Which AI Sent vs Google Analytics 4 for AI traffic
GA4 now has an AI Assistant channel. So do you need anything else? An honest comparison, including where GA4 is the better tool.
Summary
Use GA4 for website analytics. It’s free and excellent at it, and since May 2026 it groups recognised AI assistant visits into their own channel. Use Which AI Sent when you need to know which customers AI sent you and what they were worth, including the ones who never clicked.
Side by side
| Job | GA4 | Which AI Sent |
|---|---|---|
| General website analytics: pages, events, funnels, audiences | Excellent | Not the purpose |
| Free | Yes | Free in early access, then from $20/month |
| AI visits by assistant | Yes: AI Assistant channel for recognised assistants. Add a custom channel for the rest | Yes: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, plus Other AI |
| Each lead tied to its AI source, with the pages they read | No: GA4 doesn’t store named leads | Core feature |
| Revenue from won deals and bookings | Only if you send every sale into GA4 yourself | Core feature: mark won, CRM sync or CSV import |
| Customers who phoned or searched your name after asking AI | No | Yes: “How did you hear about us?” (Declared) |
| Evidence per lead | No | Confirmed / Declared / Assisted labels, with visit-by-visit proof |
| Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | Counted as organic | Counted as Google. Nobody can split these reliably |
| Does ChatGPT recommend you? | No | Weekly check |
| Setup for non-technical owners | Moderate: channel groups, key events, explorations | One click on WordPress and Wix, a snippet elsewhere |
| Client-ready monthly AI report | Build it in Looker Studio | Built in, with a private client dashboard on the Agency plan |
Where GA4 is enough
- You sell online, send every purchase to GA4 with revenue, and mostly care about clicks.
- You only need a trend line of AI visits, not named leads.
- You have an analyst who can maintain channel groups and explorations.
If that’s you, our free guide gets you set up: AI traffic in GA4.
Where you need more than GA4
- Your customers call, book or request quotes. Service businesses, clinics, trades, professional services.
- You need to say “AI brought in $X” to a boss, a partner or a client, and be able to show the customers.
- You’re investing in getting recommended by AI and need to know if it pays.
Using both
Most customers keep GA4 and add Which AI Sent. The script sits alongside GA4 without conflict, installs in minutes (integrations), and doesn’t need GA4 access.
See also: AI attribution vs AI visibility · AI referral analytics.
GA4 comparison questions
Does Which AI Sent need access to my GA4?
No. It runs its own lightweight script and doesn’t read or change your GA4 property.
Why don’t the visit numbers match GA4 exactly?
Different tools count sessions differently (consent, bots, timeouts). The numbers should trend together. Which AI Sent’s focus is leads and revenue, not matching sessions.
Is GA4’s AI Assistant channel accurate?
It’s accurate for visits that arrive with a recognised AI referrer or source. It can’t see app visits that lose the referrer, or people who didn’t click.
See what AI is already sending you
Connect your website in one click, add one question to your form, and see AI leads and revenue with the evidence for each.