Google Analytics adds dashboards: six chart types, a 15-card limit and property-wide sharing

Google Analytics now has a built-in dashboard builder. Google's "What's new in Google Analytics" page dates the release to 9 September 2026, and the Google Analytics Help article "About Google Analytics dashboard" explains how it works: a grid canvas inside the Reports section where Editors and Administrators drag dimensions and metrics into six chart types, then publish the page to the left navigation for everyone on the property.

This is a GA4 feature, and it is separate from the Google Ads AI Dashboards that Relevant Audience covered on 11 September 2026, which live inside Google Ads. The Analytics version is manual. Google's documentation describes dragging fields onto a grid and says nothing about generating charts from a typed prompt.

What Google Analytics dashboards are

According to the Google Analytics Help article, the dashboard lets users "create custom visualizations to quickly pull actionable insights from your Google Analytics data, all in a single, consolidated page." The release note on the "What's new" page describes dashboards as "a highly flexible way to help businesses view their KPIs on a single report."

The Help article lists four key features:

• Consolidated, single-page KPI view. Cross-functional metrics sit in one interface, which Google says removes the need to move between several reports to see core business KPIs.
• Grid-based canvas layout. The dashboard uses a grid and supports manual chart placement, alignment and custom dimensions.
• Drag-and-drop. Charts are created by dragging dimensions and metrics directly onto the canvas.
• Direct publication to left navigation. When saving, the dashboard can be published to the left navigation without going through the report library.

That last point matters in daily use. Until now, getting a custom report into the GA4 left navigation meant working through the library. A published dashboard goes straight into the Reports menu, where every user with access to the property will see it.

The six chart types

The Help article says the dashboard "is built on a grid system that allows for flexible card placement and resizing." Each chart on the grid is a card. Google documents six supported visualization types, listed below with what the Help article says each one does.

A few practical notes follow from that list. Score cards show a percentage change only when a date comparison is applied, so a KPI row reads as flat numbers until someone sets a comparison range. Line charts stop at daily granularity, so hourly patterns still need a different report. The funnel chart is the most useful addition for e-commerce and lead-generation teams, because it puts conversion steps and drop-offs on the same page as the headline KPIs.

The list does not include maps, scatter plots or pivot tables. Google does not say whether more chart types are planned.

Who can build dashboards and who can see them

Google sets two permission levels in the Help article. Creating and publishing a dashboard requires the Editor or Administrator role on the Google Analytics property. Viewing is open to "anyone with access to the property," as long as the dashboard has been published.

Users without the build roles can still find published dashboards in the Reports left navigation. Google's instruction for them is to open Google Analytics and click Reports in the left menu.

In practice, a Viewer or Analyst on the property can read every published dashboard but cannot create or change one. Teams that give most people read-only access will need an Editor to build and maintain dashboards for everyone else.

How to create a dashboard in Google Analytics

The Help article gives these steps for creating or editing a dashboard:

1. Sign in to Google Analytics.
2. From the left menu, select Reports.
3. To create a new dashboard, click + Create at the top of the Report left navigation, then choose Dashboard. To edit a published dashboard, select it in the left navigation and click the Edit icon.
4. Drag visualization types, such as scorecards or custom charts, onto the dashboard canvas.
5. Drag dimensions and metrics onto the charts to match your reporting needs.
6. Select a visualization and customize it in the right panel.
7. Select Save to save the dashboard or apply changes to an existing one.
8. Click Publish to add the dashboard to the Report left navigation.

The article lists Save and Publish as separate steps. Because a published dashboard is shared with the whole property, the Publish click is the point where a draft becomes something every user on the property can see. The Help article does not describe what other users can see of a saved but unpublished dashboard, so it is safer not to assume a saved draft is private.

The three limitations and what they mean in practice

The Help article's Limitations section is short, and each item affects how a Thai business or agency can use the feature.

Card limits: 15 on standard properties, 30 on premium

Google states that "standard properties are limited to a maximum of 15 cards per dashboard, while premium properties support up to 30 cards." Every chart counts as a card, including single-number score cards.

Fifteen cards is enough for a focused management view: a row of five or six score cards, a trend line, a channel table, a funnel and a few breakdowns. It is not enough to rebuild a full monthly report deck on one page. A team on a standard property will need to split reporting across several dashboards by audience or question, which ties into the next limitation.

Sharing: every published dashboard is shared with the property

The Help article says simply: "All published dashboards are shared with the property." There is no personal or private published dashboard.

For a Thai business that has given its agency, its in-house marketing team, its sales managers and an outside developer access to one GA4 property, every dashboard any Editor publishes shows up in everyone's left navigation. That creates two practical concerns:

• Clutter. Without naming rules, the Reports menu can fill with near-duplicate dashboards from different people.
• Visibility. A dashboard built for the leadership team, for example one showing revenue by product line, will be visible to an outside agency or contractor who has property access. Those users may already be able to reach much of the same data in standard reports, but a dashboard gathers it on one page. The Help article does not say how dashboards handle any data restrictions set on a user's role, so check that before publishing sensitive figures.

Agencies that run reporting for clients on the client's own property should agree with the client who publishes dashboards and how they are named, before several teams start publishing.

Unsupported: API, segments and card-level comparisons

Google lists three things the dashboard does not do: "API support, segments, and card-level comparisons are currently not supported." The word "currently" leaves room for future changes, but Google gives no timeline.

Each gap removes a specific workflow:

• No API support. Dashboards cannot be created, copied or read by code. An agency that manages many client properties cannot build one template dashboard and push it to all of them; each one has to be built by hand in each property.
• No segments. A dashboard cannot isolate a group of users, such as returning purchasers or visitors from one campaign, the way a segment does in Explorations. Filtering has to come from the dimensions placed on each chart.
• No card-level comparisons. Score cards can show percentage change when a date comparison is applied, but individual cards cannot each carry their own comparison. A layout that shows "this month vs last month" on one card and "this month vs the same month last year" on the next is not possible within one dashboard, based on the Help article's wording.

When Explorations or a separate BI tool is still the right choice

The new dashboard fills a specific gap: a quick, shared page of core numbers inside GA4, built without opening another product. The documented limitations suggest where it stops being the right tool. This section is reasoning from those limitations, not guidance Google has published.

Use the GA4 dashboard when

• the audience already has access to the GA4 property and needs the same small set of KPIs each week;
• the questions can be answered with property-level data broken down by dimensions, without segments;
• 15 cards (or 30 on a premium property) are enough;
• it is acceptable for everyone on the property to see the page.

Stay with Explorations when

• the analysis depends on segments, since dashboards do not support them;
• you need a visualization outside the six supported types;
• the work is exploratory and personal, not a page to publish to the whole property.

Keep a separate BI or reporting tool when

• the report combines GA4 with other data, such as Google Ads cost, CRM leads, LINE OA or marketplace sales. The Help article describes dashboards built from Google Analytics data only;
• the report goes to people who should not have GA4 property access, such as a client's board or a franchise partner, since viewing requires property access;
• reporting has to be automated or replicated across many properties, which the lack of API support rules out;
• the report needs more than 30 cards or finer control over layout and access than the property-wide sharing model allows.

For many Thai SMEs the realistic outcome is a mix. A GA4 dashboard can replace the handful of screenshots someone pastes into a weekly chat update, while the monthly client or management report stays in the reporting tool that already combines ad spend, leads and sales.

What Google did not say

Several details are missing from the Help article and the release note:

• No rollout schedule. The documentation does not say whether every property received the feature on 9 September 2026 or whether it is rolling out gradually, and it lists no country or language limits.
• No timeline for the unsupported features. API, segments and card-level comparisons are "currently not supported," with no date for any of them.
• No link to AI features. The documentation describes a manual drag-and-drop builder. It does not mention Gemini, prompt-based chart creation or generated summaries, so readers should not assume those exist in the GA4 version.
• No details on data sampling or thresholds. The Help article links to Google's Cardinality article under related links but does not explain how dashboard cards behave with high-cardinality dimensions.

What this means for Thai marketers

Google's documentation is global and does not mention Thailand. The points below are analysis of how the feature fits common reporting setups among Thai businesses and agencies.

Many Thai marketing teams check GA4 by opening several standard reports in turn, or export numbers into a spreadsheet each week. A single dashboard of the KPIs that management actually asks about, published to the property, can cut that routine down to one page. Before building, agree on three things: which KPIs belong on the page, who is allowed to publish, and a naming pattern such as team plus purpose, so the Reports menu stays readable when several people use the property.

Agencies working on client-owned properties should treat publishing as a client-facing action, because the dashboard appears for everyone with property access. Because there is no API support, it is also worth writing down the card layout of a good dashboard so it can be rebuilt by hand in the next client's property.

If your GA4 property still has messy event names, duplicated conversions or missing e-commerce parameters, a dashboard will show those problems more clearly without fixing them. A GA4 setup and migration review is the better first step in that case. Teams that also want to see ad spend next to on-site results should remember that this feature is not the Google Ads AI Dashboards product; Google Ads management reporting still happens in Google Ads or in a tool that combines both sources.

FAQ

Is the Google Analytics dashboard the same as Google Ads AI Dashboards?

No, they are different products. The Google Analytics dashboard, dated to 9 September 2026 on Google's "What's new" page, is a manual drag-and-drop builder inside GA4 Reports, while Google Ads AI Dashboards live inside Google Ads.

How many charts can a Google Analytics dashboard hold?

A standard property can hold up to 15 cards per dashboard, and a premium property up to 30, according to the Google Analytics Help article. Every chart, including a single score card, counts as one card.

Can I make a private dashboard that only I can see?

Not once it is published, because Google says all published dashboards are shared with the property. Anyone with access to the property can view it in the Reports left navigation, and the Help article does not describe a private publishing option.

Who can create a dashboard in GA4?

Users with the Editor or Administrator role on the property can create and publish dashboards. Users with other roles can view published dashboards but cannot build them.

Does the GA4 dashboard replace Explorations or external reporting tools?

Not fully, because the dashboard does not support segments, API access or card-level comparisons, and it offers six chart types. Explorations remain the place for segment-based analysis, and a separate reporting tool is still needed to combine GA4 with other data or share reports with people who lack property access.

Next steps

The GA4 dashboard is a practical addition for teams that want their core numbers on one page without leaving Google Analytics. Its limits are clear: 15 cards on standard properties, sharing with the whole property on publish, and no API, segments or card-level comparisons. Start with one dashboard for the questions your team asks every week, agree who publishes, and keep deeper analysis in Explorations. If you want help deciding which KPIs belong on that page, or checking that the tracking behind them is sound, Relevant Audience can review your GA4 property with you.