Get started with Analytics

To get started, you need to:

  • Sign up for UGS.
  • Link your dashboard project to a Unity Editor project.
  • Initialize UGS in your game code.
  • See billing information.

Sign up

If you don't have a Unity account, please create one and create a new project to sign up for Unity Gaming Services.

Important: Only Organization Owners can sign up for Analytics.

  1. Sign in to the Unity Cloud Dashboard.
  2. Select Sign Up in the top banner and follow the instructions.

Next steps: Set up Analytics, Install the Analytics SDK and link the service to your Unity project.

Set up Analytics

You can set up and manage Analytics in the Unity Cloud Dashboard:

  1. Go to cloud.unity.com.
  2. Select + under Shortcuts in the left panel.
  3. Search for Analytics and select to pin to the left.
  4. Select to open Analytics.

When you launch Analytics for the first time, this adds Analytics to the Shortcuts section on the sidebar and opens the Game Performance page.

In the Unity Editor, you need to link your local project build to a Unity Project ID.

  1. Go to Edit > Project Settings > Services.
  2. Log in with your existing credentials.
  3. Select your project from the drop-down list and select Link project ID.

Note: The Services > Analytics settings page relates to Unity Legacy Analytics, not the new Gaming Services Analytics. You don’t need to enable the Analytics settings on that page.

Go to Analytics in the Unity Cloud Dashboard to start analyzing your data. You must also initialize the SDK.

SDK installation

In the latest Unity Editor versions, the package is visible in the Package Manager.

The minimum Editor version for Analytics is 2019.4.

To install the latest Analytics package for Unity, use the latest version of the Unity Editor and follow these steps:

  1. In the Unity Editor, open Window > Package Manager.
  2. In the Package Manager, select the Unity Registry list view.
  3. Search for Analytics, or locate the Analytics package in the list.
  4. Select the package, then select Install.

See the Package Manager documentation for more information.

In the Unity Editor, you need to link your local project build to a Unity Project ID.

  1. Go to Edit > Project Settings > Services.
  2. Log in with your existing credentials.
  3. Select your project from the drop-down list and select Link project ID.

Next steps: Set up the SDK.

Note: Depending on the Editor version that you're using you might see that the latest version of UGS Analytics shows up under Analytics Legacy.

Analytics billing

Note: To use Unity Analytics, you need to sign up for Unity Gaming Services (UGS).

Analytics is free to get started and provides a free tier for up to 50,000 monthly active users (MAU). Above this free tier, you must upgrade your plan for UGS as a whole to continue using Analytics. You then only pay for additional MAU, with the price scaling depending on number of MAU; usage is reset at the beginning of each month. This helps developers determine and predict their costs more easily as games scale from increased numbers of players. MAU is an industry standard for measuring user engagement that can be easier to understand compared to other models.

MAU applies to all projects and environments in your organization. MAU-based pricing is available for Leaderboards and UGS Analytics.

Note: Refer to the pricing table below to estimate your costs or submit a request to speak with our support team about your project.

MAU-based pricing

MAU measures the total number of unique user IDs that had at least one session per environment in a month. This is measured by the unityInstallationID or any custom userID passed to the Analytics service, and is specific to the Analytics product and not impacted by other products in the UGS bundle.

You're charged when the number of MAU exceed the free tier or fair usage limits.

The below table shows the pricing tiers:

Number of usersCost per MAU
0 - 50,000$0.00 (free tier)
50,001 - 150,000$0.00360
150,001 - 500,000$0.00315
500,001 - 1,000,000$0.00293
1,000,001 - 5,000,000$0.00225
5,000,001 and higherContact us to learn about more pricing options

Fair usage limits

Fair usage limits is a set amount of usage capacity. If you exceed the fair usage limit and your usage is beyond the monthly free tier limit, a surcharge is added to your bill. This is primarily to prevent abuse of Unity’s services by customers performing an excessive number of operations per MAU. Unity expects a very small number of edge cases to be impacted by these limits.

To view your usage limit, select Administration > Cost and Usage Reporting in the Unity Cloud Dashboard.

cost-reporting

When you surpass the free tier limit, you're subject to fair usage limits to ensure fairness and reliability. As you approach your fair usage limits you’ll be notified.

The following limits apply:

  • 500 custom events per MAU
  • 0.05 seconds of SQL Data Explorer query time per MAU

If a surcharge applies and multiple fair usage limits are exceeded, the meter with the highest percentage over the limit is considered for surcharging. The surcharge for excess usage is reflected on your monthly bill, and these limits reset at the beginning of each calendar month.

If Average Usage exceeds the limit by X%, you are charged X% as a fair usage surcharge on your monthly bill.

Fair usage is an average value and might fluctuate throughout the month as MAU cumulatively increases; the source of truth for your usage and billing is reflected in your bill at the end of each month. Note that both valid and invalid events count towards the custom event limit.

If you exceed fair usage limits and haven’t provided payment details, Unity might contact you to discuss reducing usage or accepting special terms.

Follow best practices available in this article. Note that both valid and invalid events count towards the custom event limit. Make sure your queries are optimized for efficiency, particularly when handling large datasets. Refer to our cookbook for guidance. For other concerns or questions, contact our support team or reach out to your Unity client partner.

Reporting

You can monitor your limits in the Unity Cloud Dashboard in multiple locations, including the Administration > Service Usage page and the Analytics landing page.

Note: The data in the reporting dashboard is delayed by about 14 hours.

There is one MAU usage tracker and two fair usage trackers, for custom events and query seconds. If you exceed any of the free tiers, banners appear on the Dashboard to notify you.

Analytics access

When you have launched Analytics, it can take up to one hour before your pipelines are available and set up. However, you immediately have access to the UI (such as Dashboards). If you cancel UGS, you immediately lose access to the UI, and lose access to the APIs 30 days later.

If you return to UGS, any Analytics events that you sent after cancelling might be processed, but access to the ingestion pipeline is lost after you cancel.

Historic data (such as events or player information) is deleted 120 days after cancellation and cannot be retrieved.

FAQ

What if I have existing contracts with Unity?

The pricing model applies to all customers, regardless of any existing contracts or commitments. However, if you have a negotiated contract, we recommend reaching out to your partner at Unity to understand how the new pricing model affects your billing.

What about my other Unity services?

Each UGS product has its own billing unit and is separate from each other. The Analytics MAU meter is specific to the Analytics service and does not impact the pricing of other UGS services. Your Analytics usage exceeding the free tier is visible as a line item on your bill.