and net revenue bars

Updated September 2026

Pasilobus Google Analytics is our app for sending your Shopify store's data to Google Analytics 4. It sets up GA4 ecommerce tracking without code or Google Tag Manager, sends checkout and purchase events server-side, and can send refunds so GA4 shows the revenue you actually kept. This page explains what it does, how it fits alongside Shopify's own Google & YouTube app, and how to set it up.

If you're new to GA4 itself, start with our guide to Google Analytics 4 updates and what they mean for Shopify stores.

Start with Shopify's option

Shopify's free Google & YouTube app can connect a GA4 property and send the standard ecommerce events. It's also how you sync products to Google Merchant Center and run Shopping campaigns, so most stores have it installed anyway. If basic GA4 reports are all you need, that's enough.

Our app is for stores that want more control over what reaches GA4, and more accurate revenue in it.

What the app does

How Pasilobus Google Analytics sends data to GA4: storefront events from the browser, checkout and purchase events server-side, refunds after the order, all to your GA4 property, with optional extra GA4 properties and Google Ads conversions 01 · IN THE BROWSER Browsing your store page_view view_item add_to_cart search 02 · SERVER-SIDE Checkout and purchase Sent from the server, which makes them resistant to ad blockers 03 · AFTER THE ORDER Refunds (paid plan) GA4 shows net, not gross, revenue 04 · YOUR GA4 PROPERTY G-XXXXXXX Ecommerce reports, funnels, revenue Optional: copy the same events to more GA4 properties or Google Ads conversions with Tag Manager.
Browsing events come from the storefront, checkout and purchase events from the server, and refunds after the order, all into your GA4 property.
  • Standard ecommerce events, automatically: page_view, view_item, search, add_to_cart, remove_from_cart, begin_checkout, add_shipping_info, add_payment_info and purchase, each with product IDs, names, prices, quantities and order values. These power GA4's built-in ecommerce reports.
  • Server-side checkout and purchase events. The events that matter most for revenue are sent from the server, which makes them resistant to ad blockers and privacy browsers.
  • Refund tracking. When you refund an order in Shopify, the app sends a refund event linked to the original order, so GA4 reports net revenue instead of every sale you later gave back. Shopify's Google & YouTube app doesn't send refunds.
  • Custom events. Track clicks, form submissions and page visits that matter to your store, like newsletter sign-ups or size-guide opens, by naming the event and choosing the page path and element. No code.
  • Choose which events to send. Turn individual standard events off if another tool already sends them or you only care about purchases.
  • Cross-device tracking. For logged-in customers, the app sends their Shopify customer ID to GA4 as a user ID, so someone who browses on a phone and buys on a laptop counts as one person.
  • More than one destination. The built-in Tag Manager can send the same events to additional GA4 properties (useful for agencies or multi-brand setups) and to Google Ads conversion tags.
  • Consent Mode v2 support, for stores that need visitor consent before tracking.

Standard tracking, server-side conversions and Tag Manager are on the free plan. Refunds, custom events, event toggles and cross-device tracking are on the paid plans; the App Store listing shows exactly which plan includes what.

The Pasilobus Google Analytics 4 app inside the Shopify admin, showing the connected GA4 Measurement ID with Edit Credentials, Order and Conversion Tracking enabled, Tag Manager with one tag, and Custom Events
The app's home screen in the Shopify admin (2024 screenshot). Settings are grouped by feature: credentials, conversion tracking, Tag Manager and custom events.

How to set it up

  1. Install Pasilobus Google Analytics from the Shopify App Store.
  2. In Google Analytics, open Admin → Data streams, click your web stream and copy the Measurement ID (it starts with G-).
  3. On the same page, open Measurement Protocol API secrets, click Create, and copy the new secret.
  4. Paste both into the app and save.
  5. In Online Store → Themes → Customize → App embeds, make sure Pasilobus Google Analytics is switched on, and save.
  6. Test in GA4's DebugView: browse your store, add something to the cart, and watch the events arrive. Standard reports take longer to fill in.
Worth knowingOnly one tool should send GA4 events to a property. If you keep the Google & YouTube app for your product feed, disconnect its Google Analytics connection (or turn off the overlapping events in our app), and remove any old gtag code from your theme. Otherwise every purchase is counted twice.

Why GA4 still won't match Shopify exactly

Even with server-side tracking, GA4 and Shopify count differently. Shopify records every order; GA4 only knows what it's told. Orders created in the admin (draft and phone orders), visitors with strict privacy settings, different time zones, and orders placed before you installed the app all create gaps. Use Shopify for sales totals and GA4 for behavior: where visitors come from, what they look at and where they drop out. The help centre has a full article on comparing the two.

Get started

Install Pasilobus Google Analytics from the Shopify App Store; the free plan covers standard ecommerce tracking. Read more on the app's page, and if you'd rather we checked your whole analytics setup, talk to us. Tracking the right numbers matters most when you're working on why customers leave at the payment step.